Celtic Ankara

Simin Uysal

Upon waking from a dream where I saw a druid in a long white dress, whispering to the tree in my front garden almost a year ago, one of my first thoughts was I might have been reading too much. I noted the dream in my journal with a chuckle and forgot about it.  

Ankara is a very old city with Hattian, Hittite, Phrygian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman history. "What would a druid do in Ankara, in Central Anatolia where there is nothing Celtic anyway?" I thought in a hurry. I am now smiling at that thought.

Castle of Ankara

It was early in April this year when I agreed to accompany a guest to the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations on the next day.  I knew the visit wouldn’t take long since the museum has been under renovation and most of the exhibition halls, except the main one, have been closed. On the morning of the visit, I woke from a magical dream where I was with a group of people on a guided tour of an ancient castle. The guide was showing us a bedroom when I started hearing the most enchanting song coming from outside. When I went out in curiosity to find the owner of this voice, I saw a tree standing alone in the courtyard and a druid smiling at me at the far corner. The tree was singing beautifully in a woman’s voice. I just stood there listening with my eyes closed until a small boy came calling me back inside. Then he led me to a room full of black grapes where his grandfather also joined him to show me how the grapes were washed and processed to make wine. When I woke from this dream, I was still feeling enchanted by the song and very curious about the rest of it but I had to leave in a hurry to pick my colleague up from her hotel for our visit to the museum.

We left the car in a nearby parking lot when we reached the old town.  We walked by the entrance of the Ankara Castle but I did not pay much attention because of the freezing wind and the snow. While checking our tickets for the museum, the gatekeeper informed us that two new exhibitions were now available downstairs in a newly renovated section. One of the exhibitions was about the history of Ankara which did not cause much excitement for me until an item caught my eye. It was a gold ring with jasper with an anchor carved on it. When I studied it more closely, I read the description beneath saying "....the ANCHOR symbol of Ancyra", Ancyra or Ankyra being the ancient name of today's Ankara.

Ankara is situated in the highlands of Central Anatolia and hundreds of kilometers away from the closest sea. The anchor as a symbol of such a city felt very strange. I wanted to learn more. The answers were not far. A few steps away from the ring, I was suddenly surrounded by statues and artifacts of ancient Galatians of Ankyra. 

I was definitely mystified by the name. I've been reading about the Hittites, Phyrigians, etc. but this was new. "Who are these Galatians?" was the question on my mind as we were leaving the museum. 

Immediately after returning home, I started searching for the Galatians and it was exciting to learn that some time in the 270's B.C. Celtic tribes in Thrace and elsewhere were invited by Nicomedes I of Bithynia to come over into Anatolia to serve as warriors and mercenaries. The term 'Galatae' was used to denote these Celtic tribes.  The three main tribes of Galatia were the Trocmi, Tolistoboii, and the Tectosages. The Tectosages ruled from Ankara which they called as Ankyra which means "anchor".  The city was then conquered by Augustus in 25 BC and passed under the control of the Roman Empire. Augustus decided to make Ankyra one of three main administrative centres in central Anatolia. The town was then populated by Phrygians and Celts—the Galatians who spoke a language somewhat closely related to Welsh and Gaelic. 

The exact date of the construction of the Ankara Castle is unknown but some resources say that its foundations  were laid by the Galatians and the rest was completed by the Romans. The Byzantines and Seljuks further made restorations and additions. 

Ankara has long been  famous for its long-haired Angora goat and its wool (mohair), a unique breed of cat (Angora cat), Angora rabbits and their prized Angora wool,   pears,   honey, muscat grapes and of course, wine just like the boy and his grandfather showed. 

Finally, the oak tree which grows widely in Anatolia (as well as Ankara) proved to be important, too. I found out that oaks, especially the Valonia oak which grows in Anatolia, were held sacred by both druids and Celts alike, according to Pliny the Elder. Drunemeton, the ‘oak sanctuary,’ is described by Strabo as a place where the Galatian Council met. Following details provided by Strabo, I discovered Mt. Oak, not far away from where I live. 

So, thanks to these dreams and the following coincidences, the city I've been living in but used to regard as boring, has turned into the most exciting city for me. 

I enjoy telling this story to those who think dreams are not important and Ankara is uninteresting.