Ottoman Timeline

10000 BCE – 2000 CE · 15 sites

All sites in this period

The domed exterior of Hagia Sophia with its Ottoman minarets, Istanbul, Turkey

Country Record

Oldest Monument in Türkiye

Hagia Sophia

532 CE – 1453 CE

The supreme achievement of Byzantine architecture — a vast domed basilica built by the emperor Justinian in Constantinople in just five years and completed in 537 CE, its 31-metre dome seeming to float on a ring of windows. For nearly a thousand years it was the largest enclosed space and greatest cathedral in the Christian world, before becoming a mosque, a museum, and a mosque again.

Late AntiqueByzantineOttoman

Country Record

Oldest Complex in Türkiye

Derinkuyu

800 BCE – 1923 CE

The deepest known underground city in the world, extending 85 meters below the surface with 18 levels. It could shelter approximately 20,000 people along with livestock and food stores.

Iron AgeClassicalByzantine

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Bursa

200 BCE – 1400 CE

The first capital of the Ottoman Empire, where the dynasty's founding sultans are buried, home to the Green Mosque and Ulu Cami, and gateway to Mount Olympus of Mysia (Uludağ).

HellenisticRomanByzantine

Sümela Monastery

386 CE – 1923 CE

A Byzantine Greek Orthodox monastery carved into a sheer cliff face at 1,200 meters altitude in the Pontic Alps. Founded in 386 CE, it contains remarkable frescoes spanning centuries.

ByzantineMedieval

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Harran

3000 BCE – 2000 CE

One of the oldest continuously inhabited places on Earth, where Abraham paused on his journey to Canaan, where the last pagan temple of the Moon God survived into the Islamic era, and where distinctive beehive houses dot the Mesopotamian plain.

Bronze AgeIron AgeClassical

The Selimiye Mosque by Mimar Sinan rising above the city of Edirne

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Edirne (Adrianople)

100 BCE – 1500 CE

The second Ottoman capital, where Mimar Sinan built his masterpiece the Selimiye Mosque — considered the greatest achievement of Ottoman architecture — and site of multiple battles that shaped European and Ottoman history.

RomanByzantineOttoman

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Mardin

3000 BCE – 1500 CE

A Mesopotamian cliff city cascading down a rocky escarpment above the Syrian plain, where Artukid Turkish architecture, Syriac Christian monasteries, and Arab influence have created one of the most visually stunning and culturally layered urban landscapes in the world.

Bronze AgeMedieval

Pool of Abraham (Balıklıgöl) in Şanlıurfa with sacred fish and Rizvaniye Mosque

Continent Record

Oldest City in Asia

Edessa (Şanlıurfa)

9000 BCE – 1500 CE

One of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, legendary birthplace of Abraham, capital of the Crusader County of Edessa, and gateway to Göbekli Tepe.

Bronze AgeClassicalHellenistic

The double walls of ancient Nicaea with Istanbul Gate in the foreground

Nicaea (İznik)

700 BCE – 1400 CE

The city where the Nicene Creed was forged in 325 CE, ringed by spectacular Roman-Byzantine double walls and later renowned worldwide for its exquisite Ottoman ceramic tiles.

ClassicalHellenisticRoman

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World Record

Oldest City in the World

Hasankeyf

10000 BCE – 1500 CE

A 12,000-year-old cliff city on the Tigris River with cave dwellings, medieval bridges, and Artukid monuments — one of the oldest continuously inhabited settlements in the world, now partially submerged by the Ilısu Dam in one of the most controversial heritage losses of the 21st century.

NeolithicBronze AgePrehistoric

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Amasya

300 BCE – 1500 CE

The royal capital of the Pontic Kingdom, where monumental rock tombs of Pontic kings are carved high into the cliffs above the Yesilirmak River, overlooked by a citadel and flanked by elegant Ottoman mansions.

HellenisticRomanByzantine

Ishak Pasha Palace

1685 CE – 1784 CE

A stunning Ottoman-period palace complex at the foot of Mount Ararat, blending Ottoman, Persian, Armenian, and Georgian architectural traditions into one of eastern Turkey's most magnificent monuments.

Medieval