Page 99 - Sarpedon’dan Keykubad’a Bir Zamanlar Antalya

that the army, was looking for a beautiful port city on the Aegean
coast for months as their kings wanted, but could not find what
was wanted there. However, the Pergamon army, which has no
intention of returning without fulfilling Attalos’ request, decided
to enter the Mediterranean coast further south. After a long and
tiring journey, the people of Pergamon, who could not find a
place that fitted Attalos’s wishes, finally came to the Antalya Bay
of today. So much so that the commander, who was amazed by
the beauty of the bay, said, “Thank you, Zeus, we finally found
the city of Attalos.”
Pergamon, who found a harbor as Attalos wanted, built a
new city here. Since this city is the city of Attalos’s dreams, it is
called Attaleia, that is, they call this beautiful port city the city
of Attalos. That city is castle gate, where we can today see its
high walls from both the Yacht marina and Atatürk Street, or At-
taleia, where we enter into a completely different world through
its three gates. So Kaleiçi is our only Kaleiçi. This beautiful port
city remains the city of Attalos from the 2nd century BC until
1207 AD However, its name changes after this date, because
the Turks conquered it and they called it afterwards Adalya. This
is how this journey from Attaleia to Antalya began.
The conquest of Attaleia, the city of Attalos, that is easy to
defend but difficult to conquer, took place in three stages. So
much so that this beautiful port city was first besieged by the
Seljuk Sultan II. Kilic Arslan II. but he could not conquering it. The
Turks have no intention of leaving without conquering the city of
Attalos. Thereupon, in 1207,during the reign ofSultan Gıyased-
dinKeyhüsrev I., the Seljuk Turksconquered Attaleia.However,
with the death of the Sultan, his son, Sultan Izzettin Keykavus I,
had fort he second time to reconquerAttelia in 1216, the Sultan
announced this to the whole Muslim world with fetihnames-an-
nouncement of conquest. Long after this great conquest, it was
called Adalya. This is how Attaleia’s journey to Antalya begins
(Çimrin 2012; VarkIvanç 2015; Demir 2018; Sevgili-Polatve Zaimolu 2019).

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