The ‘Galatians’ are often stereotypically depicted as warlike barbarians that migrated to Asia Minor during the early third century BCE. After they plundered their way through Greece and Anatolia,...Show moreThe ‘Galatians’ are often stereotypically depicted as warlike barbarians that migrated to Asia Minor during the early third century BCE. After they plundered their way through Greece and Anatolia, they adapted themselves to the customs of the superior ‘Greeks’ of the Hellenistic world. This research aims to change this conventional paradigm through the investigation of their fortifications. Three ‘Galatian’ fortifications are analysed, these are called Tabanlioğlu Kale, Zengibar Kale and Karalar. The ‘Hellenistic'-style of these undervalued military fortifications are until now interpreted as the unidirectional result of dominant ethnic ‘Greek’ cultural influence. The goal of this study is to re-examine these traditional thoughts in light of the globalisation theory. It will investigate the relationship between the local and global characteristics of the fortifications and try to understand the various cultural relationships that appeared in central Anatolia during the Hellenistic-Roman period. The research finally exposes that the ‘Galatian’ fortifications were local creations but that they were also used as active agents to express a notion of ‘belonging’ to the wider global Hellenistic world.Show less
