What is the capital of ancient Anatolia?
Anatolia was and still is a geographic expression of the land mass generally defined by modern day Turkey. It was never an ancient country therefore there was could be no capital to a country that did not exist. Having said that one could point to the ancient city of Gordium as an ancient predecessor to Ankara based on proximity.
What was life like in ancient Anatolia?
As you understand, Anatolia is the birthplace of Western civilization. This is where wheat was first planted as a main crop, this is where the key animals cow, sheep, goat, pig were domesticated. So the civilization in ancient ancient times was way ahead of its time. It is also not clear from the question, what timeframe in ancient times the question is referring to.Anatolia was always a mix of many cultures and also of cultural exchange. For example, the Silk Road crossed over Anatolia, so it was never an isolated place.Overall, the village life was not so different from Mediterranean Europe. So if you can imagine what the ancient village life was like in Spain or Greece, then it would be very close to a typical village life in ancient Anatolia. People herded animals and worked in the fields. They celebrated the Harvest season with many feasts and fairs (similar to Oktoberfest in Germany). The coming of Islam replaced these traditions with the ones celebrated in Islam. So the area has gone from pagan (Greko-Persian culture) to Christian to Islamic.Unlike popular knowledge, Anatolia is not bunch of deserts. Image of city Amasia in Turkey.
Ancient Lydian Religion?
The Lydians were a group of people who were among the earliest inhabitants of Ephesus along with the Lelegians and the Carians. They all worshiped Kebele which in what I read was called a cult. Not sure why it was listed as a cult instead of a religion. The importance of the Kybele cult lies not only in its longevity, but also in its being the last pagan cult to die out. The cult was one of the most difficult for Christianity to overcome. Kybele (Cybele) was the Mother goddess of Anatolia, she was the 'Mother of everything' and her power was limitless. She was the goddess of nature, chastity and the protector of wild animals and sailors. I know you asked not to give you any links but there was just too much information to try and copy it all. So here is a link that I hope will help you to more answers. http://students.roanoke.edu/groups/relg211/zamesnik/CultPracticesandRituals.html
What language was spoken by people of Anatolia before Seljuks?
was it turkish?... Seljuls were turks,but they were originally migrated to Iran(Persia) and then Turkey(Anatolia) from centeral Asia! when people start to speak turkish in that region?...did they speak turkish when it was part of Roman empire?
Other than dominant ancient civilisations, what other less dominant settlements influenced human development?
Hittites: Settled in Anatolia, these people dominated the Middle east and warred with Egypt, even sacking Babylon. Their greatest accomplishment was their invention of Bureaucracy. India: The seat of many great civilizations from the Mauryans t the Guptas to the Cholas, they developed Influential Philosophy and mathematics, including the concept of zero. Ummayyads/Abbasids: In Damascus and Baghdad respectively, these Caliphates controlled the most powerful religion, Islam. They compiled the scientific knowledge of the other civilizations and vastly expanded on it, leading to modern medicine. Korea: It is a little known fact that the first printing press was made in Korea. The Korean writing style, Hangul, developed by king Sejong of Joseon, is considered the most logical writing in the world. And you also left off the Romans- What did the Romans ever do for us?
What do Armenians think of Alevi people in Anatolia?
Alevis and Armenians used to be like brothers . Alevism has been influenced by Armenian sort of Christianity, and many alevis are decedents of Armenians who converted to alevism (the rest are decedents of native Anatolian who weren’t that different from Armenians) . Plus, alevi zazas gave shelter to Armenians in Der sim, and suffered along side Armenians in massacre of Dersim under leadership of Seyed Riza.
Is Hindu a religion or just a term used in the ancient times for those people who were living near the Indus river?
Both.As far as the geological origin is concerned : The term "Hind" initially originated as a mispronunciation of the word "Sindh" by the Persians and Arabs. As this was the place where the western world first encountered people practicing Vedic culture, the people of the whole subcontinent were referred to as "Hindu" which in turn was also used to denote their religious beliefs.Though we did not originate the term, we did accept it as our identity and the usage of this term was only consolidated further during the Mughal and Brittsh times. Both by us and by the world around us.As for being a religion :The word "Religion" is a western word and even though we translate it to the word "Dharma" the western meaning has certain implied characteristics associated with it as it was mostly used to describe the Abrahmic religions. In the western sense a religion is assumed to have a central character/prophet, a central doctrine or book, a central dogma, a central definition of God and also exclusivity is implied in some way. While the word "Dharma" as we understand it has a very different meaning.Here lies the problem with saying that "Hinduism" is a religion as Hinduism simply does not have these features (the word "Religion" might be inapplicable to Buddhism as well). It came to be an umbrella term for all the philosophies regarding theology, spirituality, ethics, morality that are of the Indian subcontinent (Most of which have direct or indirect Vedic influence though).But then "Hindu" is the answer that we Hindus give when someone asks "I am a Christian/Muslim. What are you?"
Where were Turkish people settled before arriving in Anatolia?
They lived in Central Asia, present day Iran, southern Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria.There is evidence of Pechenegs fighting Vikings in the Vistula River in Russia. The Bulgars and Cumans settled in the Balkans. The Tatars, Chuvash and Bashkurt lived on the west and east side of the Urals. The Yakut and Dolgan lived in the arctic permafrost.