Beypazarı

Beypazarı occupies a rural district of Ankara Province, roughly 100 kilometres northwest of the capital. The town centre lies at an elevation of 675 metres, where the settled streets give way to a rocky countryside. Its Turkish name means “the bey’s market.” During the Ottoman period the place served as an important military base, and cavalry stationed there formed a significant part of the local economy.

The earlier settlement was known as Lagania and became a Christian episcopal see under the metropolis of Ancyra. After a visit by Emperor Anastasius I, it was renamed Anastasiopolis. This earlier ecclesiastical centre forms part of the town's background before the Seljuk and Ottoman periods, when its location in inland Anatolia continued to connect it with the surrounding countryside.