KONIAH, or KONYEH (the ancient Iconium), a city of Asia Minor, capital of the pashalik of Karamania, in a wide plain, about 300 miles S.E. from Constantinople. N. Lat. 36. 54., E. Long. 32. 40. It is surrounded by walls, which are flanked with towers, and by a wide fosse. The walls, about 2 miles in circumference, were built by the Seljuke sultans, in the thirteenth century, of materials taken from more ancient edifices. The figures in alto relievo ornamenting the gates are said by Kinneir to be among the finest in Turkey. Koniah now presents little to the eye of the traveller but the ruins of its former greatness. The numerous monuments in the Saracenic architecture fully attest that under the Seljuke sultans it had been a town of great celebrity and sanctity, as well as a seat of learning. There are remains of upwards of twenty medreschs, or colleges, a number nearly equal to that of Baghdad. In the modern part of the town the houses are low, and are mostly built of sun-dried bricks and wood. There are several bazaars, mosques, colleges, public baths, and khans, and two Armenian churches. Among the mosques the finest is that of Sultan Selim, built on the model of that of St Sophia at Constantinople. There is here the tomb of a Moslem saint, held in the highest veneration all over Turkey. The manufactures are in a very languishing state, and are confined to carpets and morocco
leather. Pop. about 30,000. Ibrahim Pasha completely defeated the Turks here on 21st December 1821. See Iconium.