[yoran]

I remember visiting this underground city a couple of years back, and thinking, what were these people so scared off in the outside world that led them to build this? It's an incredible feat, I think even with today's tools, let alone back in the day. Very intriguing.

[flanbiscuit]

To me, it seems like it was because of wars and raids.

from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derinkuyu#History

> refuge from the raids of the Umayyad Arab and Abbasid armies, during the Arab–Byzantine wars (780-1180).

> The city continued to be used as protection from the Mongolian incursions of Timur in the 14th century.

> After the region fell to the Ottomans the cities were used as refuges

> As late as the 20th century the town's inhabitants, called Cappadocian Greeks, were still using the underground chambers to escape periodic waves of Ottoman persecution. (The Cambridge linguist Dawkins, who spent time in the towns from 1910-1911 while writing his book on Cappadocian Greek wrote, "their use as places of refuge in time of danger is indicated by their name καταφύγια. In 1909, when the news came of the recent massacres at Adana, a great part of the population at Axo took refuge in these underground chambers, and for some nights did not venture to sleep above ground

[boomboomsubban]

Though it wss built to protect from raids, keep in mind every instance of it's use you list happened at least a millennium after it's creation.

[therein]

Yeah, definitely not cataclysmic events. Never consider that. Always persecution.

People would run away from persecution. Not hide underground at the spot they expect to find you.

[pikseladam]

"You are reading the only book in the world about how to grow certain kind of flower. You are drinking your wine, your house is enough for your family, your kids playing outside, your wife making cloths with her friends. Stable life, happy life... You hear a voice, library door is open but crushed with a horse kick. A man wielding his sword comes in on top of the horse, crushing your skull with it without listening a word of you. Your kids probably dead already, your wife and her friends taken as slaves. Library is now burning in front of your eyes..."

This is how a mongolian raid is like. Thats how our history teacher told us. When you look at it like that, it is good to start digging so no horse can get in. All city is like a maze, there are lots of traps inside.

[bombcar]

> Over 200 underground cities at least two levels deep have been discovered in the area between Kayseri and Nevşehir, with around 40 of those having at least three levels.

I suspect that at least part of it was the ground in the area being easy to dig into to make a dwelling.

Dry underground dwellings are very good in general if they can be made easily.

[pmontra]

Non only the ease of digging but also it being self-sustaining: it doesn't need reinforcements in roofs and walls. In modern times there is something similar in Coober Pedy, Australia.

[AdmiralAsshat]

Well my mind immediately went to the premise of A Boy and His Dog or Space Battleship Yamato where the surface was nuked and irradiated, but, might be a little premature for that.

[balentio]

Antiochus was not exactly a nice guy if your beliefs happened to not be his.

[MomoXenosaga]

Religious tolerance is not mankind's strong point. Even in the Netherlands which prides itself on religious freedom it wasn't until 1848 Catholics were allowed to build churches again. It wasn't a popular move.