Present-day Turkey has been inhabited by modern humans since the late Paleolithic period and contains some of the world's oldest Neolithic sites.[50][51] Göbekli Tepe is close to 12,000 years old.[50] Parts of Anatolia include the Fertile Crescent, an origin of agriculture.[52] Other important Anatolian Neolithic sites include Çatalhöyük and Alaca Höyük.[53] Neolithic Anatolian farmers differed genetically from farmers in Iran and Jordan Valley.[54] These early Anatolian farmers also migrated into Europe, starting around 9,000 years ago.[54][55][56] Troy's earliest layers go back to around 4500 BC.[53] Map of the Hittite Empire at its greatest extent, with Hittite rule c. 1300 BC Anatolia's historical records start with clay tablets from approximately around 2000 BC that were found in modern-day Kültepe.[57] These tablets belonged to an Assyrian trade colony.[57] The languages in Anatolia at that time included Hattian, Hurrian, Hittite, Luwian, and Palaic.[58] Hattian was a language indigenous to Anatolia, with no known modern-day connections.[58][59] Hurrian language was used in northern Syria.[58] Hittite, Palaic, and Luwian languages were "the oldest written Indo-European languages",[60] forming the Anatolian sub-group.[61][c] Hattian rulers were gradually replaced by Hittite rulers.[57] The Hittite kingdom was a large kingdom in Central Anatolia, with its capital of Hattusa.[57] It co-existed in Anatolia with Palaians and Luwians, approximately between 1700 and 1200 BC.[57] As the Hittite kingdom was disintegrating, further waves of Indo-European peoples migrated from southeastern Europe, which was followed by warfare.[65] The Thracians were also present in modern-day Turkish Thrace.[66] It is not known if the Trojan War is based on historical events.[67] Troy's Late Bronze Age layers matches most with Iliad's story.[68] Early classical antiquity Main article: Classical Anatolia See also: Phrygia, Lydia, Lycia, Caria, Urartu, Achaemenid Empire, and Hellenistic period Lycian Way is a 760 kilometers (470 mi) long hiking path in Southwestern Turkey.[69] Around 750 BC, Phrygia had been established, with its two centers in Gordium and modern-day Kayseri.[70] Phrygians spoke an Indo-European language, which was closer to Greek than Anatolian languages.[61] Phrygians shared Anatolia with Neo-Hittites and Urartu. Luwian-speakers were probably the majority in various Anatolian Neo-Hittite states.[71] Urartians spoke a non-Indo-European language and their capital was around Lake Van.[72][70] Urartu and Phrygia fell in seventh century BC.[70][73] They were replaced by Carians, Lycians and Lydians.[73] These three cultures "can be considered a reassertion of the ancient, indigenous culture of the Hattian cities of Anatolia".[73] Before 1200 BC, there were four Greek-speaking settlements in Anatolia, including Miletus.[74] Around 1000 BC, Greeks started migrating to the west coast of Anatolia. These eastern Greek settlements played a vital role in shaping the Archaic Greek civilization;[70][75] important cities included Miletus, Ephesus, Halicarnassus, Smyrna (now İzmir) and Byzantium (now Istanbul), the latter founded by colonists from Megara in the seventh century BCE.[76] These settlements were grouped as Aeolis, Ionia, and Doris, after the specific Greek groups that settled them.[77][78] Further Greek colonization in Anatolia was led by Miletus and Megara in 750–480 BC.[79] The Greek cities along the Aegean prospered with trade, and saw remarkable scientific and scholarly accomplishments.[80] Thales and Anaximander from Miletus founded the Ionian School of philosophy, thereby laying the foundations of rationalism and Western philosophy.[81] The Library of Celsus in Ephesus was built by the Romans in 114–117.[82] Cyrus attacked eastern Anatolia in 547 BC, and Achaemenid Empire eventually expanded into western Anatolia.[73] In the east, the Armenian province was part of the Achaemenid Empire.[70] Following the Greco-Persian Wars, the Greek city-states of the Anatolian Aegean coast regained independence, but most of the interior stayed part of the Achaemenid Empire.[73] Two of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, and the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, were located in Anatolia.[83] Following the victories of Alexander in 334 BC and 333 BC, the Achaemenid Empire collapsed and Anatolia became part of the Macedonian Empire.[73] This led to increasing cultural homogeneity and