Even as birthplace of Sufi poet, Jelaleddin Rumi, and Suleiman the Magnificent - whose legend reached far into Europe from the height of the Ottoman Empire - Western opinions about Turkey have long been shaped by mixture of fact, fantasy and fear. In Europe, from the middle-ages up through the nineteenth century, those opinions have taken the form of either literature or news, and for the most part, have been either misguided projections or false accounts associating Islam with a foreign, exotic, and rapidly advancing Ottoman Empire.

Over the course of its many thousand year history, the Anatolian penninsula has been alternately dominated by both Eastern and Western influences. Many a conquering empire and fortune-seeking migrant have entered that continental gateway between Europe and Asia. Turkey continues to be enriched by legacies they left behind. In Turkey, intertwined yet seemingly incompatible cultures have often found unique and harmonious expression.

Sharing a corner of the Mediterranean with neighbors, the Greeks, Turkey has also had a part to play in the folklore of the region. Although previously believed to be myth, recent studies have turned up the possibility of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey having been based on real events in Greek history. Homer himself is thought to have been born in modern-day Ismir.