Divriği
district in Sivas, Turkey
Divriği (Kurdish: Dîvrîgî; Armenian: Տեւրիկ, romanized: Tevrik) is a town of eleven thousand people in Sivas Province, Turkey, and is the district capital of Divriği District. The town lies on a gentle slope on the south bank of the Çaltısuyu river, a tributary of the Karasu river which flows into the Euphrates.
The 13th-century Great Mosque and Hospital of Divriği are on UNESCO's World Heritage List by virtue of the exquisite carvings and architecture of both buildings. There are large iron mines nearby and the town is on the Turkish rail network.
History
The Hittites may have mined and made use of the iron ore in the area.
In the 9th century the town was known as Abrik and controlled by the Paulicians with the support of Arabs and the emir of Malatya. It had been founded ca. 850 by Karbeas, the leader of the Paulicians, a heretical Armenian sect. The Paulicians fortified it and used it as refuge and the capital of their state during the ninth century.
Later called Tephrike (Greek: Τεφρική) it was recaptured by the Byzantine Empire during the reign of Emperor Basil I and was temporarily named Leontokome (after Emperor Leo VI) and made into a thema.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Divriği” is district in Sivas, Turkey. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Divriği, district and Sivas, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “district in Sivas, Turkey” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q743587. VIAF identifies the subject as 718145424699086830840. Authority coordinates are 39.371, 38.114. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Divriği”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Divriği primary sources, Divriği archive and Divriği research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Divriği”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Divriği” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.