The term Asia Minor (Latin: Asia Minor) refers to a landscape - not a state or any other political entity. Although Asia Minor was at times part of the sphere of influence of powerful peoples such as the Hittites, Persians, and Romans in ancient times, their dominion did not extend solely to Asia Minor but reached far beyond it. On the other hand, local tribes such as the Onoer, Aiolians, Lydians, Phrygians, Carian, and Cilicians sometimes controlled individual areas of this region simultaneously, so that in retrospect, Asia Minor appears over millennia as a subject of the most diverse power interests, a transit area for massive armies, and above all, as a melting pot of very different cultures. Accordingly, the ancient testimonies that have survived from this region, unique in its political, cultural, and religious diversity, are rich and varied.