History of Ankara Phrygia, after an earthquake which severely damaged that city in antiquity. In Phrygian tradition, King Midas was venerated as the founder of Ancyra, but Pausanias mentions that the city was actually far older, in line with the present-day knowledge that we have on its history. There is the possibility that at the time Midas came the city was essentially unpopulated. In the same way by modern standards it could be argued that Ankara did not exist before Atatürk moved the capital of Turkey to the city, since its population before the capital came was almost non-existent in comparison to what
Ankara Turkish as "Engürü". The form "Angora" is preserved in the names of breeds of many different kinds of animals, and in the names of several locations in the US (see Angora). Ankara has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen "Csa") which closely borders a hot summer Mediterranean continental climate (Köppen "Dsa"). Under the Trewartha climate classification, Ankara has a middle latitude steppe climate ("BSk"). Due to its elevation and inland location, Ankara has cold, somewhat snowy winters and hot, dry summers. Rainfall occurs mostly during the spring and autumn. Ankara lies in USDA Hardiness zone 7b, and its annual average precipitation