Akşehir (Ott. Aqşehir), or "White City," is a town in the province (il) of Konya in present-day central Turkey. It lies at an elevation of 1020 metres in the northern foothills of the Sultan Mountains, nine kilometres south of Akşehir Lake, in well-irrigated, fertile surroundings. Known as Philomelium in antiquity, the town was renamed Akşehir after Turks began settling in the region from the twelfth century onward. Reportedly, Sultan Alaaddin Kaykubad (Sulṭān ʿAlā' al-Dīn Kayqubād I, r. 616-34/1219-37) granted property rights in Akşehir to