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CHAP. 22. (27.)—CILICIA AND THE ADJOINING NATIONS.

But let us now return to the coast of Syria, joining up to which is Cilicia. We here find the river Diaphanes1, Mount Crocodilus, the Gates2 of Mount Amanus, the rivers Androcus3, Pinarus4, and Lycus5, the Gulf of Issos6, and the town of that name; then Alexandria7, the river Chlorus8, the free town of Ægæ9, the river Pyramus10, the Gates11 of Cilicia, the towns of Mallos12 and Magarsos13, and, in the interior, Tarsus14. We then come to the Aleian Plains15, the town of Cassipolis, Mopsos16, a free town on the river Pyramus, Thynos, Zephyrium, and Anchiale17. Next to these are the rivers Saros18 and Cydnus19, the latter of which, at some distance from the sea, runs through the free city of Tarsus, the region of Celenderitis with a town20 of similar name, the place where Nymphæum21 stood, Soli of Cilicia22, now called Pompeiopolis, Adana23, Cibyra24, Pinare25, Pedalie26, Ale, Selinus27, Arsinoë28, Iotape29, Doron, and, near the sea, Corycos, there being a town30, port, and cave31 all of the same name. Passing these, we come to the river Calycadnus32, the Promontory of Sarpedon33, the towns of Holmœ34 and Myle, and the Promontory and town of Venus35, at a short distance from the island of Cyprus. On the mainland there are the towns of Myanda, Anemurium36, and Coracesium37, and the river Melas38, the ancient boundary of Cilicia. In the interior the places more especially worthy of mention are Anazarbus39, now called Cæsarea, Augusta, Castabala40, Epiphania41, formerly called Œniandos, Eleusa42, Iconium43, Seleucia44 upon the river Calycadnus, surnamed Tracheotis, a city removed45 from the sea-shore, where it had the name of Holmia. Besides those already mentioned, there are in the interior the rivers Liparis46, Bombos, Paradisus, and Mount Imbarus47.

1 So called probably from the Greek διαφανὴς, "transparent." It has not been identified, but it was no doubt a small stream falling into the Gulf of Issus.

2 Or "Passes." As to Mount Amanus, see C. 18 of the present Book.

3 Parisot suggests that this is the Chersos of Xenophon, the modern Kermes.

4 The Deli-Su of modern times according to D'Anville, the Maher-Su according to Pococke.

5 Pliny is the only writer that mentions this river Lycus.

6 The Gulf of Issos is now called the Gulf of Scanderoon or Iskenderun, from the town of that name, the former Alexandria ad Issum, mentioned here by Pliny. In the vicinity of Issus, Alexander defeated the army of Darius. The exact site of the town appears not to have been ascertained.

7 Which still preserves its name in Iskenderun, on the east side of the Gulf. It probably received its name in honour of Alexander the Great.

8 Or the "Green" River. Its identity is unknown.

9 Now called Ayas Kala or Kalassy. It was a place, in the Roman period, of some importance.

10 The modern river Jihan.

11 Or "Passes" of Cilicia, through the range of Taurus.

12 Called Mallo in modern times, according to Hardouin and Dupinet.

13 At the mouth of the Pyramus, according to Tzetzes.

14 Famous as the birth-place of St. Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles. Its ruins still bear the name of Tersus. During the civil war it took part with Julius Cæsar, and from him received the name of Juliopolis.

15 They lie between the rivers Djihoun and Syhoun, according to Ansart.

16 Now called Messis, according to D'Anville and Mannert. The site of Cassipolis, or Cassiopolis according to some readings, is unknown.

17 The sites of Thynos and Zephyrium appear to be unknown. Anchiale was situate on the coast, upon the river Anchialcus, according to the geographer Stephanus. Aristobulus, quoted by Strabo, says that at this place was the tomb of Sardanapalus, and on it a relief in stone representing a man snapping the fingers of the right hand. He adds, "It is said that there is an Assyrian inscription also, recording that Sardanapalus built Anchiale and Tarsus in one day, and exhorting the reader to eat, drink, &c., as everything else is not worth That, the meaning of which was shown by the attitude of the figure." Athenæus however cites Amyntas as his authority for stating that the tomb of Sardanapalus was at Nineveh. Leake is of opinion that a mound on the banks of the river beyond the modern villages of Kazalu and Karaduar forms the remains of Anchiale.

18 The modern Syhou, according to Ansart.

19 Now called the Tersoos Chai. It is remarkable for the coldness of its waters, and it was here that Alexander the Great nearly met with his death from bathing when heated, in the stream.

20 Now Chelendreh. It was a strong place on the coast, situate on a high rock nearly surrounded by the sea. None of its ruins seem older than the early period of the Roman empire. The Turks call it Gulnare.

21 Probably so called from a temple to the Sea Nymphs there.

22 To distinguish it from Solæ or Soli of Cyprus. It was situate between the rivers Cydnus and Lamus, and was said to have been colonized by Argives and Lydians from Rhodes. Alexander mulcted its inhabitants of 200 talents, for their adhesion to the Persians. It was celebrated as the birth-place of the Stoic philosopher Chrysippus, the comic poet Philemon, and the poet and astronomer Aratus. Its name is perpetuated in the word Solecism, which is said to have been first applied to the corrupt dialect of Greek spoken by the inhabitants of this city, or as some say, of Soli in Cyprus.

23 It still retains its ancient name, and is situate on the western side of the Sarus, now the Syhoun or Syhan. Pompey settled here some of the Cilician pirates whom he had conquered.

24 Leake, in his 'Asia Minor,' p. 196, says, "The vestiges of Cibyra are probably those observed by Captain Beaufort upon a height which rises from the right bank of a considerable river about eight miles to the eastward of the Melas, about four miles to the west of Cape Karáburnu, and nearly two miles from the shore." Ptolemy mentions Cibyra as an inland town of Cilicia Trachea, but Scylax places it on the coast.

25 Its ruins are still called Pinara or Minara. It was an inland city of Lycia, some distance west of the river Xanthus, and at the foot of Mount Cragus.

26 Or perhaps 'Podalie.' Of it nothing seems to be known.

27 Or Selinuntum, now Selenti, on the coast of Cilicia. In consequence of the death here of the Emperor Trajan, it received the name of Trajanopolis. Of Ale, if that is the correct reading, nothing whatever is known.

28 On the coast of Cilicia; mentioned by Strabo as having a port. Leake places it at or near the ruined castle called Sokhta Kalesi, below which is a port, and a peninsula on the east side of the harbour covered with ruins.

29 In the district of Selenitis. It has been identified with the site of the modern fortress of Lambardo. It is also suggested that it may have been the same place as Laerte, the native city of Diogenes Laertius. Of Doron nothing seems to be known.

30 Its ruins are supposed to be those seen by Leake near the island of Crambusa. Here the walls of an ancient city may still be traced, and a mole of unhewn rocks projects from one angle of the fortress about 100 yards across the bay.

31 Strabo describes this cave as a vast hollow of circular form, surrounded by a margin of rock on all sides of considerable height; on descending it, the ground was found full of shrubs, both evergreens and cultivated, and in some parts the best saffron was grown. He also says that there was a cave which contained a large spring, from which arose a river of clear water which immediately afterwards sank into the earth and flowed underground into the sea. It was called the Bitter Water. This cave, so famed in ancient times, does not appear to have been examined by any modem traveller. It was said to have been the bed of the giant Typhon or Typhœus.

32 Now known as the Ghiuk-Su.

33 Supposed to be the same as the modern Lessan-el-Kahpeh.

34 Or Holmi, on the coast of Cilicia Tracheia, a little to the south-west of Seleucia. Leake thinks that the modern town of Aghaliman occupies the site of Holmœ.

35 Probably the same place as the Aphrodisias mentioned by Livy, Diodorus Siculus, and Ptolemy.

36 On the headland now called Cape Anemour, the most southerly part of Asia Minor. Beaufort discovered on the point indications of a considerable ancient town.

37 Its site is now called Alaya or Alanieh. This spot was Strabo's boundary-line between Pamphylia and Cilicia. Some slight remains of the ancient town were seen here by Beaufort, but no inscriptions were found.

38 Identified by Beaufort with the modern Manaugat-Su.

39 So called, either from an adjacent mountain of that name, or its founder, Anazarbus. Its later name was Cæsarea ad Anazarbum. Its site is called Anawasy or Amnasy, and is said to display considerable remains of the ancient town. Of Augusta nothing is known: Ptolemy places it in a district called Bryelice.

40 Identified by Ainsworth with the ruins seen at Kara Kaya in Cilicia.

41 Pompey settled some of the Cilician pirates here after his defeat of them. It was thirty miles east of Anazarbus, but its site does not appear to have been identified.

42 An island off the shore of Cilicia, also called Sebaste.

43 Some of the MSS. read "Riconium" here.

44 Its ruins are called Selefkeh. This was an important city of Seleucia Aspera, built by Seleucus I. on the western bank of the river Calycadnus. It had an oracle of Apollo, and annual games in honour of Zeus Olympius. It was a free city under the Romans. It was here that Frederick Barbarossa, the emperor of Germany, died. Its ruins are picturesque and extensive.

45 Meaning that the inhabitants of Holmia were removed by Seleucus to his new city of Seleucia.

46 Said by Vitruvius to have had the property of anointing those who bathed in its waters. If so, it probably had its name from the Greek word λιπαρὸς, "fat." It flowed past the town of Soloë. Bombos and Paradisus are rivers which do not appear to have been identified.

47 A branch of the Taurus range.

The Natural History. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.

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  • Cross-references to this page (23):
    • The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, IOTAPE (Aidap) Turkey.
    • The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, KELENDERIS, later Gilindire (Aydincik) Rough Cilicia Turkey.
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), CA´SIUS MONS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), HOLMI
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), JO´TAPE
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), LI´PARIS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), LYCUS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), LYSIMACHIA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), MAGARSA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), MALLUS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), MELAS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), MOPSUE´STIA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), MYLAS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), NYMPHAEUM
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), PEDA´LIE
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), PINARA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), PY´RAMUS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), SARPE´DON
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), SEBASTE
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), SELI´NUS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), SOLI
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), THYNOS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), ZEPHY´RIUM
  • Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page (8):
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