Cilicia

[si-lish-uh]

Cilicia, ancient region of SE Asia Minor, in present S Turkey, between the Mediterranean and the Taurus range. It included a high and barren plateau, Cilicia Trachia or Cilicia Tracheia, and a fertile plain, Cilicia Pedias. The area was under the domination of the Assyrian Empire before it became part of the Persian Empire. Greeks early settled on the coast, and Cilicia was hellenized to a great extent. In the Hellenistic period the region was disputed by the Seleucid kings of Syria and the Ptolemaic kings of Egypt. Tarsus and Seleucia (not to be confused with the port of Antioch) were the principal cities. They flourished after the region became part of the Roman Empire (a portion in 102 B.C., but most of it only after Pompey's campaign against the pirates there in 67 B.C.). Later Cilicia was included in the Byzantine Empire and in the 8th cent. was invaded by the Arabs. In 1080, Prince Reuben set up an Armenian state there, which became a kingdom in 1098 and is generally called Little Armenia. The Armenians cooperated with the rulers of the neighboring Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. They maintained their independence against the Turks until 1375, when the Mamluks conquered them. (For the later history of the region, see Armenia.) Cilicia is mentioned in the Bible (Acts 6.9; 21.39; 22.3; Gal. 1.21).

See T. S. Boase, ed., Cilician Kingdom of Armenia (1979).

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Licensed from Columbia University Press

Cilicia

Ancient district, southern Anatolia. The district was located along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea south of the Taurus Mountains. In ancient times it comprised the only land route from Anatolia to Syria, making it a prized territory. Controlled by the Hittites (14th–13th century BC), the Assyrians (8th century), and the Persian Achaemenids (6th–4th century), it later came under Macedonian and Seleucid rule. In the 1st century BC it became a Roman province (see Roman Republic and Empire). The apostle Paul visited the district, which has early Christian monuments. Muslim Arabs occupied it (7th–10th century AD), at the end of which time it was reconquered by Byzantine Empire. It was absorbed by the Ottoman Empire in 1515 and after 1921 became part of the Republic of Turkey.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

Cilicia

Ancient Region of Anatolia Cilicia (Κιλικία)

Location	Southeastern Anatolia
State existed:	16-14th c. BC (as Kizzuwatna) 12-8th c. BC (as Khilikku, Tabal, Quwê) till 546 BC
Language	Luwian
Historical capitals	Tarsos
Roman province	Cilicia

In antiquity, Cilicia (Armenian: Կիլիկիա Greek: Κιλικία, Turkish: Kilikya) now known as Çukurova, was a commonly used name of the south coastal region of the Anatolian peninsula, and a political entity in Roman times. Cilicia extends inland from the southeastern coast of Asia Minor (modern Turkey), due north and northeast of the island of Cyprus and comprises about a third of the land area of modern Anatolia.

Geography

Cilicia extended along the Aegean coast east from Pamphylia, to Mount Amanus (Gavurdağı Mount), which separated it from Syria. North of Cilicia lie the rugged Taurus Mountains that separate it from the high central plateau of Anatolia, which are pierced by a narrow gorge, called in Antiquity the Cilician Gates. Ancient Cilicia was naturally divided into Cilicia Trachea and Cilicia Pedias divided by the Lamas Su. Salamis, the city on the east coast of Cyprus, was included in its administrative jurisdiction. Cilicia was given an eponymous founder in the mythic Cilix, but the historic founder of the dynasty that ruled Cilicia Pedias was Mopsus, identifiable in Phoenician sources as Mpš, the founder of Mopsuestia and protector of an oracle nearby.

Cilicia Trachea ("rugged Cilicia"— Greek: Κιλικία Τραχεία; the Assyrian Khilakku or Khilikku, also sometimes transcribed as Hilakku or Hilikku, from which we get "Cilicia") is a rugged mountain district formed by the spurs of Taurus, which often terminate in rocky headlands with small sheltered harbors, a feature which, in classical times, made the coast a string of havens for pirates (see : Side), but which in the Middle Ages led to its occupation by Genoese and Venetian traders. The district is watered by the Calycadnus and was covered in ancient times by forests that supplied timber to Phoenicia and Egypt. Cilicia lacked large cities.

Cilicia Pedias ("flat Cilicia"— Greek: Κιλικία Πεδιάς; Assyrian Kue), to the east, included the rugged spurs of Taurus and a large coastal plain, with rich loamy soil, now filled with cotton, grain, olives and oranges. Many of its high places were fortified. The plain is watered by the Cydnus (Tarsus Çay), the Sarus (Seyhan) and the Pyramus (Jihun) rivers, each of which brings down much silt. The Sarus now enters the sea almost due south of Tarsus, but there are clear indications that at one period it joined the Pyramus, and that the united rivers ran to the sea west of Kara-tash. Through the rich plain of Issus ran the great highway that linked east and west on which stood the cities of Tarsus (Tarsa) on the Cydnus, Adana (Adanija) on the Sarus, and Mopsuestia (Missis) on the Pyramus.

Early history

Cilicia was settled from the Neolithic period onwards. Dating of the ancient settlements of the region from Neolithic to Bronze Age is as follows: Aceramic/Neolithic 8th & 7th millennium BC;Early Chalcolithic: 5800 BC, Middle Chalcolithic (correlated with Halaf and Ubaid developments in the east): ca. 5400-4500 BC, Late Chalcolithic: 4500- ca. 3400 BC, and Early Bronze Age IA: 3400-3000 BC, EBA IB: 3000-2700 BC, EBA II: 2700-2400 BC,EBA III A-B: 2400-2000 BC.

The area had been known as Kizzuwatna in the earlier Hittite era (2nd millennium BC).

The Cilicians appear as Khilikku in Assyrian inscriptions, and in the early part of the 1st millennium BC were one of the four chief powers of western Asia.

The Persian Empire

Under the Persian empire Cilicia was apparently governed by tributary native kings, who bore a Hellenized name or title of "Syennesis"; but it was officially included in the fourth satrapy by Darius. Xenophon found a queen in power, and no opposition was offered to the march of Cyrus the Younger.

The great highway from the west existed before Cyrus conquered Cilicia. On its long rough descent from the Anatolian plateau to Tarsus, it ran through the narrow pass between walls of rock called the Cilician Gates. After crossing the low hills east of the Pyramus it passed through a masonry (Cilician) gate, Demir Kapu, and entered the plain of Issus. From that plain one road ran southward through another masonry (Syrian) gate to Alexandretta, and thence crossed Mt. Amanus by the Syrian Gate, Beilan Pass, eventually to Antioch and Syria; and another ran northwards through a masonry (Amanian) gate, south of Toprak Kale, and crossed Mt. Amanus by the Amanian Gate, Baghche Pass, to northern Syria and the Euphrates. By the last pass, which was apparently unknown to Alexander, Darius crossed the mountains prior to the battle of Issus. Both passes are short and easy, and connect Cilicia Pedias geographically and politically with Syria rather than with Asia Minor.

Hellenism and Roman Cilicia

Similarly Alexander found the Gates open, when he came down from the plateau in 333 BC; and from these facts it may be inferred that the great pass was not under direct Persian control, but under that of a vassal power always ready to turn against its suzerain.

After Alexander's death it was long a battleground of rival Hellenistic marshals and kingdoms, and for a time fell under Ptolemaic dominion (i.e. Egypt), but finally under that of the Seleucids, who, however, never held effectually more than the eastern half.

Cilicia Trachea became the haunt of pirates, who were subdued by Pompey in 67 BC following a battle at Korakesion (modern Alanya), and Tarsus was made the capital of the Roman province of Cilicia. Cilicia Pedias became Roman territory in 103 BC, and the whole was organized by Pompey, 64 BC, into a province which, for a short time, extended to and included part of Phrygia. It was reorganized by Julius Caesar, 47 BC, and about 27 BC became part of the province Syria-Cilicia Phoenice. At first the western district was left independent under native kings or priest-dynasts, and a small kingdom, under Tarkondimotus, was left in the east; but these were finally united to the province by Vespasian, AD 74. It had been deemed important enough to be governed by a proconsul.

Under Emperor Diocletian's Tetrarchy (circa 297), Cilicia was governed by a Consularis; with Isauria and the Syrian, Mesopotamian, Egyptian and Libyan provinces, formed the Diocesis Orientis (in the third century the African component was split off as diocese Aegyptus), part of the pretorian prefecture also called Oriens ('the East', also including the dioceses Asiana and Pontus, both in Anatolia, and Thraciae on the Balkans), the rich bulk of the eastern Roman Empire.

In the 7th century it was invaded by the Muslim Arabs, who held the country until it was reoccupied by the Byzantine emperor Nicephorus II in 965.

Roman Cilicia exported the goats-hair cloth, Cilicium, of which tents were made. Tarsus was also the birthplace of the early Christian missionary and author St. Paul, writer (or purported writer) of 13 of the 27 writings included in the New Testament.

Armenian kingdom

During the time of the Crusades, the area was controlled by the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia. The Seljuk Turkish invasion of Armenia was followed by an exodus of Armenians westward into the Byzantine Empire, and in 1080, Ruben, a relative of the last king of Ani, founded, in the heart of the Cilician Taurus, a small principality which gradually expanded into the kingdom of Lesser Armenia, or Armenia Minor. This Christian kingdom, surrounded by Muslim states hostile to the Byzantines, had a stormy existence of about 300 years, giving valuable support to the crusaders, and trading with the great commercial cities of Italy. Gosdantin (1095-1100) assisted the crusaders on their march to Antioch, and was created knight and marquis. Thoros I (1100-1123), in alliance with the Christian princes of Syria, waged successful wars against the Byzantines and Seljuk Turks. Levond II (Leo the Great (r. 1187-1219)), extended the kingdom beyond Mount Taurus and established the capital at Sis. He assisted the crusaders, was crowned King by the Archbishop of Mainz, and married one of the Lusignans of the crusader kingdom Cyprus.

Hetoum I (r. 1226-1270) made an alliance with the Mongols, sending his brother Sempad to the Mongol court to submit in person. The Mongols then assisted with the protection of Cilicia from the Mamluks of Egypt, until the Mongols themselves converted to Islam. When Levond V died (1342), John of Lusignan was crowned king as Gosdantin IV; but he and his successors alienated the native Armenians by attempting to make them conform to the Roman Church, and by giving all posts of honor to Latins, until at last the kingdom, falling prey to internal dissensions, succumbed in 1375 to the attacks of the Egyptian Mamluks.

Cilicia Trachea was conquered by the Ottomans in the 15th century, but Cilicia Pedias remained independent until 1515.

Ottoman Empire

French troops occupied Cilicia on 1 January 1919. According to the Treaty of Sèvres signed in 1920, Cilicia was supposed to be a part of French Syria. That treaty had never gone into effect because of the Turkish War of Independence. The French were still there several months after the Cilicia Peace Treaty was signed with the Turkish national movement on 9 March 1921. Fighting had continued.

Republic of Turkey

After the Franco-Turkish war, and consequent battles during Turkish War of Independence the region become part of the Republic of Turkey in 1921 with the Treaty of Lausanne. The modern Turkish provinces Mersin, Adana, and Osmaniye are located in former Cilicia.

Mythological namesake

Greek mythology mentions another Cilicia, as a small region situated immediately southeast of the Troad in northwestern Asia Minor, facing the Gulf of Adramyttium. The connection (if any) between this Cilicia and the much more well-known and well-defined region mentioned above is unclear. This Trojan Cilicia is mentioned in Homer's Iliad and Strabo's Geography, and contained localities as Thebe, Lyrnessus and Chryse. These three cities were all attacked and sacked by Achilles during the Trojan War.