Geography
Located on the mouth of the Tarsus Çay (
Cydnus) which empties into the
Mediterranean Sea, Tarsus is a junction point of land and sea routes connecting the
Cilician plain (today called
Çukurova), central
Anatolia and the Mediterranean sea. The climate is typical of the
Mediterranean region, summers very very hot, winters chilly and damp.
Tarsus has a long history of commerce and is still a commercial centre today, trading in the produce of the fertile Çukurova plain, and also Tarsus is a thriving industrial centre refining and processing that produce for export. Industries include agricultural machinery and spare parts, textiles, fruit-processing, brick building and ceramics.
Agriculture is an important source of income, half of the land area ot district is farmland (1,050 km²) and most of the remainder is forest and orchard. The farmland is mostly well-irrigated, fertilised and managed with the latest equipment.
[
edit] Etymology
The ancient name is Tarsos, (
Greek: Ταρσός) possibly derived from a pagan god, Tarku; at other times the city was named Tarsisi; Antiochia on the Cydnus (
Greek: Αντιόχεια του Κύδνου,
Latin: Antiochia ad Cydnum); and Juliopolis. [Տարսոն, Darson] in Armenian.
[
edit] History
[
edit] Antiquity
[
edit] Foundation and prehistory
Excavation of the mound of Gözlükule reveals the prehistorical development of Tarsus reaches back to the
Neolithic Period and continues unbroken through
Chalcolithic and
Early Bronze Ages.
The settlement was located at the crossing of several important trade routes, linking
Anatolia and beyond to
Syria. As the ruins are covered by the modern city, it is not very well known archaeologically. The city may have been of
Semitic origin, and is mentioned as Tarsisi in the campaigns of
Esarhaddon, as well as several times in the campaigns of
Shalmaneser I and
Sennacherib. A Greek legend connects it with the memory of
Sardanapalus (Ashurbanipal), still preserved in the Dunuk-Tach, called 'tomb of Sardanapalus', a monument of unknown origin.
Stephanus of Byzantium quotes Athenodorus of Tarsus as relating another legend:
“
Anchiale, daughter of
Iapetus, founded Anchiale (a city near Tarsus): her son was
Cydnus, who gave his name to the river at Tarsus: the son of Cydnus was Parthenius, from whom the city was called Parthenia: afterwards the name was changed to Tarsus.
”
However much of this legend of the foundation of Tarsus appeared in the Roman era and none of it is reliable; the geographer
Strabo records that Tarsus was founded by people from
Argos who were exploring this coast. Another legend states that the winged horse
Pegasus was lost and landed here hurting his foot and thus the city was named tar-sos (the sole of the foot). Other candidates for legendary founder of the city include the hero
Perseus,
Triptolemus son of the earth-goddess
Demeter (doubtless because the countryside around Tarsus is excellent farmland). Later the coinage of Tarsus bore the image of
Hercules due to yet another tale in which the hero was held prisoner here by the local god,
Sandon. Tarsos has been suggested as a possible identification of the biblical
Tarshish, where the prophet
Jonah wanted to flee, but
Tartessos in Spain is a more likely identification for this. (See further
[1])
[
edit] Early antiquity, Greece and Persia
See also:
Cilicia (satrapy)In historical times, the city was first ruled by the
Hittites, followed by
Assyria, and then the
Persian Empire. Tarsus was the seat of a Persian
satrapy from 400 BC onward. Indeed
Xenophon records that in 401 BC, when
Cyrus the Younger marched against
Babylon, the city was governed by King
Syennesis in the name of the Persian monarch.
Alexander the Great came through with his armies in 333 BC and came near meeting his death here after a bath in the Cydnus. By this time Tarsus was already Greek, and as part of the
Seleucid Empire it became more and more Hellenized. Strabo praises the cultural level of Tarsus in this period with its philosophers, poets and linguists. The schools of Tarsus rivaled
Athens and
Alexandria.
2 Maccabees (4:30) records its revolt in about 171 BC against
Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who had renamed the town Antiochia on the Cydnus. In his time the library of Tarsus held 200,000 books, including a huge collection of scientific works.
[
edit] Rome
Pompey subjected it to Rome and Tarsus became capital of the Roman province of
Cilicia (Caput Ciliciae), the metropolis where the governor resided. To flatter
Julius Caesar, it took the name Juliopolis; it was here that
Cleopatra and
Mark Antony met, the scene of the celebrated feasts they gave during the construction of their fleet. In 66 BC, the inhabitants received Roman citizenship.
When the province of Cilicia was divided, Tarsus remained the civil and religious metropolis of Cilicia Prima, a grand city with palaces, marketplaces, roads and bridges, baths, fountains and waterworks, a gymnasium on the banks of the
Cydnus, a stadium and the church of St Paul. Tarsus was later eclipsed by nearby
Adana, but remained important as a port and shipyard. Several Roman emperors were interred here;
Marcus Claudius Tacitus,
Maximinus, and
Julian the Apostate.
[
edit] Christianity
Tarsus was the birthplace of
Saint Paul (
Acts 9:11; 21:39; 22:3), who returned here after his conversion (Acts 9:30). From here
Barnabas retrieved him to help with the work in Syrian Antioch (Acts 11:25). Already by this time a
Christian community probably existed, although the first recorded bishop,
Helenus, dates only from the
third century; he went several times to
Antioch in connection with the dispute concerning
Paul of Samosata. Later
bishops of Tarsus included
Lupus, present at the
Council of Ancyra in 314; Theodorus, at the
Council of Nicaea in 325; Helladius, condemned at the
Council of Ephesus, and who appealed to the
pope in 433; above all the celebrated exegete Diodorus, teacher of
Theodore of Mopsuestia and consequently one of the fathers of
Nestorianism.
[2] From the
sixth century the metropolitan see of Tarsus had seven suffragan bishoprics;
[3] the
Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople archdiocese is again mentioned in the
tenth century (
[4]), and has existed down to the present day, part of the
Patriarchate of Antioch.
Owing to the importance of Tarsus, many martyrs were put to death here, among them being
Saint Pelagia,
Saint Boniface,
Saint Marinus,
Saint Diomedus,
Saint Quiricus and Saint Julitta.
At about the end of the
tenth century, the Armenians established a diocese of their rite, which still exists;
Saint Nerses of Lambroun was its most distinguished representative in the
twelfth century.
A cave in Tarsus is one of a number of places claiming to be the location of the legend of the
Seven Sleepers, common to Christianity and Islam.
[
edit] Islam and beyond
The Tarsus region was annexed by the Forces of
Rashidun Caliphate under the command of
Khalid ibn Walid in the
637, retaining it until 965, when
Nicephorus Phocas returned it to the
Byzantine Empire for nearly a century. The area was lost to the
Seljuk Turks, recaptured in 1097 during the
Crusades and then disputed between Latins, Greeks, and Armenians of the
Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia (Kingdom of Lesser Armenia); these last became definitively masters until about 1360, when it was captured by the
Ramazanoğlu Turks. Finally the area was brought under the control of the
Ottomans by
Selim I in 1517.
In the Middle Ages Tarsus was renowned throughout the Middle East, a number of Arab writers praised it as a beautiful and well-defended city, its city walls being in two layers with five gates and earthworks outside, surrounded by rich farmland, watered by the river and the lake. By 1671 the traveller
Evliya Çelebi records "a city on the plain, an hour from the sea, surrounded by strong walls two-storeys high, moated on all sides, with three distinct neighbourhoods inside the walls".
Despite its excellent defences Tarsus was captured from the Ottomans in 1832 by the
Mamluks of
Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt, son of
Muhammad Ali, and for 8 years remained in the hands of the Egyptians, who began growing cotton on the surrounding plain. Upon the return of the Ottomans this cotton drove a substantial growth in the economy of the area, due to world demand for the crop during the
American Civil War. A new road was built to the port in
Mersin and the city of Tarsus grew and thrived. Still today many large houses in the city stand as reminders of the wealth generated here during this period. However after being a port for 3,000 years at the end of the 19th century due to neglect, Tarsus no longer had access to the sea, and the delta became a swamp. At this point Tarsus was a typical Ottoman city with communities of Muslim Turks and Christian Greeks and
Armenians. At the founding of the
Turkish Republic in the 1920s the swamp was drained, the River Berdan was dammed to build Turkey's first hydro-electric power station, and irrigation, roadworks and a railway brought the economy of Tarsus back to life, with new factories, particularly producing textiles.
[
edit] Life in Tarsus today
Tarsus has slightly more in the way of culture (cinema, theatre etc.) than most Turkish country towns but in many ways still has a small town feel--people walk in the road rather than on the sidewalk. Predictably the people of the mountain forests in the hinterland have an even quieter rural existence.
The local cuisine includes:
hummus;
şalgam (pickled turnips);
tantuni (a sandwich of grilled meats; the tiny pizzas called "fındık lahmacun"; and
cezerye (a carrot sweet).
[
edit] Places of interest
Tarsus has a great many ancient sites of interest (and much more in need of restoration and research). The best known include:
Cleopatra Gate in Tarsus
Cleopatra Gate - to the west of the city, the only ancient city gate still standing, where Anthony and Cleopatra entered the city in 41 BC, though the "restoration" of this structure has involved covering much of it over with shiny new stone (see
[2] for a picture of the gate before the work was done).
The Roman bridge of Justinian over the Berdan River. Still in good condition.
Tarsus Museum - contains lots of ancient coins and a severed mummified arm.
Sites of religious interest and even pilgrimage...
The church and well of St Paul.
The tomb of the
Seven Sleepers, busy place of pilgrimage for Muslims today.
The mosque said to be the burial place of the
Prophet Daniel.
And from the Turkish era...
The old baths - the dark brown spots on the white marble walls are said to be the bloodstains of
Shah Meran, the legendary Snake King who was killed in an ambush in the baths.
Tarsus American College - founded in the Ottoman period, still active today.
"
Nusret", the mine layer used to defend the straits before the
Battle of Gallipoli is being restored in Tarsus, it will be part of a memorial park to those lost in the fighting.
And places of natural beauty include...
Tarsus Waterfall - since the construction of the Berdan dam the water of the Tarsus river has been distributed in canals for irrigation, with the result that the waterfall can now be seen only in seasons of very heavy rainfall.
[
edit] Notable residents
Antipater,
Stoic philosopher
Chrysippus, Stoic philosopher
Mark AntonyCleopatraPaul the Apostle, Christian apostle, saint and missionary, was born here and returned for a period later in life.
Tarsus is one of a number of cities that claims to be the burial place of
Bilal ibn Rabah, first
muezzin, or caller to prayer, in Islam.
Caliph
Al-Ma'mun died near Tarsus.
Lokman the Physician
Journalist
Oral Çalışlar was born in Tarsus.
Saint Nerses of Lambroun, Armenian Catholicos
Tarsus Idman Yurdu is a low ranking football team.
Sarı-Lacivert
Cumali Yağcı
![[2]](http://www.abu.nb.ca/Courses/Pauline/TarsusGate2.jpg){kind=link}