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TARSUS (mod. Tersous)
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See also:TARSUS (mod. Tersous) , an See also:ancient See also:city in the fertile See also:plain of See also:Cilicia. The small See also:river Cydnus flowed through the centre of the See also:town, and its cool See also:swift See also:waters were the boast of the city (though visitors like See also:Dion See also:Chrysostom thought it far inferior to the See also:rivers of many See also:Greek cities). The See also:harbour, Rhegma, below the city, was originally a See also:lagoon, though it is said also to be supplied by springs of its own. The Cydnus flowed into the See also:lake (where were the arsenals) and thence into the See also:sea, about ro m. from Tarsus. The city is first mentioned on the See also:Black See also:Obelisk, as captured by the Assyrians along with the See also:rest of Cilicia about 85o B.C. It was probably an old Ionian See also:colony, settled (like Mallus) under the direction of Clarian See also:Apollo. Its importance was due (I) to its excellent and safe. harbour, (2) to its See also:possession of a fertile territory, and (3) to its command of the first waggon-road made across See also:Mount See also:Taurus, which was cut through the Cilician See also:Gates, a narrow See also:gorge Too yards in length, originally only wide enough to carry the waters of a small affluent of the Cydnus. The greatness of Tarsus rested therefore mainly on the two See also:great See also:engineering See also:works, the harbour and the road. That the latter was due to Greek See also:influence is shown by the See also:village Mopsucrene on the See also:southern approach to the Gates: See also:Mopsus was the See also:prophet of Clarian Apollo. Few See also:mountain passes have been so important in See also:history as this road (seventy See also:miles in length) over Taurus. Many armies have marched over it; those of See also:Cyrus the Younger, See also: Tarsus is most accessible from the sea or from the See also:east. Even after the " Cilician Gates " were cut, the See also:crossing of Taurus was a difficult operation for an invading See also:army (as See also:Xenophon and See also:Arrian show). Hence Tarsian history (where not determined by Greek maritime relations) has been strongly affected by Semitic influence, and Dion Chrysostom, about A.D. 112, says it was more like a Phoenician than a Hellenic city (which it claimed to be). After the See also:Assyrian See also:power decayed, princes, several of whom See also:bore the name or See also:title Syennesis, ruled Tarsus before and under See also:Persian power. Persian satraps governed it in the 4th See also:century B.C.; and struck coins with Aramaic legends there. The Seleucid See also:kings of See also:Syria for a See also:time kept it in a See also:state of See also:servitude; but it was made an autonomous city with additional citizens (probably Argive Greeks and See also:Jews) by See also:Antiochus IV. Epiphanes in 171 B.C.; and then it began to strike its own coins. It became one of the richest and greatest cities of the East under the See also:Romans after 104 B.C., and was favoured by both Antony and See also:Augustus: the reception there by the former of See also:Cleopatra, who sailed up to the city in a magnificent See also:vessel, was a striking historic event. In spite of its See also:oriental See also:character, it maintained a university where Greek See also:philosophy was taught by a See also:series of famous Tarsians, who influenced See also:Roman history. See also:Chief among them was See also:Athenodorus Cananites (q.v.), teacher and friend of Augustus for many years, a See also:man of courage and power, who remodelled the Tarsian constitution (making it timocratic and oligarchic). The picture which See also:Philostratus, in his See also:biography of See also:Apollonius Tyanensis, draws of the Tarsians as vain, luxurious and illiterate, represents the See also:general Graeco-Roman conception of the city. The See also:legend which was believed to be graven on the statue of See also:Sardanapalus at Anchiale (See also:r2 m. S.W. from Tarsus) might have been the See also:motto of most Tarsians: " Eat, drink, See also:play, for nothing else is See also:worth this (gesture)" (referred to by St See also:Paul, 1 See also:Cor. xv. 32). The statue was probably an archaic See also:work, with Hittite or See also:cuneiform inscription, representing a figure with right See also:hand raised: the letters and the attitude were misunderstood; the figure was supposed to be snapping the fingers and uttering this expression of effeminate and weary sensualism. Tarsus depended for its greatness on See also:commerce, See also:peace and orderly See also:government. It was not a strong fortress, and could not be defended during the decay of the See also:empire against See also:barbarian invasion. The See also:Arabs captured the whole of Cilicia shortly after A.D. 66o; and Tarsus seems to have been a ruin for more than a century after the See also:conquest. But See also:Harun al-Rashid rebuilt its walls in 787, and made it the See also:north-western See also:capital of the Arab power in the See also:long See also:wars against the See also:Byzantine empire. All the raids, which were made in See also:Asia See also:Minor regularly, See also:year by year, sometimes twice in one year, through the Cilician Gates and past the fortress Loulon, issued through the north See also:gate of Tarsus, which was called the " Gate of the See also:Holy See also:War." The western gate is still See also:standing, and is misnamed " St Paul's Gate." The See also:caliph See also:Mamun died on such a foray in A.D. 833, having caught a chill at a great See also:spring north of the Cilician Gates beside Ak-Keupreu. He was brought to Tarsus where (like the See also:emperor See also:Tacitus) he died, and (like the emperor See also:Julian) was buried. His illness recalls the See also:fever which Alexander the Great contracted from bathing in the Cydnus. Nicephorus See also:Phocas reconquered Tarsus and all Cilicia for the empire in A.D. 965. In the First Crusade See also:Baldwin and See also:Tancred captured Tarsus A.D. 1099, and there the two leaders had a serious See also:quarrel. It formed See also:part of the See also:kingdom of Lesser See also:Armenia fcr great part of the three centuries after A.D. 1180, and it was fortified by See also:Leo II. and Hethoum I. But See also:Turkoman and See also:Egyptian invaders disputed its possession with the Greek emperors and Armenian kings and with one another. Finally it passed into See also:Ottoman hands about the beginning of the 16th century. Most of the successive masters of Tarsus had their own legends about its origin, usually with a religious character justifying and explaining their possession of the city. The Assyrian Sardanapalus, the native gcd Sandan, the Greek See also:hero See also:Perseus, the Greek See also:god Heracles, are all called founder of Tarsus. See also:Iapetus, i.e. Japhet, See also:father of Javan " the Ionian," was called the grandfather of Cydnus, who gave name to the river. A curious ceremony was practised in See also:honour of Sandan (identified with the Greek Heracles): a pyre was periodically erected and the god was burned on it. It is said that the See also:original name of the city was Parthenia, which suggests that a virgin goddess was worshipped here as in so many shrines of Asia Minor and Syria: the virgin goddess See also:Athena appears on Tarsian coins. The See also:Baal of Tarsus is named in Aramaic letters on many of its coins in the Persian See also:period. The ruins of the ancient city are very extensive, but they are deeply buried, and make little or no See also:appearance above the See also:surface except in the Dunuk Tash (popularly identified as the " See also:Tomb of Sardanapalus," a See also:monument which, however, was at Anchiale, not at Tarsus). This shapeless See also:mass of See also:concrete was probably the substructure of a Graeco-Roman See also:temple, from which the See also:marble coating has been removed. The See also:modern town has considerable bazaars and See also:trade ; but the See also:climate is very oppressive, owing to the proximity of vast marshes which occupy the site of the harbour and the See also:lower part of the original Cyndus course. The river was diverted from its former course by Justinian in the 6th century. The emperor's intention was only to carry off the surplus waters in time of See also:flood and prevent inundations in the city, not to deprive Tarsus of what was itschief See also:pride and boast; but gradually the neglect of subsequent centuries allowed the channel in the city to become blocked by See also:accumulation of See also:soil, and now the whole See also:body of See also:water flows in the new channel east of the city, except what is See also:drawn off by an artificial See also:irrigation course to water the gardens on the western See also:side of the city. The See also:population is about 25,000, including, besides See also:Turks and Syrian Moslems, alsc Armenians, Greeks, Syrian Christians, Persians, Afghans, Ansaria (mostly gardeners) and even See also:Hindus. There is a large See also:American See also:mission school called St Paul's See also:Institute, giving a very comprehensive See also:education to Armenians and Greeks drawn from an extensive See also:district. The literature regarding Tarsus is scanty, and few ancient See also:inscriptions have been published. See W. B. See also:Barker, See also:Lares and See also:Penates; G. F. See also: ; See also:Waddington in Bulletin de Corr. See also:Hell., vii. pp. 282 ff. ; See also:Ramsay, Cities of St Paul (1907), pp. 85—245, and "Cilicia, Tarsus and the Great Taurus Pass " in See also:Geographical See also:Journal (1903), pp. 357–410; R. Heberdey and A. Wilhelm, Reisen in Kilikien " (in the Denkschriflen d. kais. Akademie Wien, 1896, xliv.), with works of other travellers, especially V. See also:Langlois and See also:Macdonald Kinneir. See also:Callander in Journal of Hellenic Studies, 1904, pp. 58 if., studied Dion Chrysostom's two Tarsian Orations. (W. M. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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