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Revision as of 21:10, 30 May 2006

Tarsus – also Tarsos (Greek: Ταρσός); Antiochia on the Cydnus (Greek: Αντιόχεια του Κύδνου, Latin: Antiochia ad Cydnum); and Juliopolis – is a city in Cilicia Prima, present day Mersin Province, Turkey, located on the mouth of the Tarsus Cay (Cydnus) which empties into the Mediterranean. The population is 216,382 (2000 census).

History

The pre-historical development of Tarsus reaches back to Neolithic Period. The Neolithic Period is followed by the Kalkeolitic and Early Bronze Age settlements. It was ruled by the Hittites, Assyria, Persia, Macedon, the Seleucids, Rome, Arabs, Byzantium, Crusaders, Armenia, the Seljuks and the Ottomans. The city may have been of Semitic origin and is mentioned several times in the campaigns of Shalmaneser I and Sennacherib. The 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.

The ancient name is Tarsos, probably derived from the God Tarku. During the Seleucid period it was renamed Antiochia on the Cydnus by Antiochus IV Epiphanes. It was located at the crossing of several important trade routes, linking southern Anatolia to Syria and the Pontus region. As the ruins are covered by the modern city, it is not very well known archaeologically.

Tarsos has been suggested as a possible identification of city of Tarshish to which the prophet Jonah flees in the Bible, though Tartessos in Spain has also been suggested. (See further the entry for Jonah in the Jewish Encyclopedia.)

When in the year 401 BC, Cyrus the Younger marched against Babylon, the city was governed by King Syennesis in the name of the Persian monarch. Tarsos was the seat of a Persian satrap from 400 BC onwards, later part of the Seleucid Empire. Tarsus was already Greek and had a tendency to become more and more hellenized. Alexander the Great came near meeting his death there after a bath in the Cydnus. By its literary schools, Tarsos rivalled Athens and Alexandria. It was then comprised in the kingdom of the Seleucids, took the name of Antiochia on the Cydnus (Antioch), and the Bible (2 Maccabees 4:30) records its revolt against Antiochus IV Epiphanes, about 171 BC. Pompey subjected it to Rome. After the Roman conquest, it became capital of the province of Cilicia (Caput Ciliciae), the metropolis, where the governor resided. To flatter Julius Caesar it took the name of Juliopolis; it was there that Cleopatra and Mark Antony met, and it was the scene of the celebrated feasts which they gave during the construction of their fleet. In 66 its inhabitants received Roman citizenship. When the province of Cilicia was divided it remained the civil and religious metropolis of Cilicia Prima. Later, it was eclipsed by nearby Adana, but the town remained important.

Tarsus was the birthplace of Saint Paul (Acts 9:11; 21:39; 22:3), who took refuge there after his conversion (Acts 9:30), and was joined by Barnabas (Acts 11:25). It is probable that at the time a Christian community was established there, although the first bishop, Helenus, dates only from the third century; he went several times to Antioch in connection with the dispute concerning Paul of Samosata (Eusebius, Hist. eccl., VI, xlvi; VII, v). Le Quien (Oriens christianus, II, 869-76) mentions twenty-two of its bishops, of whom several are legendary. Among them are 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. From the sixth century the metropolitan see of Tarsus had seven suffragan bishoprics (Echos d'Orient, X, 145); the Greek Orthodox archdiocese is again mentioned in the tenth century (op. cit., X, 98), and has existed down to the present day, being comprised in the Patriarchate of Antioch. Owing to the importance of Tarsus many martyrs were put to death there, among them being Saint Pelagia, Saint Boniface, Saint Marinus, Saint Diomedus, Saint Cerycus and Saint Julitta; several Roman emperors were interred there – namely, Marcus Claudius Tacitus, Maximinus, and Julian the Apostate.

The Arabs took possession of Tarsus from the seventh century and kept it until 965, when Nicephorus Phocas annexed it again to the Byzantine Empire. The union continued for nearly a century. The crusaders captured it again from the Turks in 1097, and then it was disputed between Latins, Greeks, and Armenians of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia (Kingdom of Lesser Armenia); these last became definitively masters until about 1350, when it was sold to the Egyptians. Since then Tarsus has belonged to the Muslims. 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.

Notable residents

St. Paul Church
St. Paul Church

Climate

Lake Berdan
Lake Berdan

In Tarsus, at the junction point of the land and maritime routes connecting Çukurova to Central Anatolia in the Mediterranean Region, the typical Mediterranean climate is dominant.

Template:Districts of Mersin  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainHerbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)