Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/636

 618 CILICIA. indicates the commenoement of the Cilician pUuSi is the Cydnns, which flows past Tarsus {Tertoot), Nearly dae north of Tarsus is a gorge in the lime- stone rock of the mountains, t^ngh which the Gydnns flows from the high range iS the Taurus. Thb difiicult pass, which the Turks call Gdkk Bog- hdZf is that by which the younger Cyrus passed from Dana or Tyana, in Cappadocia, to Tarsus; and it is clearly described by Xenophon (^Anab. i. 2. § 21). This was also the pass by which Alexander entered Cilicia, and the pass which Niger attempted to de- fend against Septimius Severus, who was marching against him from Cappadocia. (Herodian, iii. 8, &c.) But there was another pass between that of La- randa and the Pylae Ciliciae, which is mentioned by Xenophon (Anab. i. 2. § 19). Cyrus was accom- panied in his march from loonium through Lycaonia by the Cilician queen Epyaxa; and on his route through Lycaonia, he sent her with an escort into Cilicia, by the pass between Laranda and the Cilidae Pylae. This is the pass which ^Meads by Kizil Chesmeh and Alan Buzuk, Karahisar and Mezetli, to Soli or Pompeiopolis, and to Tarsus." (Ainsworth, Travels in the Tracks <fc., p. 40.) After passing through the Ciliciae Pylae, Cyrus and his army de- scended into the Level Cilicia, which Xenophon de- scribes as a large, beautiful, well-watered plain, full of all kinds of forest trees and vines. It produced sesame, paniCf millet, wheat, and barley, — which are cultivated there at the present day, — with rice, cotton, and the sugar-cane; the date tree is indige- nous. (Ainsworth,) Xenophon describes the jdain as surrounded by rugged and lofty mountains on all sides from sea to sea; by which expression we must understand that he considered the plain of Cilicia as extending eastward to the place where the Amanus runs down to the sea, and terminates in Cape ffyn- sjfr, or Ras-d-Changkr^ as it is sometimes called. " Cape Karadash (Magarsus) is a white clifl^ about 130 feet high, and is the first interruption of that low sandy beach, which commences near the river Lamas" (Beaufort) This point may be con- sidered as the commencement of the deep bay of Issus, now the gulf of Iskendertm ; the correspond- ing point on the opposite side is Cape Hymyr. The coast of this bay east of Karadash has first a general eastern, and then a north-eastern direction, to the head of the gulf of Issus. " Eastward of Karadash, the same dreaiy waste of sand, inter- spersed with partial inundaUons of water, again recurs, and extends to the river Jyhoon or Jyhan, the ancient Pyramus." (Beaufort.) Immediately north of the outlet of the Pyramus is the bay of Ayas [Aeoab], the northern part of which is " a level plain of firm soil, fmat ten to twenty feet above the sea." (Beaufort.) From the head or most northern part of the gulf of Issus, the coast has a general south direction, nearly as far as Alexandria (^hhenderun) ; and from Ishendenm to C&'pe Hymyr y the direction of the coast is south-west, being nearly parallel to the coast on the opposite side of the bay. The form of the eastern coast is deter- mined by the eastern or Syrian range of Amanus, which has a general southern direction as far as the latitude of Uhendervn^ and then a SW. direction to Cape Hynzyr. There is only a very narrow tract between these mountains and the sea from Cape Hynzyr to the head of the gulf of Issus. The level land at the head of the gulf is the plain of Issus, which is bounded on the north and north-west hy the other range of Amanus, which descends in a SW. CILICIA. direction as far as the lower course of the Pyximu. This range is crossed in going fitnn Mopsnestaa (Misit) to the gulf of Idomdertm ; and the high lands, in fact, descend to the shore of the gulf cf Issus, at a place called Matakh, This appears to be the station (P^opfws) which Strabo mentions as belonging to the Amamdes Pylae, for he desciibea the SW. branch of the Amanus as reaching to Uie seaatthispUuse. [AMAinDES.] These two xai^ea of the Amanus, the eastern or Syrian, and westcm or Cilician, enclose the plain of Issus, and aepanle it from the mors extensive plain to the west^ which we may call the Cilidan. Strabo (p. 676) reckons it a voyage of near 1,000 stadia, du«ct distance from Seleuoda in Pierim, which is the first Syrian city south of Rhosus, to Soli in Cilicia. The real distance is only about 85 English miles. Strabo further says that the south coast of Asia Minor runs eastward from the Rhodian Peraea to the mouth of the Cydnus, and that it then takes a direction nearly £S£. (^l r^ x^<Mcpc^ AraroX^y) as far as Issus, and that firam Issus the coast makes a bend to the south as far as Phoenioe. Now, this is true of the coast as fiur as Cape Kara- dashj but no further; and Strabo's notion of the coast east of Karadash makes the bay of lasus dis- appear altogether. Therefore, the goognfber has either expressed himself very inaccurately, or he was not acquainted with the form of the bay of Issus. The lower part of the plain of Cilicia betvreen the Sams and the Pynunus is the Aleian ('AX^ior ««- Stov), which was cdebnited in the mythi of the Greeks as the place of Bellerophon*s wanderings (/Z. vi. 201). The cavalry of Al^ander, in his Asi- atic campaign, passed through this pUun from Tanas to the Pyramus (Arrian, Anab. ii. 5. § 11). It is seen from the sea by those who follow the coast from the month of the Cydnus to Cape Karadash; and ''as far as the eye could discern, it oonsista entirely of dreary sandhills, interspersed with sballoir kkes." (BeaufDTt) The Cilician plain contains three large rivers. 1 The Cydnus (Tersoos Tchy) is described by Strabo as having its source not frir above Tarsus, psBKing ' through a deep ravine, and then immediately flowing I down to Tarsus ; and the stream is cold and n^d. 1 He makes it only 120 stadia from the Cilician ; boundary on the north to Tarsus, and five stadia from Tarsus to the sea. But the Ciliciae Pylae are about 25 miles NNW. of Tarsus ; and the distance ^ from Tarsus to the present outlet of the river is at least 12 miles, through a level and well cultivated country. The best maps represent it as rising not further north than the Cilidae Pylae, and on the south side of the range of Taurus, now called Bhdgar Dayh, The Cydnus can now only be entered by the smallest boat, the entrance being obstructed by bars; but uiside of the bar ** it is de^ enough, and about 160 feet wide. It was navigable in ancient times up to Tarsus (Pint. Anion, c 26) ; and probably much later. It scans that the progress of the alluvium has been very rapid at the mouth of this river, and this is the only way of explaioii^ Strabo, who says that the Cydnus, at its moatfa, flows into a kind of lake, called Rh^;ma, which bad ancient dockyards, and the lake was the port of Tarsus. Strabo's five stadia from Tarsus were pro- bably reckoned to the Rhegma, which the alluvhun has changed into a sandy plain. But there is some error in the five stadia : the Stadiasmus makes the same distance 70 stadia. The water of the Cydnus is