Anatolia Antiqua

The Links between the Coastal Cities of Western Rough Cilicia and
the Interior during the Roman Period
Keith Hopwood

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Hopwood Keith. The Links between the Coastal Cities of Western Rough Cilicia and the Interior during the Roman Period. In:
Anatolia Antiqua, Tome 1, 1991. pp. 305-310;

doi : https://doi.org/10.3406/anata.1991.1164

https://www.persee.fr/doc/anata_1018-1946_1991_num_1_1_1164

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 Keith HOPWOOD

THE LINKS BETWEEN THE COASTAL CITIES OF WESTERN

ROUGH CILICIA AND THE INTERIOR
DURING THE ROMAN PERIOD

Our initial impression of the economic basis The cities of the coast were centres of trade and
of the coastal cities of Rough Cilicia is that it indeed possessed ship-owners of some
was based on the exploitation of local and distinction. We must now consider what objects
trade passing through the Cyprus strait. might have been traded and how these objects
Such a view is well-established in ancient and could have been obtained.
modern authors . Even so, the means by which At first sight, an entrepôt function for the
this wealth was obtained are elusive. Harbour- Cilician cities appears surprising. Their direct
dues may have produced some state-revenue ; hinterland was the Taurus Mountains, an
accommodation of travellers and the provision extremely rugged area, rising to some 2000
of trans-shipment facilities may also have given metres in the interior. As such it was (and still
rise to wealth for both individuals and the is) an area of scanty agricultural resources which
Nevertheless, we must admit that was unable to support its population without
these sources of revenue are largely hypothetical considerable ingenuity and diversification.
in our present state of knowledge. Yet the Cilicians diversified into banditry or left the
harbour-facilities were important : Hamaxia and region to serve as soldiers in the Roman army .
Laertes, both set back from the coast on ridges It would seem that the region had insufficient
of the Taurus, have port-facilities on the coast2. resources to support its own population by
Coastal-works are visible at Syedra (below the peasant-farming and could therefore be
acropolis), Iotape and Anemurium. As yet none expected to export little.
of these harbour-works has received detailed Even so, given the social structure of the
investigation. ancient Greek city , one would expect the
Clearly mercantile activities were important rural hinterlands of the cities to be
in these cities. When the Cietae attacked dominated by the estates of large landowners,
Anemurium in 51 AD the principal targets of whose dedication to a conspicuously urban and
their revolt were "mercatores et navicularios". hellenized way of life would generate a demand

1) For ancient evidence see Caes : B.C., Ill, 107 ; Lucan : Phars, VIII, 259 ; Tac : Hist, II, 98 ; Pliny : HN, II, 127.
2) Both attested in ancient sources. For Hamaxia see Strabo, XIV, 5, 2 ( = 668C): Stadiasmus, 208, where the harbour is
Aunesis. Heberdey and Wilhelm (1896) p. 136 locate the site to the west of Alanya where "Verfallen Gebaude aus schlechtem
Bruchsteinmauerwerk stehen rechts und links am Wege". This site, set clearly by Heberdey and Wilhelm on a "strandebene" is
traduced by Bean and Mitford (1962), p. 187 as "a small fort on a rocky height". I inspected these ruins in April 1985 and
a quay, bath house, aqueduct and various other structures. The site, which occupied a large bay, must still be a good
for Aunesis, the port of Hamaxia.
For Laertes see Strabo, XIV, 5, 3 (=669c). The site has been located at Mahmutlar Kôyù by Bean and Mitford (1970) p. 94
following Corancez (1816), III, 307. The present inland location of the site need be no bar to this identification as there has been
much deposition of material washed down from denuded upland slopes. For details of this process in the Mediterranean cf. Vi-
ta-Finzi (1969).
3) Tac, Ann, XII, 55.
4) Cf. Hopwood (forthcoming a and b).
5) References collected in Hopwood (1986), p. 345.
6) As explained by de Ste Croix (1981), pp. 9-19.
306 Keith HOPWOOD

for luxury goods such as mosaics, objets d'art, seems to have been directly inland to Kalinôren
fine Greek wines and other delicacies purchased (Titiopolis), thence via the Sandana valley to
by the surplus of their estates. There are Be§kuyu and Kirkkuyu (where milestones and
in Ammianus to large villas in eastern the remains of a mansio have been found) ,
Pamphylia and remains of one are visible to the winding its way via îrnebol (Eirenopolis) and
north of the modern coast-road as it passes the the Gôk Su (Calycadnus) valley to Ermenek
area of Cibyra . Although there are examples in (Germanicopolis). The road seems then to have
the territories of Cagrae9 and of the site known headed by an unknown route to Zengibar Kalesi
as Uzunkale , none are yet known in the (Isaura). Ermenek/Germanicopolis is clearly the
territories of our coastal cities. The epigraphic major node on this route, and we shall further
record of these cities, however, preserves the discuss its importance in the area later.
names of eminent families, whose status and Selinus and Cestrus are the focal points on
hellenism , reflected by the well-appointed the coast for routes from Lamos and Julio-
necropoleis of these cities , would lead them to sebaste (Adanda Kalesi and Asar Tepe) and the
demand luxury goods to express their status site now known as Direvli. There is also a route
Wealth to purchase these goods to Sivasti and Hayrados along the Biçki Çayi
must have been drawn from the estates in the valley.
chora of the cities. Coracesium has an extensive Laertes lies at the head of a major inland
chora between. itself and the Dim Çayi valley (its route, paved in Seljuk and Ottoman times and
likely boundary with Laertes). Laertes itself has almost certainly used in antiquity. The route
good upland territory in its immediate vicinity passes along the watershed between the Dim
which exhibits the remains of terraces, while Çayi and the Sapa Dere then drives inland via
further agricultural land is available on the §ihu§aklan to the upper Gôk Su (Calycadnus) at
more gentle slopes leading down to its port at Tinllar Yaylasi, thence along the eastern ridge
Mahmutlar Kôyu. Syedra controls a fertile chora of the Tahtali Dag to rejoin the Gôk Su at
with villages (Domalan Tepe and Asar Tepe, Gùney Kôprii which is the southernmost site in
Hocalar) . lotape, Selinus and Cestrus have the complex centred on Gevne1 . Thence the
access to agricultural land also. Anemurium route passes over the Hazardik Dag to Hadim
controls an extensive plain in which lies modern and, ultimately, Konya.
Anamur. Stretches of road survive along this route
Imports could therefore be bought, above Laertes, and along the Calycadnus below
from the local sale of agricultural Guney Kôprii. Gevne itself was a major
surplus and the extraction of rents and dues in early Ottoman times1 . The clustering
from the peasantry. We must turn now to the of small-scale settlements suggests that the site
exports of the region. had a similar nodal function in antiquity. These
The location of these cities on embayments routes, even if unpaved, would have been
not only affords them space for a chora, but also by pack animals which, in any case,
gives them control of river valleys and therefore constituted the major form of transport in
accessible routes to the interior. The most this area .
route today is that from Anemurium Having outlined the more important routes
now followed by the modern road to Ermenek to the interior, we must now consider what pro
and Mut. It is likely that an ancient road ducts might be exported from there by means of
this route. The main ancient route, however, the coastal cities. In the early Roman period, we

7) Amm., XXVII, 6.
8) Just west of the lncekum Motel.
9) Emerye Kalesi, Sôler Kalesi, cf. Bean and Mitford (1970), pp. 28-29.
10) Uzunkale cf. Bean and Mitford (1970), p. 29.
11) Reflected in their adoption of Greek names and their transaction of puulic business in Greek.
12) For Anemurium cf. Alfôldi-Rosenbaum (1971). For Antiochia-ad-Cragum, Selinus, lotape and Syedra, cf. Rosenbaum
(1967), pp. 49-66.
13) Bean and Mitford (1970), pp. 108-110.
14) Bean and Mitford (1970), pp. 189-190.
15) Bean and Mitford (1970), pp. 127-129.
16) Erder and Faroqhi (1980).
17) Bulliet (1975).
 COASTAL CITIES OF WESTERN ROUGH CILICIA 307

hear much of the lumber trade. Cilician timber few tantalising exceptions to the south. The
was considered good for shipbuilding and Pliny stated that the Isaurians "came down
to timberless Egypt throughout the from these region to the sea at Anemurium .
Hellenistic period18 and was donated by Marcus Sites classified by Mitford as "Isaurian" are
Antonius to Cleopatra to provide timber for the known in the hinterland of Gazipa§a24. Such a
Egyptian fleet that fought at Actium. We hear spread corresponds to no immediately obvious
from Strabo that Aunesis, the port of Hamaxia, geographical division : the spread of 'Isaurian'
was a location for the transshipment of timber . sites does not correspond to a known physical
Today also the hinterland of Gazipa§a is known entity or tribal location. This should not
for its timber, although this does not represent surprise us, given the scant regard for ethnicity
the ancient vegetation cover, but the work of the displayed by the Romans in their drawing-up of
Turkish Ministry of Forestry (T.C. Orman provincial boundaries ,but there may be a
Bakanhgi): a timely warning not to read modern different explanation.
practices back into the ancient world. The Many of the so-called 'Isaurian' monuments
modern activity thus represents an illusion of known to us in the Southern Taurus are tombs
continuity. or cemeteries. Seen as such, they represent the
The major exported commodities from tombs of Isaurians temporarily resident in the
Rough Cilicia were products derived from sheep area. This temporary residence suggests
and goats; in particular goats' hair cloth . The ; that of peoples from the north
implication is that then, as now, pastoralism was competing with southerners for grazing. The
important in the economy of Rough Cilicia. In heartland of the Isaurian' monuments lies on
an area with thin soil and a considerable range the high peaks untenable in winter such as
of altitude, the rearing of sheep and goats Dibekta§i and Tosunta§i. The Isaurians seem to
implies a system of transhumance. Such a system have practised inverse transhumance, based on
exists today, and has been elucidated for the their summer pastures and incursing into the
west of our region by Xavier de Planhol 21 . In winter pastures of the Cilician coastal cities.
antiquity, such flocks would largely consist of If this is the case, then districts such as
sheep and goats owned by the urban elites Gevne become extremely important as checks at
controlled by shepherds in some form of the inroads of Isaurian shepherds. The mixture
relationship : either of hireling of cultures here suggests some kind of
or slave-shepherd . The flocks would have in normal times, which may lead to the
to spend the summer on the Yaylas which today transference of pastoral products for export to
for the coastal cities are well inland. Gevne, for the coast.
example, is the yayla of Demirtas, (ancient 'Normal times' is the important phrase. In
Syedra). These urban-controlled flocks would the Roman Empire, Cilicia/Isauria had the
have to compete for pasture with those of the reputation of being a bandit stronghold . Not
Isaurian shepherds. unjustly : there were outbreaks of revolt in AD
At present, much remains unclear about the 6, 36, 51, perhaps two more in the third century,
social structure of inland Rough Cilicia which and others in 354, 359, 367-8, 375-6, 403 and
we denote today by the name of its Diocletianic 469 . These reflect occasions when the
province, Isauria. In terms of settlement, ruins broke down, when the Isaurian
exhibiting features of the "Isaurian" pattern are pastoralists, together with disaffected locals,
confined to inner Rough Cilicia. Yet there are a burst down onto the coastal cities. On one of

18) Strabo, XIV, 5, 3 ( = 669c).

19) Strabo, XIV, 5, 2 ( = 668c).
20) Columella : Praef, 26 ; Pliny, N.H., VIII, 201 ; Varro, de R.R., II, 11.
21) de Planhol (1958).
22) For a discussion cf. Hopwood (1986), p. 349.
23) Pliny : N.H., V, 94.
24) Mitford (1980), p. 1249, n. 83.
25) Cf. Walbank(1972).
26) Lucian : Icaromenippus, 16, 771 ; Xenophon of Ephesus : Ëphesiaca, II, 3.
27) A.D. 6 : Dio, LV, 28, 3 ; A.D. 36 : Tac, Ann, I, 4, 1 ; A.D. 51 : Tac, Ann, XII, 55 ; Third century : SHA, Trig. Tyr., XXVI;
Vit. Prob., XVI, 4 ; cf. Zos., I, 69, 2ff ; A.D. 354, Amm. Marc, XIV, 2 ; A.D. 359 : Amm. Marc, XIX, 3 ; A.D. 367-8 : Amm. Marc,
XXVII, 9, 6ff ; Eunapius, fr. 4 (Blockley) ; A.D. 375 : Zos., IV, 20 ; A.D. 403 : Zos. V, 25 ; Sozomen, VIII, 25 ; Philostorgius, IX,
8 ; John Chrysostom Ep., 9, 4 ; Marcellinus Chron, 403 ; Jerome, Ep., 114 ; A.D. 469 : John of Antioch, fr. 206.
308 Keith HOPWOOD

these occasions, a node point other than Gevne, Germanicopolis, or even the sites known today
Germanicopolis, showed its importance. as Gevne.
In 368 AD, the Isaurian rebellion was on the An interesting parallel comes from the far
point of being crushed. The Roman army had west of our region. An eastern Pamphylian city
asserted its superiority on the plains ; it was now on the edge of the Taurus, Casae, had in KXCjxaTa
going to chance its hand in the Isaurian central Isauria34. We also find Colybrassus
At this point, according to Ammianus, (located at Ayasofya on the Susuz Dag north
they [the rebels] asked by means of a truce east of Alanya) adjudicating in a border dispute
that peace between two inland Isaurian villages, Olosada
be granted to them on the advice of the and Thouththourbia35. Admittedly this act of
inhabitants of Germanicopolis, whose wishes arbitration took place within the Hellenistic
were always powerful among them, like period, but its commemoration in the third
standard-bearers in battle. And so, once century AD. suggests that the results and the
hostages had been given, they remained adjudicator still had importance at that period.
quiet, indulging in no hostile action28 One could point to other, more subtle, links.
At this period, Germanicopolis was a legally The cult of the Samothracian mysteries is known
constituted polis. Its relationship with the rebels at Kobusjar in the territory of Cibyra Minor36. A
must be investigated. I have previously futher notice of the cult in our area is at Fasiller
that this influence largely depended in Isauria37. The rarity of the cult suggests that
upon ties of patronage between elite town- it penetrated Isauria by means of coastal hellen-
councillors and the shepherds and the peasants ized centres. Such a process depends on a close
of the region. We can now see how the location interrelationship between coast and hinterland.
of Germanicopolis at a major road junction I hope that this paper has suggested that the
would give futher power to the elites who could links between coast and hinterland in Rough
help or hinder the progress of Isaurian-produ- Cilicia were based on economic
ced pastoral goods to the coast at Anemurium. The cloth products that made the
Control of these routes was of paramount area famous had to be exported through the
importance. The location of the site at Imsi coastal cities. They, in turn, depended for their
Ôren, identified by Bean and Mitford as prosperity on a control of the hinterland. This
Philadelphia 30 , becomes of importance, lying control was precarious, dependent upon middle-
astride the Gôk Su ravine, and controlling the -men located at node points on the routes. It
bridge now known as Yer Kôprii and the road may been strenghened by common philhellenic
down to Claudiopolis (Mut) and Seleuceia sentiments, but its precariousness is shown by
(Silifke). The fortifications on the Yer Kôprù the frequent revolts of the non-hellenized rural
were maintained until the end of our period31. population. The success of this process de
Such was the importance attached to these pended on the relations between the cities of the
routes from the interior. interior and their native populations and the
Management of transhumance routes in the extent to which external cities (like Casae and
early modern period suggests that organisation Colybrassus) could appear as benefactors.
occurred at local level . Local authorities Goods were exported, the system worked. When
liaised with each other to ensure the secure the system did not work, its agents, like the
passage of livestock and their potentially magistrates of Germanicopolis, could ensure
troublesome guides . The influence of coastal that it was restored.
cities may extend to places like Philadelphia, Rough Cilicia therefore, was not a barrier,

28) XXVII, 9, 7.
29) Hopwood (1986) and (1989).
30) Bean and Mitford (1970), pp. 216-217.
31) Bean and Mitford (1979), pp. 219-220.
32) Carrier (1932).
33) On views of shepherd in antiquity see Firmicus Maternus, Mathesis, VIII, 6, 6 ; Lucian, Ignorant Book Collector, 3 ; Var-
ro, R.R., II, X, 3-4.
34) George of Cyprus, Notitia, I, 854-857 (ed. G. Parthey p. 85).
35) Bean and Mitford (1970), pp. 139-140.
36) Bean and Mitford (1970), pp. 69-69.
37) Swoboda, Keil and Knoll (1934), n. 16.
 COASTAL CITIES OF WESTERN ROUGH CILICIA 309

but an important source of access to the

Anatolian Plateau. The true function of the
coastal cities, which they played beyond the end
of our period was to act as entrepots for pro-
-ducts from Cilicia itself and beyond. When Ala
'ud-Din Keykubad fortified Alanya and provided
hans along the road into the interior to Konya,
he was simply moving to the west an established
series of routes which had ensured the
communication of goods and ideas between the
Mediterranean and the Anatolian Plateau.

K. H.

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and des
Heberdey
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and"Reisen
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