Cilicia

Cilicia (sĭlĭsh`ə), ancient region of SE Asia Minor, in present S Turkey, between the Mediterranean and the Taurus range. It included a high and barren plateau, Cilicia Trachia or Cilicia Tracheia, and a fertile plain, Cilicia Pedias. The area was under the domination of the Assyrian Empire before it became part of the Persian Empire. Greeks early settled on the coast, and Cilicia was hellenized to a great extent. In the Hellenistic period the region was disputed by the Seleucid kings of Syria and the Ptolemaic kings of Egypt. Tarsus and Seleucia (not to be confused with the port of Antioch) were the principal cities. They flourished after the region became part of the Roman Empire (a portion in 102 B.C., but most of it only after Pompey's campaign against the pirates there in 67 B.C.). Later Cilicia was included in the Byzantine Empire and in the 8th cent. was invaded by the Arabs. In 1080, Prince Reuben set up an Armenian state there, which became a kingdom in 1098 and is generally called Little Armenia. The Armenians cooperated with the rulers of the neighboring Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. They maintained their independence against the Turks until 1375, when the Mamluks conquered them. (For the later history of the region, see Armenia.) Cilicia is mentioned in the Bible (Acts 6.9; 21.39; 22.3; Gal. 1.21).

Bibliography

See T. S. Boase, ed., Cilician Kingdom of Armenia (1979).

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Cilicia

Ancient district, southern Anatolia. The district was located along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea south of the Taurus Mountains. In ancient times it comprised the only land route from Anatolia to Syria, making it a prized territory. Controlled by the Hittites (14th–13th century BC), the Assyrians (8th century), and the Persian Achaemenids (6th–4th century), it later came under Macedonian and Seleucid rule. In the 1st century BC it became a Roman province (see Roman Republic and Empire). The apostle Paul visited the district, which has early Christian monuments. Muslim Arabs occupied it (7th–10th century AD), at the end of which time it was reconquered by Byzantine Empire. It was absorbed by the Ottoman Empire in 1515 and after 1921 became part of the Republic of Turkey.

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Cilicia 

(also Little Armenia), a mountainous region on the upper reaches of the Euphrates, Lycus, andHalys rivers. The formation of the Armenian people and the ancient Armenian language is linked with this territory, which was called the land of the Hayasa in Hittite sources.

It was in Cilicia that the first alliance of tribes headed by the Hays—a designation which is still used as the native name of the Armenian people—was formed. Cilicia became part of the Achaemenid state. Under Alexander the Great, Cilicia came under Macedonian rule, and from A . D. 322 it was an independent kingdom with its capital at Ani-Kamakh. At the end of the second century B. C., Cilicia became part of the realm of Mithridates VI Eupator, king of Pontus, who erected 75 fortified castles in that region. After his death, Cilicia passed from one Roman ruler to another. Its administrative boundaries shifted constantly. Under the emperor Vespasian it became part of the Roman province of Cappadocia; under Diocletian at the end of the third century A. D. it was made into a separate province, and under Theodosius it was divided into two provinces.

REFERENCE

Ocherki istorii SSSR: Pervobytno-obshchinnyi stroi i drevneishie gosudarstva na territorii SSSR. Moscow, 1956.

A. I. BOLTUNOVA and G. KH. SARKISIAN

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Cilicia 

an ancient district in Asia Minor, in the southern part of modern central Turkey. The region was divided into two parts: Cilicia Trachea (the Taurus Mountains) and Cilicia Pedias (the territory adjoining the Mediterranean Sea). The name “Cilicia” is first encountered in Assyrian inscriptions (Hilakku) in the designation “Cilicia the Rugged.” In the second millennium B.C., Cilicia became part of the Hittite empire. From the 12th to sixth centuries B.C., one or more independent kingdoms existed in Cilicia. In the sixth century B.C., the district became part of the Persian Empire of the Achaemenidae. In 333 B.C., Alexander the Macedonian conquered Cilicia. From 297 to 190, the region was under the dominion of the Seleucids. In 102, Cilicia was conquered by Rome, and it was finally pacified in 67 B.C. Around A.D. 200, Cilicia was divided into two provinces: Cilicia I and Cilicia II. In the Middle Ages, Byzantium, the Arabs, and the Seljuks struggled over the district. From 1080 to 1375, the Cilician Armenian state ruled by the Rubenid dynasty existed in the district, until it was seized by the Mamelukes. In 1515 the Turks conquered Cilicia.