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.