Turkey - Ancient City of Anazarbos

The property, known as Anavarza in Turkish, located within the boundaries of Dilekkaya Village today at 30 km south of the District of Kozan in Adana, is covering a 100 ha. area spread at the foot of a rocky (Dilekkaya) in 220 m. height. This rocky formation is an extension of the Taurus in the ‘Cilicia in plain’. The noted first historical events about Anazarbos and its vicinity are dated back to the 1st century BC, extracted through the coins with the scripts of ‘Anazarbeon’. The Romans, who sovereigned the whole Mediterranean in this period, has left the ruling of the Ceyhan basin to an old pirate leader Tarkondimotos after the famous operation that General Pompeius subdued the pirates. Most of the pirates were killed, while the left were taken under control by settling them in a number of places. The capital of this region where Tarkondimotos has been appointed as a vassal king was Hierapolis-Kastabala. After a short period, in 19 AD, the city of Anazarbos was founded during the great Roman emperor Augustus’ visit to Tarkondimotos and its name was dedicated to Agustus as Kaisareia. By then, the capital Hierapolis-Kastabala kept its importance as a religious centre in the region, while Anazarbos started to coming into prominence as the political and economic centre of the Tarkondimotos Kingdom.