Altından geçme (literally: "Do not pass under") is a gate in the city wall of Tarsus, Mersin Province, Turkey, originally part of a

Roman bath In ancient Rome, (from Greek , "hot") and (from Greek ) were facilities for bathing. usually refers to the large imperial bath complexes, while were smaller-scale facilities, public or private, that existed in great numbers throughout ...

Geography

Tarsus is situated in

Çukurova Çukurova () or the Cilician Plain (''Cilicia Pedias'' in antiquity), is a large fertile plain in the Cilicia region of southern Turkey. The plain covers the easternmost areas of Mersin Province, southern and central Adana Province, western Osman ...

(ancient

Cilicia Cilicia (); el, Κιλικία, ''Kilikía''; Middle Persian: ''klkyʾy'' (''Klikiyā''); Parthian: ''kylkyʾ'' (''Kilikiyā''); tr, Kilikya). is a geographical region in southern Anatolia in Turkey, extending inland from the northeastern coas ...

) between Adana and

Mersin Mersin (), also known as İçel, is a large city and a port on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast of southern Turkey. It is the provincial capital of Mersin Province, Mersin (İçel) Province. It is made up of four municipalities and dis ...

. The bath is located in the urban fabric of Tarsus. It is situated to the north of Tarsus Old Mosque and Tarsus Grand Mosque and to the east of Saint Paul's well at .

History

The bath was built in the 2nd or 3rd century during the Roman Empire. It was a big complex, most of which was destroyed during the earthquakes in the 6th century. The unaffected eastern part of the building was later used as a glass workshop during the Byzantine Empire.Mersin Tıurism page
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Details

The building material is rubble stone and the cement is Khorosan mortar. The bath used the water from Berdan River (ancient Cydnus), which was close by. However, because of constant floods, Byzantine Emperor Justinian I (reigned 527-565) had a channel constructed at the east of the city to facilitate easier flow. Thus presently the river is about away. A part of the southern wall was bored during the construction of an urban road. The maximum width of the so formed gate is and the height is . The popular name of the gate is ''Altından geçme'' ("Do not pass under") referring to insecure appearance of the gate.

References

External links

(for Tarsus history)

(for images) {{DEFAULTSORT:Altindan gecme Ancient Roman buildings and structures in Turkey Archaeological sites in Mersin Province, Turkey Tarsus, Mersin Cilicia (Roman province) City gates