Anchiale ( grc, Ἀγχιάλη) or Anchialeia was a historic city of

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 ...

now a part of modern

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 ...

, Turkey. It was inhabited during the

Hellenistic In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...

, Roman, and Byzantine eras.

History

The main informant about Anchiale was

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could see ...

. According to Strabo the city had been constructed by Sardanapalus, the last king of Assyria. Strabo further claims that Sardanapalus' tomb is in Anchiale. The city was conquered by Alexander the Great just before the battle of Issus.

Geography

The exact location of Anchiale is debatable. Like most historians British captain

Francis Beaufort Rear-Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort (; 27 May 1774 – 17 December 1857) was an Irish hydrographer, rear admiral of the Royal Navy, and creator of the Beaufort cipher and the Beaufort scale. Early life Francis Beaufort was descended f ...

identifies Anchiale with Karaduvar, now a neighbourhood of Mersin at . But he adds that the amount of ruins in Karaduvar is too few for an important ancient city.Sir Francis Beaufort:''Karamanya'', (tr:Ali Neyzi-Doğan Türker), Akdeniz medeniyetleri Araştırma Enstitüsü, , p.265

Ruins

As Beaufort points out there are only a few ruins. There are a tumulus, several house ruins and an aqueduct from the original city. Bath mosaic is from Roman times.

References

{{Mersin Province Archaeological sites in Mersin Province, Turkey Former populated places in Turkey Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Turkey Roman towns and cities in Turkey Populated places of the Byzantine Empire Akdeniz District