Aegae or Aigai ( grc, Αἰγαὶ), or Aegaeae or Aigaiai (Αἰγαῖαι), or Aegeae or Aigeai (Αἴγεαι), was a town on the coast 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 coa ...

, on the north side of the

Bay of Issus The Gulf of Alexandretta or İskenderun ( tr, İskenderun Körfezi) is a gulf of the eastern Mediterranean or Levantine Sea. It lies beside the southern Turkish provinces of Adana and Hatay. Names The gulf is named for the nearby Turkish city ...

. It is now separated from the outlet of the

Pyramus Pyramus and Thisbe are a pair of ill-fated lovers whose story forms part of Ovid's ''Metamorphoses''. The story has since been retold by many authors. Pyramus and Thisbe are two lovers in the city of Babylon who occupy connected houses. Their ...

(the modern Ceyhan) by a long narrow estuary called

Gulf of Alexandretta The Gulf of Alexandretta or İskenderun ( tr, İskenderun Körfezi) is a gulf of the eastern Mediterranean or Levantine Sea. It lies beside the southern Turkish provinces of Adana and Hatay. Names The gulf is named for the nearby Turkish city ...

. In Strabo's time it was a small city with a port. Aegae was a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

town, but the origin of it is unknown. A Greek inscription of the Roman period has been discovered there; and under the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

dominion it was a place of some importance.

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historiography, Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his t ...

calls it Aegeae. It was Christianised at an early date, and while no longer retaining a residential bishop, remains a

titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbish ...

of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, under the name of Aegeae. Its site is located near the modern

Yumurtalık Yumurtalık (meaning "egg nest") is a resort town and a district in the Adana Province of Turkey. It was formerly called Aegeae, Ayas, Lyeys or Laiazzo. It is a Mediterranean port at a distance of about from Adana city. Yumurtalık's population do ...

People

Zenobios and Zenobia The Holy Martyrs Zenobios and Zenobia (died 290; Greek:Ζηνόβιος/Ζινόβιος κα Ζηνοβία; Σινόβιος κα Σινοβία; Latin: Zenobius et Zenobia, Cyrillic alphabet: Зиновий и Зиновия) are recognized by ...

(d. ), bishop of Aegae and his sister, martyrs and Eastern Orthodox saints

References

Populated places in ancient Cilicia Former populated places in Turkey Greek colonies in Anatolia Yumurtalık Catholic titular sees in Asia {{AncientCilicia-geo-stub