Caracalla's Inscription ( tr, Gülek Kitabesi, also called ''İskender Kitabesi'') is a rock-carved

ancient Roman In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

inscription on the

Taurus Mountains The Taurus Mountains ( Turkish: ''Toros Dağları'' or ''Toroslar'') are a mountain complex in southern Turkey, separating the Mediterranean coastal region from the central Anatolian Plateau. The system extends along a curve from Lake Eğirdir ...

, southern Turkey dedicated to the Roman emperor

Caracalla Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Lucius Septimius Bassianus, 4 April 188 – 8 April 217), better known by his nickname "Caracalla" () was Roman emperor from 198 to 217. He was a member of the Severan dynasty, the elder son of Emperor S ...

Location

The inscription is situated at the Cilician Gates ( tr, Gülek Boğazı), which is located north of Tarsus district in Mersin Province. Formerly visible to the passers-by on the highway, it is not the case today due to the elevated level of the motorway O.21 constructed on place later on. The location is accessible by a staircase next to the motorway, it is also accessible taking the exit at

Akçatekir Akçatekir is a town in Adana Province, Turkey. Geography Akçatekir is in the rural area of Pozantı District which is a part of Adana Province. The town is from Pozantı and from Adana. Akçatekir is situated along the valley of Çakıt on ...

and following the regional road east of the motorway southwards about .

Etymology of the inscription

Locally, it is dubbed as the "İskender Kitabesi" ("Alexander's Inscription"), although

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...

lived about five centuries before Caracalla. The local name was most likely given due to the historical fact that Alexander the Great (reigned 331–323 BC) passed through the Cilician Gates proceeding for the Battle of Issus. Even though it revealed after its decryption that the inscription was dedicated to

(reigned 198–217 AD), the wrong local name still persists.

The inscription

The inscription was put up to memorize the road-widening construction of the mountain pass for the troops of Caracalla proceeding to the Parthian war in 216–17 AD. The inscription in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

reads as: : ''Emperor Caesar Marcus Antoninus, the faithful, blessed, invincible Augustus (Caracalla), constructed this road by digging through the mountains.''Semihi Vural: ''Anadolu'nun Kapısı Gülek'', p.74 Below the inscription, there are two lines written in

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

, which reads as ''Border of Cilicia'' marking the border to

Cappadocia Cappadocia or Capadocia (; tr, Kapadokya), is a historical region in Central Anatolia, Turkey. It largely is in the provinces Nevşehir, Kayseri, Aksaray, Kırşehir, Sivas and Niğde. According to Herodotus, in the time of the Ionian Revo ...

in the north. In conjunction with the inscription, there exist several

milestone A milestone is a numbered marker placed on a route such as a road, railway line, canal or boundary. They can indicate the distance to towns, cities, and other places or landmarks; or they can give their position on the route relative to so ...

s to the north of the Cilician Gates. Some of the milestones are now in

Adana Archaeology Museum Adana Archaeology Museum ( tr, Adana Arkeoloji Müzesi) is a museum in Adana that houses the historical heritage of Cilicia in a converted textile factory. It is one of the oldest archaeological museums in Turkey. History Adana Archaeology Mus ...

. The milestones bear the name of the road in Latin as ''Via Tauri'' ("Taurus road").

Destruction of the inscription

In 2020, a part of the inscription was destroyed by treasure hunters.

References

{{Mersin Province History of Mersin Province 210s in the Roman Empire 3rd-century inscriptions Tarsus District Caracalla Latin inscriptions