Turkey – Mediterranean East (Adana, Hatay, Osmaniye) December 17-19, 2019
HATAY PROVINCE
ANTAKYA (Antioch) (pop 217,000)
It was a populous city of ancient Syria and a major town in south-central Turkey. It lies near the mouth of the Orontes River, about 12 miles (19 km) northwest of the Syrian border.
History. Antioch was founded in 300 BCE by Seleucus I Nicator, a former general of Alexander the Great. The new city soon became the western terminus of the caravan routes over which goods were brought from Persia and elsewhere in Asia to the Mediterranean. Antioch’s strategic command of north-south and east-west roads across northwestern Syria greatly contributed to its growth and prosperity in Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine times. The suburb of Daphne, five miles to the south, was a favourite pleasure resort and residential area for Antioch’s upper classes; and the seaport Seleucia Pieria, at the mouth of the Orontes River, was the city’s harbour.
Antioch was the centre of the Seleucid kingdom until 64 BCE when it was annexed by Rome and was made the capital of the Roman province of Syria. It became the third largest city of the Roman Empire in size and importance (after Rome and Alexandria) and possessed magnificent temples, theatres, aqueducts, and baths. The city was the headquarters of the Roman garrison in Syria, one of whose principal duties was the defence of the empire’s eastern border from Persian attacks. Antioch was also one of the earliest centres of Christianity; it was there that the followers of Christ were first called Christians, and the city was the headquarters of the missionary St. Paul about 47–55 CE.
In the 4th century CE Antioch became the seat of a new Roman office that administered all the provinces on the empire’s eastern flank. Because the church of Antioch had the distinction of having been founded by the apostles Peter and Paul, its bishop ranked with the bishops of the other apostolic foundations—Jerusalem, Rome, and Alexandria (Constantinople [now Istanbul] was accepted in this category later). The bishops of Antioch thus became influential in theology and ecclesiastic politics.
Antioch prospered in the 4th and 5th centuries from nearby olive plantations, but the 6th century brought a series of disasters from which the city never fully recovered. A fire in 525 was followed by earthquakes in 526 and 528, and the city was captured temporarily by the Persians in 540 and 611. Antioch was absorbed into the Arab caliphate in 637. Under the Arabs it shrank to the status of a small town. The Byzantines recaptured the city in 969, and it served as a frontier fortification until taken by the Seljuq Turks in 1084. In 1098 it was captured by the Crusaders, who made it the capital of one of their principalities, and in 1268 the city was taken by the Mamlūks, who razed it to the ground. Antioch never recovered from this last disaster, and it had declined to a small village when taken by the Ottoman Turks in 1517. It remained part of the Ottoman Empire until after World War I, when it was transferred to Syria under French mandate. France allowed the town and surrounding area to rejoin Turkey in 1939.
Remarkably few remains of the ancient city are now visible, since most of them lie buried beneath thick alluvial deposits from the Orontes River. Nevertheless, important archaeological discoveries have been made in the locality. Excavations conducted in 1932–39 in Daphne and Antioch uncovered several fine mosaic floors from private houses and public buildings. Dating largely from the Roman imperial period, many floors represent copies of famous ancient paintings that otherwise would have been unknown. The mosaics are now exhibited in the local Archaeological Museum.
The activities of the modern town are based mainly on the agricultural produce of the adjacent area, including the intensively cultivated Amik plain. The chief crops are wheat, cotton, grapes, rice, olives, vegetables, and fruit. The town has soap and olive-oil factories and cotton ginning and other processing industries. Silk, shoes, and knives are also manufactured.
Hatay Archaeology Museum. This huge museum is over half mosaics from the Roman city of Antioch. Archaeology from Paleolithic times to the Byzantine era, not much of interest except several basalt lions, and a great statue of Suppiluima from the 9th century BC. TL 24
St. Pierre Church. A tentative WHS (15/04/2011), this church is a natural cave on the west side of Mt Staurin (the Mountain of the Cross). It is one of the earliest places where the first Christians of this city met and prayed secretly. The tunnel that once opened to the other side is thought to have served as an escape route through the mountain.
The Acts of the Apostle (11:26) says that Saint Barnabas fetched Saint Paul from Tarsus and in Antioch met here in the church and taught a large number of people. Also in Antioch, the disciples were first called Christians. Later in his letter to the Galatians (2:11-21), Saint Paul says that he met Saint Peter in Antioch and discussed with him the matter of sharing meals between the Jewish and gentile Christians. Christian tradition regards St Peter as the first bishop of the Church founded in this city, an event still annually celebrated on June 29th. The cave began during the medieval centuries after the crusader’s conquest of Antioch in 1098. Mosaic fragments on the floor and traces of wall painting to the right of the altar may date from then. The small pool created by water dripping from the rock served for baptism and is believed to cure sicknesses. In 1963, Pope Paul VI held a service here and declared that a plenary indulgence might be gained at any time by a pilgrimage to the church.
It is a small rock-cut vaulted cave with a constructed front of the stone with two stone pillars supporting peaked domes and 3 arches. A carved stone altar is the only thing inside. There are some niches and an opening (the cave?) that can’t be entered. This is not worth the TL 24 paid to come here.
Vakıflı Köyü. A NM “small town”, this village sits high up on the slopes above Hatay with views down to the Mediterranean in the other direction. It is a fruit-growing paradise with many orange groves and other orchards but not much else.
Vespasianus Titus Tunnel. A tentative WHS (15/04/2014), this is a 2,000-year-old engineering marvel and one of the most magnificent remains of the Roman period– a massive tunnel dug through a mountain that was built to divert the floodwaters threatening the harbour near the ancient city of Seleuceia Pieria in what is now Turkey.
The Titus Tunnel was neither built nor completed by Emperor Titus. The construction of this tunnel, began during the reign of Vespasianus, the father of Titus, during the second half of the 1st century A.D. Although work continued during the reign of Titus (79-81 A.D.), it was only completed during the reign of Antoninus Pius in the 2nd century A.D.
The Titus Tunnel is located in modern-day Samandag-Cevlik, Turkey. During the Roman era, Samandag-Cevlik was known as Seleucia Pieria (Seleucia by the Sea). This ancient city was one of the four cities in the Syrian Tetrapolis, the other three being Antioch by the Orontes, Apamea and Laodicea in Syria. Seleucia Pieria was once an important Roman port city, in which exotic goods from the East were exported to Rome. Perhaps the port’s most well-known ‘exports’ were St. Paul and St. Barnabas, as they were recorded to have sailed from this port on their first missionary journeys. This city was constantly threatened by floods from the nearby mountains. As these waters from the mountains carried silt and mud as they descended, the harbour was inevitably silted up and became inoperative. Although canals were ordered to be built by previous emperors, they were to no avail, as the floods continued.
To solve this problem once and for all, Vespasian decided to build a tunnel by digging through the mountain to divert the floodwaters. This diversion system was built on the principle of closing the front of the stream bed with a deflection cover and transferring the waters through an artificial canal and tunnel. The Titus Tunnel was designed by engineers of the Tenth legion Fratensis, and built by Roman legionaries, sailors, prisoners, and Jewish slaves captured during the Jewish War (66-73 A.D.).
When completed, the Titus Tunnel spanned a distance of 1.4 km. A diversion wall was built at the top to divert the creek. The next section is 88m long, 6-8m wide and 7m tall. Then there is a domed hall followed by another long tunnel open to the air. One walks along the side of the last section, a channel, 630m long. A channel runs along the side to provide drinking water to the town. A cute little arched bridge is at the beginning of this last section.
As the whole tunnel was carved through solid rock, this was a remarkable feat of Roman engineering and ingenuity in solving the challenges faced by its cities and is among the great constructions of the Roman world. It demonstrates that the architectural achievements of ancient Rome are not limited to grand, imposing monuments, such as the Colosseum and the triumphal arches but some of the most significant Roman works can be found in its civic engineering, which provided vital infrastructure in the form of tunnels, cisterns, flood control, and road works.
Bring a headlight or flashlight to navigate the dark top section. TL10
The trail takes off before the covered part of the tunnel to a trekking route that leads past the Besikle Cave, a necropolis with 93 graves in 2 sections, most cut down into the floor to hold two sarcophagi each.
The road does not follow along the coast of the Mediterranean but returns to Hatay and then goes up and over the mountains to Iskenderun.
ISKENDERUN (pop 159,000)
İskenderun, formerly Alexandretta, is a seaport and chief city of İskenderun ilçe (district), Hatay il (province), southern Turkey. Located on the eastern shore of the Gulf of Iskenderun, it lies on or near the site of Alexandria ad Issum, founded to commemorate Alexander the Great’s victory over Darius III at Issus (333 BCE).
The port was an outlet for the medieval and early modern overland trade from Iran, India, and eastern Asia before the development of alternate shipping routes around the Cape of Good Hope and later through the Suez Canal. Traditionally, it was the port for the Ottoman province of Aleppo, now in Syria. After WWII, it grew rapidly through improvement in its port facilities, its choice as a military centre and Turkish naval base on the Mediterranean Sea, the establishment of industries (chiefly fertilizer and steel), and the construction of an oil pipeline from Raman Dağı. By 1955 it had surpassed Antioch in population.
Iskenderun Naval Museum. On the waterfront, this attractive museum has lots of art and uniforms, but the descriptions are too wordy to hold my interest. TL10
ADANA (pop 1,630,000)
Adana is in south-central Turkey on the plain of Cilicia, on the Seyhan River (the ancient Sarus River). An agricultural and industrial centre and the country’s fourth largest city, it probably overlies a Hittite settlement that dates from approximately 1400 BCE, and its history has been profoundly influenced by its location at the foot of the Taurus Mountain passes leading to the Syrian plains.
Conquered by Alexander the Great in 335–334 BCE, it came under the rule of the ʿAbbāsid Arabs at the end of the 7th century CE and changed hands intermittently in the next 600 years until the establishment of the Turkmen Ramazan dynasty in 1378. The Ramazan rulers retained control of local administration even after Adana was conquered by the Ottoman sultan Selim I in 1516. In 1608 Adana was reconstituted as a province under direct Ottoman administration. Adana became a provincial capital in 1867. The principal mosque, the Ulu Cami, dates from 1542.
Adana’s prosperity has long come from the fertile valleys behind it and from its position as a bridgehead on the Anatolian-Arabian trade routes. It is a centre of the Turkish cotton industry and manufactures textiles, cement, agricultural machinery, and vegetable oils. Adana lies on the rail line between Istanbul and Baghdad and is connected by a branch line to the Mediterranean port of Mersin, 32 miles (51 km) southwest, through which its products are shipped. Çukurova University was established at Adana in 1973. Adana is the centre of an agricultural region producing cotton, rice, sesame, oats, and citrus fruits.
Çamlıbel (Camliyayla). In the NM “small town series, this is a residential suburb on the east side of Adana. I could find little of interest but the high-end, multi-storied houses with several balconies were nice.
Sabanci Central Mosque. This spectacular white marble mosque has six minarets each with 3 balconies (I have never seen a mosque with 6 minarets before) and a “wedding cake” of domes and levels. Inside there is an arcade of balconies around 8 columns supporting a succession of half domes – the first level with 8 small and 4 large and a second level with 4 large half domes. All these are separated by muqarnas and lunettes of stained glass windows with every window, column and area of the wall with Islamic floral motif tiles and Quranic script.
Adana Cinema Museum. In a lovely 200-year-old house, every square inch of wall is covered with movie posters and photographs of dashing actors. Also a library of VHS, CDs and books, old projectors and several wax manikens. Free
Taşköprü. One of the earlier extant monuments in the area is a stone bridge 200 metres long spanning the Seyhan River, dating from the time of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I and restored by several Arab rulers of the area in the 8th and 9th centuries. On the right bank of the river is a ruined fortress built by the future ʿAbbāsid caliph Hārūn al-Rashīd in 782. This white limestone pedestrian bridge has 12 small arches and 2 larger ones. The footbed is about 8m wide.
Adana Archaeological Museum. This is another huge, modern space where no expense has been spared with wonderful displays and descriptions – Paleolithic to Byzantine with a section of mediocre Roman mosaics larger than many museums. TL 12
TARSUS (pop 352,000)
Located on the Tarsus River, about 12 miles (20 km) from the Mediterranean Sea coast, Tarsus is an ancient city on the alluvial plain of ancient Cilicia, the birthplace of St. Paul (Acts of the Apostles 22:3). Excavations show that settlements had existed there from Neolithic to Islamic times. Tarsus’s prosperity between the 5th century BCE and the Arab invasions in the 7th century CE was based primarily on its fertile soil, its commanding position at the southern end of the Cilician Gates (the only major pass in the Taurus Mountains), and the excellent harbour of Rhegma, which enabled Tarsus to establish strong connections with the Levant.
The first historical record of Tarsus is its rebuilding by the Assyrian king Sennacherib (705/704–681 BCE). Thereafter, the Achaemenid and Seleucid rule alternated with periods of autonomy. In 67 BCE Tarsus was absorbed into the new Roman province of Cilicia. A university was established that became known for its flourishing school of Greek philosophy. The famous first meeting between Mark Antony and Cleopatra took place there in 41 BCE. It was a cosmopolitan city with Phoenicians, Persians, greeks, Jews and others. Jews arrived in the reign of Antiochus III between 223-187 BC.
During the Roman and early Byzantine periods, Tarsus was one of the leading cities of the Eastern Empire, with an economy based on agriculture and an important linen industry. Modern Tarsus continues to be a prosperous agricultural and cotton-milling centre.
Tarsus Grand Mosque. Built by Ramazanoglu Piri Pasha in 1579. Outside are an octagonal clock tower and one minaret. The courtyard has 16 domes covered with original tiles and supported by 14 round marble columns. A mausoleum is on the western wall. Inside is long and narrow with two sets of arches supporting the flat wood roof. The highlights are the ornate marble minbar and mihrab with muqarnas decoration.
St.Paul Church, St.Paul’s Well and surrounding historic quarters. A tentative WHS: (25/02/2000).
St Paul Church dating from 1850, is a museum since 1994. It has 3 naves with damaged frescoes of Jesus, Mathew, Mark and Luke on the ceiling of the central nave and landscapes and angels on the sides. TL7
St Paul Well (St Paul Kuyusu). In a small park also with some foundations under glass, this is a simple well with a large stone block covering it. There is a modern windlass. TL 7 (again not worth it as you can see it as well from the gate.
St Paul. St. Paul the Apostle, originally named Saul of Tarsus, (born 4 BCE?, Tarsus —died c. 62–64 CE, Rome), was one of the leaders of the first generation of Christians, often considered to be the most important person after Jesus in the history of Christianity. In his day, although he was a major figure within the small Christian movement, he also had many enemies and detractors, and his contemporaries probably did not accord him as much respect as they gave Peter and James. Paul was compelled to struggle, therefore, to establish his worth and authority. His surviving letters, however, have had an enormous influence on subsequent Christianity and secured his place as one of the greatest religious leaders of all time.
Of the 27 books in the New Testament, 13 are attributed to Paul, and approximately half of another, Acts of the Apostles, deals with Paul’s life and works. Thus, about half of the New Testament stems from Paul and the people whom he influenced. Only 7 of the 13 letters, however, can be accepted as being entirely authentic (dictated by Paul himself). The others come from followers writing in his name, who often used material from his surviving letters and who may have had access to letters written by Paul that no longer survive. Although frequently useful, the information in Acts is secondhand, and it is sometimes in direct conflict with the letters. The seven undoubted letters constitute the best source of information on Paul’s life and especially his thought; in the order in which they appear in the New Testament, they are Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, and Philemon. The probable chronological order (leaving aside Philemon, which cannot be dated) is 1 Thessalonians, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, and Romans.
Paul was a Greek-speaking Jew from Asia Minor. His birthplace, Tarsus, was a major city in eastern Cilicia, a region that had been made part of the Roman province of Syria by the time of Paul’s adulthood. Two of the main cities of Syria, Damascus and Antioch, played a prominent part in his life and letters. He was converted to faith in Jesus Christ about 33 CE, and he died, probably in Rome, circa 62–64 CE.
In his childhood and youth, Paul learned how to “work with [his] own hands” (1 Corinthians 4:12). His trade, tent making, which he continued to practice after his conversion to Christianity, helps to explain important aspects of his apostleship. He could travel with a few leather-working tools and set up shop anywhere.
Until about the midpoint of his life, Paul was a member of the Pharisees, a religious party that emerged during the later Second Temple period. Pharisees believed in life after death, which was one of Paul’s deepest convictions. Pharisees were very careful students of the Hebrew Bible, and Paul was able to quote extensively from the Greek translation as it was easy to memorize the Bible.
Paul spent much of the first half of his life persecuting the nascent Christian movement. Whatever his reasons, Paul’s persecutions probably involved travelling from synagogue to synagogue and urging the punishment of Jews who accepted Jesus as the Messiah. Paul was on his way to Damascus when he had a vision that changed his life and convinced Paul that God had indeed chosen Jesus to be the promised Messiah. Three years later he went to Jerusalem to become acquainted with the leading apostles there. After this meeting he began his famous missions to the West, preaching first in his native Syria and Cilicia. During the next 20 years or so (c. mid-30s to mid-50s), he established several churches in Asia Minor and at least three in Europe, including the church at Corinth.
During his missions, Paul realized that his preaching to Gentiles was creating difficulties for the Christians in Jerusalem, who thought that Gentiles must become Jewish in order to join the Christian movement. To settle the issue, Paul returned to Jerusalem and struck a deal. It was agreed that Peter would be the principal apostle to Jews and Paul the principal apostle to Gentiles.
In the late 50s, Paul returned to Jerusalem with the money he had raised and a few of his Gentile converts. There he was arrested for taking a Gentile too far into the Temple precincts, and, after a series of trials, he was sent to Rome. Later Christian tradition favours the view that he was executed there, perhaps as part of the executions of Christians ordered by the Roman emperor Nero following the great fire in the city in 64 CE.
Paul believed that his vision proved that Jesus lived in heaven, that Jesus was the Messiah and God’s Son, and that he would soon return. Moreover, Paul thought that the purpose of this revelation was his own appointment to preach among the Gentiles. The Hebrew prophets, he wrote, had predicted that in “days to come” God would restore the tribes of Israel and that the Gentiles would then turn to worship the one true God. Paul maintained that his place in this scheme was to win the Gentiles, both Greeks and “barbarians”—the common term for non-Greeks at the time (Romans 1:14). Paul asserts that he would save some of Israel indirectly, through jealousy, and that Jews would be brought to Christ because of the successful Gentile mission. Whereas Peter, James, and John, the chief apostles to the circumcised, had been relatively unsuccessful, God had led Paul through Asia Minor and Greece “in triumph” and had used him to spread “the fragrance that comes from knowing him [God]”. Since in Paul’s view God’s plan could not be frustrated, he concluded that it would work in reverse sequence—first the Gentiles, then the Jews.
Paul’s technique for winning Gentiles is uncertain, but one possibility is that he delivered lectures in public gathering places. There is, however, another possibility. Paul conceded that he was not an eloquent speaker. Moreover, he had to spend much, possibly most, of his time working to support himself. As a tent maker, he worked with leather, and leatherwork is not noisy. While he worked, therefore, he could have talked, and once he was found to have something interesting to say, people would have dropped by from time to time to listen. It is very probable that Paul spread the gospel in this way.
During the first two centuries of the Roman Empire, travel was safer than it would be again until the suppression of pirates in the 19th century. Paul and his companions sometimes travelled by ship, but much of the time they walked, probably beside a donkey carrying tools, clothes, and perhaps some scrolls. Occasionally they had plenty, but often they were hungry, ill-clad, and cold and had to rely on the charity of their converts.
Paul’s missionary travels in the eastern Mediterranean.
Paul wanted to keep pressing west and therefore only occasionally had the opportunity to revisit his churches. He tried to keep up his converts’ spirits, answer their questions, and resolve their problems by letter and by sending one or more of his assistants (especially Timothy and Titus). Paul’s letters reveal a remarkable human being: dedicated, compassionate, emotional, sometimes harsh and angry, clever and quick-witted, supple in argumentation, and above all possessing a soaring, passionate commitment to God, Jesus Christ, and his mission. Fortunately, after his death, one of his followers collected some of the letters, edited them very slightly, and published them. They constitute one of history’s most remarkable personal contributions to religious thought and practice.
Although in his view Paul was the true and authoritative apostle to the Gentiles, he was only one of several missionaries spawned by the early Christian movement. Some of the other Christian workers must have been quite important; indeed, an unknown minister of Christ established the church in Rome before Paul arrived in the city. Paul’s competitors opposed his admitting Gentiles to the Christian movement without requiring them to become Jewish.
In the surviving letters, Paul often recalls what he said during his founding visits. He preached the death, resurrection, and lordship of Jesus Christ, and he proclaimed that faith in Jesus guarantees a share in his life. According to Paul, Jesus’ death was not a defeat but was for the believers’ benefit. The essence of the Christian message: (1) God sent his Son; (2) the Son was crucified and resurrected for the benefit of humanity; (3) the Son would soon return; and (4) those who belonged to the Son would live with him forever. Paul’s gospel, like those of others, also included (5) the admonition to live by the highest moral standard: “May your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”
Eshab-ı Kehf Kulliye (Islamic-Ottoman Social Complex – Cave Mosque) (13/04/2015). 7 young Christian men were resisters to the long oppression of the Roman emperor who insisted they convert to polytheism. They with their dog, slept for 309 years in a cave on Enculus Mountain. The cave is 200m2. Climb down the stairs to a cavern with a narrow passage leading down to? The mosque dates from 1872 and is a small white unadorned mosque with a small narthex.
It is 12kms NW of Tarsus.
MERSIN (pop 877,000)
Mersin, formerly Mersina, also called İçel, city and seaport along the Mediterranean Sea at the extreme western end of the Cilician Plain, 40 miles (65 km) west-southwest of Adana.
Mersin stands near the site of an unidentified ancient settlement. The ruins of the Roman harbour town of Soli-Pompeiopolis lie immediately to the west. Excavations in a mound called Yümük Tepesi, 2 miles (3 km) north of the modern harbour, indicate settlements in the remote Neolithic (New Stone Age) Period: a village was fortified there as early as about 3600 BCE and again during the period of Hittite dominance (c. 1750–1200 BCE) but was abandoned after the foundation of Pompeiopolis.
Mersin’s artificial harbour is an outlet for the agricultural products and minerals of the Cilician Plain and southeastern Anatolia. The site was chosen because of its silt-free location and its rail and road connections with the interior. A branch line links Mersin with Adana and with the rail line between Istanbul and Baghdad. The port is connected by ferry to Cyprus. Mersin is the site of one of Turkey’s largest oil refineries.
Mersin Naval Museum. This is a typical naval museum with a lot of paintings, ship models, uniforms, and naval instruments. Zero English. TL10
Caves of Heaven and Hell (Cennet and Cehennem). 1.4 km northwest of Narlıkuyu on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast, are worth a visit as natural phenomena, and also as historical points of interest. On the Mediterranean coastal highway, you’ll see the walls of a huge Temple of Zeus erected here in homage to the king of the gods who features prominently in the ancient myths related to the caves.
Descend the 288 steps to the Byzantine chapel in the cave’s mouth then a nature walk down a nice canyon. In the cool, damp atmosphere of the cave mouth, the rough stone steps can be slippery. Another 70 steps take you down to a flat area below the chapel, and another 97 steps and you are down into the cave itself, still with enough natural and artificial light that you can walk without a flashlight/torch. Heading up and out of the cave is daunting: over 400 steps to the rim!
Cavern of Hell (Cehennem), 100 meters uphill from Heaven, is a smaller depression with steeper sides, 30 meters in diameter and 120 meters deep. Luckily, its walls are too steep to allow access, so you can’t descend into it (in other words, you can’t Go To Hell).
The two caves figure prominently in ancient Greek myths, according to which Typhon, a fire-breathing 100-headed dragon, battles Zeus, king of the gods. Zeus is defeated and imprisoned in these chasms. Hermes and Pan rescue Zeus, who goes after Typhon again, defeats him and buries him in the earth, but Typhon’s fire-breath issues from the earth as what we know as Mt Etna, the active volcano in Italy.
Besides the lovely rock gorge these caves are in, the two caves themselves are quite disappointing and poorly lit. Heaven is a big climb down, hike along the valley and back up the 300 steps, a lot like hell, especially in the summer heat. But hell is near the surface and easy. Often described as the best thing here are the restaurants. TL15
