Ancient Cilicia: Anavarza Historical Site

This site, which was known as Caesarea or Anazarbus during the times of the Roman Empire, is 28 km south of the Kozan District of Adana province. The small village built just outside the antique city walls is called Dilekkaya.

We have practically no knowledge of the history of the city before the Roman Empire era. It was named Caesarea by Emperor Augustus, who visited the city in 19 B.C., and it started to be known as "Caesarea near Anazarbus". Anavarza did not show any significant presence during the first two centuries of the Roman Empire period and was shadowed by Tarsus, the capital of the Cilicia province. Tarsus manage to survive to the present times but lost the majority of its historical monuments. The city Isos, which the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus entered with Pescennius Niger and sided with Severus during the power struggle, was rewarded when the Emperor won his battle in 192 A.D. and became the sole ruler of the empire and hence it started to enjoy its days of glory. In the period 204-205 A.D. Cilicia became the metropolis of the Isaura and Licaonia states. In 206 A.D. Anavarza, like other Cilician cities, was captured by the Sasani King Shapur. Anavarza, which was destroyed by Balbinos of Isaura in the 4th century A.D., became the capital of Cilicia Secunda (Cilicia of the Plain) which was established during the reign of Theodosius II. The city was badly hit by an earthquake in 525 and was later restored by Emperor Justinianus and renamed “Justiniopolis”. In 561 it experienced a second earthquake disaster and in the 6th century was hit with a major plague epidemic. 

During the chaotic centuries which followed the rise of the Islam, Anazarbus remained as a buffer zone between the Arabs and the Byzantines and frequently changed hands between the two sides. In 796 Harun el Reşid re-built the city and the Caliph Mutacvakil (846-861) rebuilt the Sis castle and carried out active work at Anazarbus. His name is mentioned in an inscription piece in the Kufi language found at the ruins of the tower located outside the west gate. In the 10th century, when Aynı Zarba was once more on the brink of ruin, Hamdanid al-Dawla turned it into a fortified settlement by spending the tremendous sum of three million dirhems. The city then became the focus of interest of the Byzantines again and during the 964 campaign, which ended in victory, Nicephorus Phocas took over Anazarbus along with several important fortifications including Tarsus and Mopsuhestia. In the 11th century, the Armenians, whose capital was conquered by Alpaslan, were driven towards the southwest under the pressure of the Seljuk Turks and established a kingdom in the Taurus region. Later on they slowly progressed towards the Cilician plain and there they chose Anazarbus as their capital until the year 1100. Except for a gap of 7 years, when the Byzantines again gained control under the rule of John Commeneus between 1137-1144, the city remained as a capital for almost a whole century. In 1184 Tarsus and later Sis became the capital. Despite the fact that Anazarbus remained as an important fortification, the city built further below on the flat plain was gradually destroyed. It was finally totally ruined when the Memlüks destroyed the Little Armenian Kingdom in 1375 and this antique settlement has never been used again since. 

The ruins in Anavarza consist of a 1500 metre long city wall with 20 bastions, four entrances, a collonaded street, and ruins of a bath house and a church. Important remains also include the theatre and the stadium outside the city walls, aquaducts, rock tombs, the necropoli in the western side of the city, the antique road which was constructed by splitting the rock mass and the pooled mosaics which are conserved in situ (the mosaic of the sea goddess Thetis from 3rd century A.D.), the victory arc with three entrances, which is the only example of its kind in the Adana region and the castle from the Middle Ages on the hill which rises like an island in the centre of the plain. 

About fifty metres to the northeast of the stadium, the rock is separated with a man-made fissure. The Muslims of the region consider this as the crack cut by Hz. Ali and tell a legend about how the son-in-law of the Prophet pulled out his sword and made a crack in the rocks for himself and his horse when he was being persued by the enemy. This legend aside, the fissure seems to be opened to allow for the road which went from Anazarbus to Flaviopolis (Kadirli) and Hieropolis - Kastabala during the Byzantine Period. The pass is 250 metres long and its width varies between 4-15 metres. On both sides of the road the rocks' faces reach up to 50 metres. For a traveller emerging into sunshine towards the east from the deep shadows of the pass, to see one of the inscriptions on the face of the high rocks no doubt must be a rather moving experience. 

"Hence, we shall not be afraid, should the earth move and should the Mountains be moved to the middle of the sea, should the waters rise and roar and should the mountains tremble with the rising waters" The collonaded street running North-South starts with this three-spaned arch. Anavarza has witnessed numerous earthquakes (including the severe earthquake of 1945) but the Triumph Arch managed to remain standing at least partially up to our days. It is a three-arched passage with six Corinthian column capitals from black granite on its south façade. There are statue niches on both sides of the main arch on the northern façade. 

The amphitheatre, which was also the scene of performances with wild animals, was a structure built completely with stones. It was apparently systematically pillaged (as was the case for many buildings) during the antiquity to provide material for other buildings. Today we have a sufficient amount of architraves, friezes, cornish blocks, column bodies, inscriptions, and even Corinthian column capitals which were used everywhere that give an idea about the splendor of the Anazarbus of Antiquity. 

The castle can be defined in three sections. The barracks section including the first wall and the church; the three storey tower built on the flat rock between the two walls; the second wall and the adjacent complex of rooms, storage areas and water tanks it encloses.