History

Antiquity

Foundation and prehistory

Excavation of the mound of Gözlükule reveals the prehistorical development of Tarsus reaches back to the Neolithic Period and continues unbroken through Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Ages.

The settlement was located at the crossing of several important trade routes, linking Anatolia and beyond to Syria. As the ruins are covered by the modern city, it is not very well known archaeologically. The city may have been of Semitic origin, and is mentioned as Tarsisi in the campaigns of Esarhaddon, as well as several times in the campaigns of Shalmaneser I and Sennacherib. A Greek legend connects it with the memory of Sardanapalus (Ashurbanipal), still preserved in the Dunuk-Tach, called 'tomb of Sardanapalus', a monument of unknown origin. Stephanus of Byzantium quotes Athenodorus of Tarsus as relating another legend:

“ Anchiale, daughter of Iapetus, founded Anchiale (a city near Tarsus): her son was Cydnus, who gave his name to the river at Tarsus: the son of Cydnus was Parthenius, from whom the city was called Parthenia: afterwards the name was changed to Tarsus. ”

However much of this legend of the foundation of Tarsus appeared in the Roman era and none of it is reliable; the geographer Strabo records that Tarsus was founded by people from Argos who were exploring this coast. Another legend states that the winged horse Pegasus was lost and landed here hurting his foot and thus the city was named tar-sos (the sole of the foot). Other candidates for legendary founder of the city include the hero Perseus, Triptolemus son of the earth-goddess Demeter (doubtless because the countryside around Tarsus is excellent farmland). Later the coinage of Tarsus bore the image of Hercules due to yet another tale in which the hero was held prisoner here by the local god, Sandon. Tarsos has been suggested as a probable identification of the biblical Tarshish, where the prophet Jonah flees, although Tartessos in Spain has also been suggested for this.

Early antiquity, Greece and Persia

In historical times, the city was first ruled by the Hittites, Assyria and then the Persian Empire. Tarsos was the seat of a Persian satrapy from 400 BC onward. Indeed Xenophon records that in 401 BC, when Cyrus the Younger marched against Babylon, the city was governed by King Syennesis in the name of the Persian monarch.

Alexander the Great came through with his armies in 333 BC and came near meeting his death here after a bath in the Cydnus. By this time Tarsus was already Greek, and as part of the Seleucid Empire became more and more Hellenized; Strabo praises the cultural level of Tarsus in this period with its philosophers, poets and linguists. The schools of Tarsos rivalled Athens and Alexandria. 2 Maccabees (4:30) records its revolt in about 171 BC against Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who had renamed the town Antiochia on the Cydnus. In his time the library of Tarsus held 200,000 books, a huge collection of scientific works.

Rome

Pompey subjected it to Rome and Tarsus became capital of the Roman province of Cilicia (Caput Ciliciae), the metropolis where the governor resided. To flatter Julius Caesar, it took the name Juliopolis; it was here that Cleopatra and Mark Antony met, the scene of the celebrated feasts they gave during the construction of their fleet. In AD 66, the inhabitants received Roman citizenship.

When the province of Cilicia was divided, Tarsus remained the civil and religious metropolis of Cilicia Prima, a grand city with palaces, marketplaces, roads and bridges, baths, fountains and waterworks, a gymnasium on the banks of the Cydnus, a stadium and the church of St Paul. Tarsus was later eclipsed by nearby Adana, but remained important as a port and shipyard. Several Roman emperors were interred here; Marcus Claudius Tacitus, Maximinus, and Julian the Apostate.

Christianity

Tarsus was the birthplace of Saint Paul (Acts 9:11; 21:39; 22:3), who took refuge here after his conversion (Acts 9:30), and was joined by Barnabas (Acts 11:25). It is probable that at the time a Christian community was already established, although the first bishop, Helenus, dates only from the third century; he went several times to Antioch in connection with the dispute concerning Paul of Samosata. The bishops of Tarsus included Lupus, present at the Council of Ancyra in 314; Theodorus, at the Council of Nicaea in 325; Helladius, condemned at the Council of Ephesus, and who appealed to the pope in 433; above all the celebrated exegete Diodorus, teacher of Theodore of Mopsuestia and consequently one of the fathers of Nestorianism.From the sixth century the metropolitan see of Tarsus had seven suffragan bishoprics;the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople archdiocese is again mentioned in the tenth century and has existed down to the present day, part of the Patriarchate of Antioch.

Owing to the importance of Tarsus, many martyrs were put to death here, among them being Saint Pelagia, Saint Boniface, Saint Marinus, Saint Diomedus, Saint Quiricus and Saint Julitta.