GORDIAN III Tarsus Cilicia Severia Hadriana Games issue Roman Coin i35249

Gordian III – Roman Emperor: 238-244 A.D. –
Bronze 19mm (5.20 grams) of Tarsus in Cilicia
Severia Hadriana Games issue
Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right, drapery on far shoulder.
Agonistic urn containing palm branches atop three-legged table.

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Tarsus is a historic city in south-central Turkey , 20 km inland from the Mediterranean Sea . It is part of the Adana-Mersin Metropolitan Area , the fourth-largest metropolitan area in Turkey with a population of 3 million. Tarsus District forms an administrative district in the eastern part of the Mersin Province and lies in the core of Çukurova region.

With a history going back over 6,000 years, Tarsus has long been an important stop for traders, a focal point of many civilisations including the Roman Empire , when Tarsus was capital of the province of Cilicia , the scene of the first meeting between Mark Antony and Cleopatra , where Paul the Apostle was born.

Geography

Located on the mouth of the Berdan River (Cydnus of the antiquity), which empties into the Mediterranean Sea , Tarsus is a junction point of land and sea routes connecting the Cilician plain (today called Çukurova ), central Anatolia and the Mediterranean sea. The climate is typical of the Mediterranean region, summers very very hot, winters chilly and damp.

Tarsus has a long history of commerce and is still a commercial centre today, trading in the produce of the fertile Çukurova plain; also Tarsus is a thriving industrial centre of refining and processing that produces some for export. Industries include agricultural machinery, spare parts, textiles, fruit-processing, brick building and ceramics.

Agriculture is an important source of income, half of the land area in the district is farmland (1,050 km²) and most of the remainder is forest and orchard. The farmland is mostly well-irrigated, fertilised and managed with the latest equipment.

Etymology

The ancient name is Tarsos, derived from “Tarsa”, the original name of the city in the Hittite language, which was possibly derived from a pagan god, Tarku, as Hittites were the first settlers. At other times the city was named Tarsisi; Antiochia on the Cydnus, Darson in Western Armenian and Tarson in Eastern Armenian .

History

Antiquity

Foundation and prehistory

Excavation of the mound of Gözlükule reveals that 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 to Syria and beyond. Because the ruins are covered by the modern city, archaeology has barely touched the ancient city. The city may have been of Semitic origin; it is mentioned as Tarsisi in the campaigns of Esarhaddon , as well as several times in the records 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:

Much of this legend of the foundation of Tarsus, however, appeared in the Roman era, and none of it is reliable. The geographer Strabo states that Tarsus was founded by people from Argos who were exploring this coast. Another legend states that Bellerophon fell off his winged horse Pegasus 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 and 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 . Tarsus has been suggested as a possible identification of the biblical Tarshish , where the prophet Jonah wanted to flee, but Tartessos in Spain is a more likely identification for this. (See further)

Early antiquity, Greece and Persia

In historical times, the city was first ruled by the Hittites , followed by Assyria , and then the Persian Empire . Tarsus, as the principal town of Cilicia , 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.

At this period the patron god of the city was Sandon and a large monument to Sandon existed at Tarsus at least until the 3rd century A.D. Coins showed Sandon standing on a winged and horned lion and it is now thought likely that the Lion of Saint Mark on the pillar in the Piazza San Marco in Venice was in origin a winged lion-griffin from such a monument at Tarsus.

Alexander the Great passed through with his armies in 333 BC and nearly met his death here after a bath in the Cydnus. By this time Tarsus was already largely influenced by Greek language and culture , and as part of the Seleucid Empire it became more and more hellenized . Strabo praises the cultural level of Tarsus in this period with its philosophers, poets and linguists. The schools of Tarsus rivaled 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, including a huge collection of scientific works. The name didn’t last, however, due to the confusion of so many cities named Antioch.

Rome

 

Oscillum depicting a couple kissing. Terracotta figurine made in Tarsus, Roman Era

Pompey subjected Tarsus to Rome, and it became capital of the Roman province of Cilicia , the metropolis where the governor resided. In 66 BC, the inhabitants received Roman citizenship .^{[citation needed]} To flatter Julius Caesar , for a time it took the name Juliopolis. It was also here that Cleopatra and Mark Antony met and was the scene of the celebrated feasts they gave during the construction of their fleet (41 BC). In William Shakespeare ‘s 1606 play Antony and Cleopatra (Act 5, Scene 2), after Antony’s death Cleopatra says she is going to Cydnus to meet Antony, i.e., she will commit suicide to meet him in the afterlife; “Go fetch / My best attires: I am again for Cydnus, / To meet Mark Antony“

When the province of Cilicia was divided, Tarsus remained the civil and religious metropolis of Cilicia Prima, and was a grand city with palaces, marketplaces, roads and bridges, baths, fountains and waterworks, a gymnasium on the banks of the Cydnus , and a stadium. 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 , who planned to move his capital here from Antioch if he returned from his Persian expedition.

Christianity

Tarsus was the city where, according to the Acts of the Apostles , “Saul of Tarsus” was born, but he was “brought up”  in Jerusalem. Saul became Paul the apostle after his encounter with Christ , and he briefly returned here after his conversion (Acts 9:30). From here Barnabas retrieved him to help with the work in Syrian Antioch

Already by this time a Christian community probably existed, although the first recorded bishop, Helenus , dates only from the third century; Helenus visited Antioch several times in connection with the dispute concerning Paul of Samosata . Later bishops of Tarsus included Lupus , present at the Council of Ancyra in 314; Theodorus, at the Council of Nicaea in 325; Helladius, who was condemned at the Council of Ephesus and who appealed to the bishop of Rome 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 Greek archdiocese is again mentioned in the tenth century (^[10]), and existed until the twentieth century upheavals, 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 Diomedes , Saint Quiricus and Saint Julitta .

At about the end of the tenth century, the Armenians established a diocese of their rite; Saint Nerses of Lambroun was its most distinguished representative in the twelfth century.

A cave in Tarsus is one of a number of places claiming to be the location of the legend of the Seven Sleepers , common to Christianity and Islam.

Ecclesiastical history

The first bishop, Helenus, dates from the third century; he went several times to Antioch in connexion with the dispute concerning Paul of Samosata . Le Quien mentions twenty-two of its bishops, of whom several are legendary. Among them are:

• Lupus, present at the Council of Ancyra in 314;
• Theodorus, at the Council of Nicaea in 325;
• Helladius , condemned at Ephesus, and who appealed to the pope in 433;
• the 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 (Echos d’Orient, X, 145); the Greek archdiocese is again mentioned in the tenth century (op. cit., X, 98), and has existed down to the present day, being comprised in the Patriarchate of Antioch . The Arabs took possession of Tarsus from the seventh century.

The archdiocese of Tarsus (Italian Tarso) remains a Catholic titular see , not to be confused with the titular see of Tarsus dei Maroniti .

Islam and beyond

The Tarsus region was annexed by the Forces of Rashidun Caliphate under the command of Khalid ibn Walid in 637. Tarsus was on the edge of the de facto border with the Byzantine empire in this period of the Taurus Mountains range separating the Armeniac and Anatolic themes from Cilicia, Syria and northern Iraq. Tarsus was near the strategically important Cilician Gates which passed through the Taurus Mountains as well as access to the Mediterranean Sea which was used for both land and naval operations further in the Byzantine territory. While the region was lost by the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius in 637, it is unclear when the city was permanently occupied by the Arabs as sources indicate the city was garrisoned and retaken multiple times until the 9th century.

According to the Arabic geographer Ibn Hawqal and the accounts of Arab historian Abu Amr Al-Tarsusi, Tarsus was a stronghold of Muslim forces with thousands of volunteers from across the Islamic world coming to fight in jihad against the Byzantine Empire. The city was a base of operations for the regular summer raids (ṣawāʿif) into Byzantine lands through the Cilician Gates when the mountain snows had melted and passage was possible. Later the city was used in defense of the frontier in response to a resurgent Byzantine empire in the mid-10th century. The city was lost in 965, when Nicephorus Phocas returned it to the Byzantine Empire for nearly a century. The area was retaken by the Seljuk Turks , recaptured in 1097 during the Crusades and then disputed between Latins, Greeks, and Armenians of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia (Kingdom of Lesser Armenia); these last became definitively masters until about 1359, when it was captured by the Ramadanids with Mamluks . Finally, the area was brought under the control of the Ottoman Empire by Selim I in 1516.

In the Middle Ages Tarsus was renowned throughout the Middle East; a number of Arab writers praised it as a beautiful and well-defended city, its walls being in two layers with five gates and earthworks outside, surrounded by rich farmland, watered by the river and the lake. By 1671 the traveller Evliya Çelebi records “a city on the plain, an hour from the sea, surrounded by strong walls two-storeys high, moated on all sides, with three distinct neighbourhoods inside the walls”.

Despite its excellent defences, Tarsus was captured from the Ottomans in 1832 by the Mamluks of Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt , son of Muhammad Ali , and for 8 years remained in the hands of the Egyptians, who began growing cotton on the surrounding plain. Upon the return of the Ottomans this cotton drove a substantial growth in the economy of the area, due to increased world demand for the crop during shortages caused by the U.S. Civil War . A new road was built to the port in Mersin and the city of Tarsus grew and thrived. Still today many large houses in the city stand as reminders of the wealth generated during this period. However after being a port for 3,000 years, by the end of the 19th century neglect resulted in Tarsus no longer having access to the sea, and the delta became a swamp. At this point Tarsus was a typical Ottoman city with communities of Muslim Turks, Christian Greeks and Armenians . At the founding of the Turkish Republic in the 1920s the swamp was drained and the River Berdan was dammed to build Turkey’s first hydro-electric power station. Irrigation, roadworks and a railway brought the economy of Tarsus back to life, with new factories, particularly producing textiles.

Cuisine

The local cuisine includes: chargrilled chicken; hummus ; şalgam (pickled turnips); tantuni (a sandwich of grilled meats; the tiny pizzas called “fındık lahmacun”; and cezerye (a confection made out of carrots).

Places of interest

Tarsus has a great many ancient sites of interest, with many in need of restoration and research. These have been well described by travellers over many years. For instance Blackwood’s Magazine (Edinburgh) in 1890,  and H. V. Morton ‘s In the Steps of St Paul in 1936.

The best known include:

 

Church of St. Paul in Tarsus (the church and the surroundings are on the UN World Heritage tentative list)

• Cleopatra’s Gate – to the west of the city, the only ancient city gate still standing, where Anthony and Cleopatra entered the city in 41 BC, though the “restoration” of this structure has involved covering much of it over with shiny new stone (see [1] for a picture of the gate before the work was done).
• The Roman bridge of Justinian over the Berdan River . Still in good condition.
• Tarsus Museum – contains lots of ancient coins and a severed mummified arm.
• Roman road north of Tarsus
• Ancient road another Roman road within Tarsus.

Sites of religious interest and pilgrimage:

• The St. Paul’s Church and well (it is now a museum, but occasionally Christian services can be performed there).
• The mosque said to be the burial place of the Prophet Daniel .
• The ancient story of Pegasus , the winged horse, also concerns Tarsus. Because of Pegasus’ faithful service to Zeus , Pegasus was honored with a constellation. On the last day of his life, Zeus transformed him into a constellation, then a single feather fell to the earth near the city of Tarsus.

From the Turkish era:

• Tarsus Grand Mosque and Kırkkaşık Bedesten
• The old baths; the dark brown spots on the white marble walls are said to be the bloodstains of Shah Meran , the legendary Snake King who was killed in an ambush in the baths.
• Tarsus American College ; founded in the Ottoman period, still active today.
• “Nusret (Nusrat)” the minelayer used to defend the straits before the Battle of Gallipoli is being restored in Tarsus; it is to be part of a memorial park to those lost in the fighting.

Places of natural beauty include:

• Tarsus Waterfall; since the construction of the Berdan dam the water of the Tarsus river has been distributed in canals for irrigation, with the result that the waterfall can now be seen only in seasons of very heavy rainfall.
• Karabucak Forest ; popular picnic area a few kilometers south of the city center

Marcus Antonius Gordianus Pius (January 20, 225 – February 11 , 244 ), known in English as Gordian III, was Roman Emperor from 238 to 244. Gordian was the son of Antonia Gordiana and his father was an unnamed Roman Senator who died before 238. Antonia Gordiana was the daughter of Emperor Gordian I and younger sister of Emperor Gordian II . Very little is known on his early life before becoming Roman Emperor. Gordian had assumed the name of his maternal grandfather in 238.

Following the murder of emperor Alexander Severus in Moguntiacum (modern Mainz ), the capital of the Roman province Germania Inferior , Maximinus Thrax was acclaimed emperor, despite strong opposition of the Roman senate and the majority of the population. In response to what was considered in Rome as a rebellion, Gordian’s grandfather and uncle, Gordian I and II, were proclaimed joint emperors in the Africa Province . Their revolt was suppressed within a month by Cappellianus, governor of Numidia and a loyal supporter of Maximinus Thrax. The elder Gordians died, but public opinion cherished their memory as peace loving and literate men, victims of Maximinus’ oppression.

Meanwhile, Maximinus was on the verge of marching on Rome and the Senate elected Pupienus and Balbinus as joint emperors. These senators were not popular men and the population of Rome was still shocked by the elder Gordian’s fate, so that the Senate decided to take the teenager Gordian, rename him Marcus Antonius Gordianus as his grandfather, and raise him to the rank of Caesar and imperial heir. Pupienus and Balbinus defeated Maximinus, mainly due to the defection of several legions , namely the Parthica II who assassinated Maximinus. But their joint reign was doomed from the start with popular riots, military discontent and even an enormous fire that consumed Rome in June 238. On July 29 , Pupienus and Balbinus were killed by the Praetorian guard and Gordian proclaimed sole emperor.

Rule

Due to Gordian’s age, the imperial government was surrendered to the aristocratic families, who controlled the affairs of Rome through the senate. In 240, Sabinianus revolted in the African province, but the situation was dealt quickly. In 241, Gordian was married to Furia Sabinia Tranquillina , daughter of the newly appointed praetorian prefect, Timesitheus . As chief of the Praetorian guard and father in law of the emperor, Timesitheus quickly became the de facto ruler of the Roman empire.

In the 3rd century, the Roman frontiers weakened against the Germanic tribes across the Rhine and Danube , and the Sassanid kingdom across the Euphrates increased its own attacks. When the Persians under Shapur I invaded Mesopotamia , the young emperor opened the doors of the Temple of Janus for the last time in Roman history, and sent a huge army to the East. The Sassanids were driven back over the Euphrates and defeated in the Battle of Resaena (243). The campaign was a success and Gordian, who had joined the army, was planning an invasion of the enemy’s territory, when his father-in-law died in unclear circumstances. Without Timesitheus, the campaign, and the emperor’s security, were at risk.

Marcus Julius Philippus, also known as Philip the Arab , stepped in at this moment as the new Praetorian Prefect and the campaign proceeded. In the beginning of 244, the Persians counter-attacked. Persian sources claim that a battle was fought (Battle of Misiche) near modern Fallujah (Iraq) and resulted in a major Roman defeat and the death of Gordian III^[1]. Roman sources do not mention this battle and suggest that Gordian died far away, upstream of the Euphrates. Although ancient sources often described Philip, who succeeded Gordian as emperor, as having murdered Gordian at Zaitha (Qalat es Salihiyah), the cause of Gordian’s death is unknown.

Gordian’s youth and good nature, along with the deaths of his grandfather and uncle and his own tragic fate at the hands of another usurper, granted him the everlasting esteem of the Romans. Despite the opposition of the new emperor, Gordian was deified by the Senate after his death, in order to appease the population and avoid riots.