Anemurion
Coordinates: 36 ° 1 ' N , 32 ° 48' E
Anemurion (Greek Ανεμούριον , Latin Anemurium ), today Eski Anamur , was an ancient settlement in Rough Cilicia (Kilikia Tracheia) southwest of today's Anamurs in the southern Turkish province of Mersin . Opposite Cape Anemurion is the Cape of the Cypriots or Cape Krommyus ( Cape Kormakitis ) on Cyprus , 350 stadia (about 60 km) from the mainland.
history
The first traces of settlement date from the 8th century BC. Anemurion was first mentioned as a port in the 4th century BC. In 52 AD, Anemurion was besieged in vain by the Cilician Kietai . A relief force from Syria under Curtius Severus was repulsed by them, and only King Antiochus IV of Kommagene was able to defeat them. The flourishing of the Roman city lasted until the conquest by the Sassanids in 260 AD. Up until this point in time, bronze coins were also regularly minted as small change for local needs (Roman provincial coins). After the reorganization of the Diocletian Empire, the city belonged to the province of Isauria . Around 382 large parts of the city were protected by new walls, in the 5th century the city experienced a renewed boom, as indicated by numerous church buildings from this time. From the 7th century on, the importance of the city declined and was gradually abandoned. In the 12th and 13th centuries it belonged to the Kingdom of Lesser Armenia , in written sources the place is attested until the 14th century.
Ecclesiastically the diocese of Anemurion belonged to the Metropolis Seleukeia , the diocese was last attested in the late 7th century. The titular bishopric of Anemurium goes back to the late antique bishopric of the city.
archeology
Anemurion consists of a fortified upper town on Cape Anamur and a lower town to the north. Remains of a theater for around 1,500 spectators, an odeon (or buleuterion ) with around 900 seats, three baths and a colonnaded street running in north-south direction can still be seen in the city. The mosaics in the Odeon, which are located in a corridor under the audience tiers, are worth seeing. In one of the baths you can still see the water supply; there is a hot water pool heated by a fire under the stone pool.
A large necropolis in the north-west of the city has about 350 graves from the 1st to 4th centuries. Inside they were decorated with wall paintings and mosaics, of which remains (including the representation of a Medusa ) can still be seen. Excavations have also revealed significant Byzantine finds.
literature
- Gustav Hirschfeld : Anemurion 1 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume I, 2, Stuttgart 1894, Col. 2182.
- Elisabeth Alföldi-Rosenbaum : Anamur nekropolü = The necropolis of Anemurium . Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi, Ankara 1971.
- James Russell: Anemurium (Eski Anamur) later Isauria, Rough Cilicia, Turkey . In: Richard Stillwell et al. a. (Ed.): The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ 1976, ISBN 0-691-03542-3 .
- Friedrich Hild , Hansgerd Hellenkemper : Cilicia and Isauria (= Tabula Imperii Byzantini Bd. 5). Vienna 1990, pp. 187–191.
- Sheila Campbell: The mosaics of Anemurium . Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, Toronto 1998, ISBN 0-88844-374-9 .
Web links
- Description, pictures and plans of Anemurion in Cilicia on histolia.de
- Pictures from Anemurion on pbase.com
Individual evidence
- ^ Strabo , Geographika 14, 6, 3.
- ↑ Pseudo-Skylax , Periplus 102, ed.Geographi graeci minores I 76 ( digitized version ).
- ↑ Tacitus , Annalen 12, 55, 2.