Aigeai

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Ayas Kalesi Seeburg
Ayas Kalesi country castle with mosque

Aigeai (Αἰγέαι, also Αἰγαὶ, Aigai , Aegeae) was an ancient city and belonged to the plains of Cilicia (Kilikia Pedias) . Under the name Ayas ( Armenian Այաս ) it is now a district of Yumurtalık in the Turkish province of Adana . In the Middle Ages the name of the city was Ayas, and it was known by Italian traveling salesmen as Ajazzo or Lajazzo .

history

In ancient times the city was known by its Greek name Aigeai (Αἰγέαι) and belonged to the plains of Cilicia (Kilikia Pedias) . The place is strategically located on the Gulf of Issus . The port of Aigeai offered a good and popular opportunity to cross over to Alexandreia ad Orontem . Aigeai is believed to be a Macedonian foundation, named after the Macedonian capital Aigai .

In the Seleucid Empire , the city had a certain strategic importance. So was the port of the city in the reconquest of the coast of Asia Minor from the Ptolemies by Antiochus III. involved. It is possible that Seleucid tetradrachms were struck in Aigeai at this time. The first coins of the city that can be dated with certainty come from the reign of Antiochus IV. The question is to what extent the granting of urban autonomy and asylum can be associated with an honor of the city by the Armenian King Tigranes II , who was in Eastern Chile between approx. 78 and 69 BC Chr. Held occupied. Gaius Iulius Caesar made the place an oppidum liberum . This is also where the Caesarian calendar comes in : the era in Aigeai begins in 47 BC. BC, probably beginning of November. The place gained strategic importance from the 2nd century AD in the course of the Parthian Wars , but it was already involved in the war logistics of the Bar-Kochbar War , led by Emperor Hadrian , who promoted the city due to its conveniently located port . For the year 253, Haymann has proven that due to the Sassanid Shapur I's incursion into Syria, parts of the population fled Antiocheia and found refuge in Aigeai.

The city often shows a goat on its coins and refers to its importance as a cult center with depictions of Asklepios . During the reign of Emperor Decius , the city was allowed to use the honorary name "Asklepioupolis". According to Eusebius of Caesarea , Constantine the Great had the Temple of Asclepius destroyed in 311 as an expression of his conversion to Christianity . However, contrary to Christian propaganda, the destruction occurred rather as a punishment for the city of Aigeai, which had been on the wrong side in the battles between Constantine and Licinius , which lasted until 324 . In late antiquity , the city, in which Saints Cosmas and Damian are said to have been martyred, became the Christian bishopric . The titular Aegeae of the Roman Catholic Church goes back to this diocese .

Medieval Ayas was an important port and trading town in Lesser Armenia . Due to the silting up of the port of Tarsos , a large part of the Byzantine east-west trade ran through Ayas. It was from here that Marco Polo set out on his journey to Asia in 1271 .

Ayas has preserved a lake and a country castle , called Ayas Kalesi , as well as an octagonal, three-story watchtower with an inscription by Sultan Suleyman the Great, about a kilometer to the west by the sea . Only a few capitals and small relics have been preserved from the ancient city, which are set up on the grounds of the country castle, as well as spolia in various parts of it.

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Florian Haymann: Investigations into the history and identity construction of Aigeai in the Roman Cilicia (20 BC - 260 AD) . Habelt, Bonn 2014, p. 16-26 .
  2. ↑ Florian Haymann: Investigations into the history and identity construction of Aigeai in the Roman Cilicia (20 BC - 260 AD) . Habelt, Bonn 2014, p. 29 .
  3. ↑ Florian Haymann: Investigations into the history and identity construction of Aigeai in the Roman Cilicia (20 BC - 260 AD) . Habelt, Bonn 2014, p. 29 .
  4. ↑ Florian Haymann: Investigations into the history and identity construction of Aigeai in the Roman Cilicia (20 BC - 260 AD) . Habelt, Bonn 2014, p. 30-31 .
  5. ↑ Florian Haymann: A depopulated Cilicia under Tigranes II? In: Olba . tape 22 , 2014, p. 281-289 .
  6. ↑ Florian Haymann: Investigations into the history and identity construction of Aigeai in the Roman Cilicia (20 BC - 260 AD) . Habelt, Bonn 2014, p. 79-86 .
  7. ↑ George Watson: The Provincial Coinage of Aemilian: a Study in Imperial Communication . In: Numismatic Chronicle . tape 178 , 2018, p. 185-212 .
  8. ↑ Eusebius: Vita Constantini 3,56,1 f.
  9. ↑ Libanios , orationes 306; see. Ruprecht Ziegler: Aigeai, the Asklepioskult, the imperial house of the Decier and Christianity. In: Tyche. Contributions to ancient history, papyrology and epigraphy. Volume 9, 1994, p. 208; Florian Steger : Asclepius Medicine. Everyday medical practice in the Roman Empire. Steiner, Stuttgart 2004, pp. 100-102.