Mopsuestia

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Coordinates: 36 ° 57 ′ 28 "  N , 35 ° 37 ′ 10.1"  E

Relief Map: Turkey
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Mopsuestia​
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Turkey
Roman bridge over the Ceyhan

Mopsuestia is an ancient city in eastern (flat) Cilicia (today in the province of Adana , Turkey ) at the exit of the Pyramos ( Ceyhan ) from the Antitaurus (Dede Dağ), on the road from Tarsus to Antakya ( Antioch ), 19 km east of Adana . The city lies on an important ford of the Ceyhan. The current name is Yakapınar .

Surname

Bronze coin from Mopsus with a Zeus head
Reverse of the bronze coin with city names in Greek, under the altar
  • Ancient name variants: Mopsos ( Plinius , Naturalis historia 5, 22), Mobsuestia, Mopsuestia, Mompsuestia, Mopsuhestia, Moponhestia u. a.
  • During the Seleucid period, Seleucia at the Pyramos for a short time, under Hadrian Hadriana.
  • In the Middle Ages Mampsiustia, al-Massisa, Masista, Mamista or Mamistra, Malmistra, Misis or Armenian Մամեստիա .

The name is explained as Mopsou-Hestia, hearth of Mopsus.

history

Site plan (at Davis, 1879)
Panorama with the bridge - around 1870

Hellenism

The first coins date from the 2nd century BC. For the first time the city is 95 BC. Mentioned in written sources, when Seleukos VI. Philopator here 95 BC Was murdered.

Romans

During the pirate war , Cilicia was the seat of robber gangs , the area was occupied by the proconsul Publius Servilius Vatia Isauricus 78–75 BC. Subjected to BC (triumph 74 BC) and annexed to the Roman Empire ( Ammianus Marcellinus 14,8,3). In late antiquity the city was an important bishopric, initially as a suffragan diocese of Anazarbos , later (demonstrably from the middle of the 10th century) an autocephalous metropolis. The city is still nominally the seat of a titular diocese of the Catholic Church, which was occupied for the last time 1926-1963 ( titular archbishopric Mopsuestia ).

In the fourth century, Bishop Auxentius of Mopsuestia had a basilica built for the saints Tharakus , Probus and Andronikos, who were executed in Anazarbos during the persecution of Christians by Governor Maximus around 304, and for this he brought their relics from Anazarbos. These martyrs were considered the patron saints of Cilicia and were also interrogated in Mopsuestia during their trial. The most important bishop is the church writer Theodor von Mopsuestia (Bishop 392-428).

Byzantium and Arabs

The city was conquered early by the Arabs, and in 757 the city wall, which had been destroyed by an earthquake, was renewed by the caliph al-Mansūr . In 964 the Byzantine general and later emperor Johannes Tzimiskes besieged the city in vain, but in the following year Nikephoros Phokas was able to take it after a long siege. The Muslim population was killed or forcibly relocated. The city gates of Mopsuestia and Tarsus were brought to Constantinople in triumph and attached to the city wall.

In the 1070s, Philaretos Brachamios , the Byzantine governor of Germanikeia ( Maraş ), who refused to recognize the rule of Michael Dukas , conquered large parts of Cilicia, including Mopsuestia. In 1077 he conquered Edessa, the following year Antioch opened the gates to him, and the princes of Lesser Armenia also recognized his rule. Under Nikephorus III. Botaniates and Alexios I Komnenos he submitted to the imperial family again from 1078. In 1082 the Venetians received trading rights. In 1085 Mopsuestia fell into the hands of the Seljuks .

In October 1097 Tankred took possession of the city with a split off part of the Crusader army, the Seljuk garrison had fled when the army approached. When Baldwin also appeared outside the city, Tankred refused him entry and later even attempted a raid on his camp, which was refused. Eventually the Frankish military leaders were reconciled, Baldwin moved further east, Tankred advanced against Iskenderun . Mopsuestia was later defeated to the principality of Antioch , but fell back to Byzantium in 1098 .

From 1099 the seat of the Latin Archdiocese of Mamistra existed here. In 1101 Tankred, regent for the Bohemond of Taranto, who was in Danish-Manid captivity , recaptured the city together with Tarsus and Adana .

1104 occupied Byzantine cavalry under the general Monastras Tarsos, Adana, Longinias and Mopsuestia, thus all of Cilicia, while the fleet under Johannes Kantakuzenos took Latakia (Laodikea). In 1107, however, Monastras had to withdraw to oppose the newly recruited Sicilian troops of Bohemond, Cilicia was subordinated to the Armenian prince Oschin von Lambron from the Hethumid family . In the winter of 1107/08, when Bohemond was still in Italy, Tankred promptly invaded Cilicia. After previous raids, some of his troops marched from Antioch, the other rowed on triremes up the "Saron" (probably referring to the Ceyhan) to the bridge that connects the two parts of Mopsuestia. According to Anna Komnena , the stratopedarch Oschin, the commander of the city, had given himself up to drink and ignored the danger. Accordingly, Mopsuestia soon fell. With Pisan help and money, Tankred was able to take large parts of eastern Cilicia. The administration of Mopsuestia and Tarsos was given to a certain Guido, called 'the goat'.

In 1114 and 1115 the city suffered from several earthquakes. Over 40,000 people are said to have died in Cilicia and neighboring areas.

Kingdom of Lesser Armenia

View around 1860

In 1132 the Rubenid prince took Leon (Lewon), Mopsuestia, Adana and Tarsus. After Bohemond of Antioch had taken Leo prisoner in 1136, he demanded 60,000 Solidii and the cities of Mopsuestia, Adana and Sarventikar as a ransom, and Leon had to hold him his sons hostage.

In the same year, Emperor John II Comnenus succeeded in recapturing Cilicia. It was not until 1151 that Leon's son Thoros was able to take the city again. Manuel I sent his cousin Andronikos to recapture the lost territories, and he appeared under the walls of Mopsuestia and showed Thoros the iron chains in which his father Leon had once been carried to Byzantium, with the threat that it would happen to him too . However, the Armenians made a sortie at night and defeated the Byzantines. Sembat of Paperon fell, Oshin of Lambron and Tigran of Prakan , who had fought on the Byzantine side, were captured.

In 1159 Manuel I wintered in the city, Thoros had brought his wife, children and treasures to safety at the fortress Tachikk'ar and was hiding in the Taurus while he waited for the help of the King of Jerusalem, with whose help he finally got along with reconciled to the emperor.

In the further course Mopsuestia was one of the most important cities of the Kingdom of Lesser Armenia , ownership changed frequently between the Rubenids , Antioch and Byzantium. It seems to have fallen back to the Byzantines during the reign of Mleh , because it is reported that Ruben III. (1175–1186) took them at the beginning of his reign. In 1188 he gave them to Hethum, son of Choruanil of Sasun and husband of his niece Alice. King Levon I granted Genoese , Pisan and Venetian merchants trading privileges in Mamistra. In 1266 the city burned down. In 1268 it was the scene of an Armenian council .

Mamluks and Ottomans

After the conquest by the Mamluks in the 13./14. The city remained Islamic in the 19th century, but Armenians also lived there until the early 20th century .

Noah's Ark mosaic in the Misis Mozaik Müzesi

Attractions

  • prehistoric settlement mound Sirkeli Höyük
  • medieval fortifications
  • Remains of the city wall, which encloses an area of ​​approx. 40 hectares
  • Remains of a theater, a colonnaded street, a temple and a late Roman bath
  • Early Byzantine three-aisled basilica with a mosaic floor, in the central nave Noah mosaic (2nd quarter 5th century), in a later annex cycle with the deeds of Samson (2nd half 5th century), today Misis Mosaic Museum
  • Roman bridge, under Valerian as the renewal of an older eight-arched bridge over the Pyramos (today: Ceyhan ), restored under Justinian ( Prokop : De Aedificiis 5, 5).

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ William M. Ramsay: Cilicia, Tarsus, and the Great Taurus Pass. In: The Geographical Journal 22, 1903, 358.
  2. ↑ Peter Plank: Church Colonialism. World and Environment of the Bible 29 (The Crusades), Katholisches Bibelwerk, Stuttgart 2003, p. 30
  3. ↑ Anna Komnena : Alexiade 12, 2 ff.