Soloi (Cilicia)

Row of colonnades in Soloi

Stater from Soloi (Kilikia), grape in Quadratum incusum, approx. 430–390 BC Minted

Memorial stone of a family from Pompeiopolis (near Davis, 1879)

Soloi (Latin form: Soli , later Pompeiopolis ) was a port city in Cilicia near today's Viranşehir, a district of the Turkish city of Mersin .

Soloi, first mentioned in Xenophon , was supposedly founded by Greek colonists from Argos and Lindos on Rhodes. At the time of Alexander the Great, however, the inhabitants were loyal to the Achaemenids . Alexander, who opened the city in October 333 BC. Therefore left a garrison behind and imposed a tribute of 200 talents on Soloi . The city had to take hostages and was slated for destruction, an order that Alexander withdrew. In Soloi, Alexander held a celebration of his recovery after the almost fateful bath in Kydnos and sacrificed to Asklepios .

After Soloi in 83 BC Was destroyed by Tigranes II. , It was re-established as Pompeiopolis by Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus and settled with the survivors of the pirate war . In late antiquity, Pompeiopolis was the seat of a bishop.

Only a few remains of ancient Soloi have survived, including the harbor basin and columns of a colonnaded street. A theater seen by travelers at the beginning of the 19th century is no longer visible.

Famous citizens

• Chrysippus (* 276 BC, † 204 BC), Stoic philosopher
• Aratos from Soloi

Others

Solözismus is named after solos .

literature

• Michael Gough :  Soloi, later Pompeiopolis, Cilicia Campestris, 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 .

Coordinates: 36 ° 44 ′ 26.7 "  N , 34 ° 32 ′ 20.8"  E