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Silifke (Selefke; Greek: Σέλεύχεια, Seleucia or Seleukeia) is a town in south-central Mersin Province, Turkey, on the banks of the Göksu River near the Taurus Mountains, geographically located at 36°22′N 33°56′E.

Economy

Silifke is a successful industrial town, producing beverages, chemicals, clothes, footwear, glass, plastics, pottery, and textiles. It is well-connected with other urban areas.

An irrigation project located at Silifke supplies the fertile Göksu delta. In turn, the town also serves as a market for the surrounding area, which produces beans, cotton, grapes, lentils, olives, tobacco, and canned fruits and vegetables.

History

Seleucia on the Calycadnus (Latin: Seleucia ad Calycadnum) — variously cited over the centuries as Seleucia [in] Cilicia, Seleucia [in,of] Isauria, Seleucia Trachea, and Seleucia Tracheotis — was founded by Seleucus I Nicator in the early 3rd century BC, one of several cities Seleucus named after himself. It is probable that on its site existed one or two towns called Olbia and Hyria, and that Seleucus I merely united them, giving them his name. At the same time the inhabitants of Holmi were transported there (Stephanus of Byzantium; Strabo, XIV, 670). It was located a few miles from the mouth of the Calycadnus (Greek: Kalykadnos, currently Göksu) River, near the older city of Orba (Oura). The site was doubtless selected as a protection against attacks from the sea. It had considerable commercial prosperity as the port of Isauria (Cilicia), and was even a rival of Tarsus.

Under the Romans Seleucia was autonomous, eventually becoming the capital of Isauria. It became a religious center, with a renowned 2nd century Temple of Jupiter. It was also the site of a noted school of philosophy and literature. It was the birthplace of peripatetics Athenæus and Xenarchus. [1]

Early Christian bishops held a Council of Seleucia in (variously cited) 325, 359, and 410. Seleucia was famous for the tomb of Saint Thecla, a virgin of Iconium, converted by Saint Paul, and who died at Seleucia, according to the Acta Pauli et Theclae, an apocryphal work of the second century. In any case the sanctuary built over this tomb and restored several times, among others by the Emperor Zeno in the fifth century, was one of the most celebrated in the Christian world. Its ruins are called Meriamlik (Denkschriften der k. Akadem. der Wissenschaft. philos.-histor. Klasse, Vienna, XLIV, 6, 105-08). In the fifth century the imperial governor (comes Isauriae) in residence at Seleucia had two legions at his disposal, the Secunda Isaura and the Tertia Isaura. From this period, and perhaps from the fourth century, dates the Christian necropolis, lying west of the town and containing many tombs of Christian soldiers with inscriptions. According to the Notitia Episcopatuum of Antioch, in the sixth century, the Metropolitan of Seleucia had twenty-four suffragan sees (Echoes d'Orient, X, 145). About 732 nearly all ecclesiastical province of Isauria was incorporated with the Patriarchate of Constantinople; henceforth the province figures in the Notitiae of Byzantium, but under the name of Pamphylia.

In the Notitiae of Leo VI (ca. 900) Seleucia has 22 suffragan bishoprics (Gelzer, Ungedruckte . . . Texte der Notitiae episcopatuum, 557); in that of Constantine Porphyrogenitus (ca 940) it has 23 (Georgii Cyprii descriptio orbis romani, ed. Gelzer, 76). In 968 Antioch again fell into the power of the Byzantines, and with the Province of Isauria, Seleucia was restored to the Patriarchate of Antioch (Gelzer, op. cit., 573). We know of several metropolitans of this see, the first of whom, Agapetus, attended the Council of Nicaea in 325; Neonas was at the Council of Seleucia in 359; Symposius at the Council of Constantinople in 381; Dexianus at the Council of Ephesus in 431; Basil, a celebrated orator and writer, whose conduct was rather ambiguous at the Robber Council of Ephesus and at the beginning of the Council of Chalcedon in 451; Theodore was at the Fifth Ecumenical Council in 553; Macrobius at the Sixth Ecumenical Council and the Council in Trullo in 692.

In the 11th century, the city was captured by the Seljuks. In 1137, it was besieged by Leon of Cilician Armenia. During the Armenian period, a stronghold was built on the height overlooking the city. On June 10, 1190, the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa was drowned trying to cross the Calycadnus during the Third Crusade.

In the 13th century, it was in the possession of the Hospitallers. The Caramani (of Istanbul) captured it in the second half of the thirteenth century, and then the Osmanli as part of the Ottoman Empire.

There are many well preserved ancient ruins. Among its landmarks are the remains of a Byzantine castle on the Acropolis above town, the city fortifications, a large rock-cut water supply tank, and an extensive necropolis of rock-cut tombs with inscriptions.

Although the population is overwhelmingly Moslem, the city remains a titular see of the Roman Catholic Church, the seat is currently vacant following the death of the last bishop in 1971. [2]

References

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

This article incorporates text from the public domain Catholic Encyclopedia.

Links

Silifke Guide and Photo Album

Ancient Greece

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