Kilikia: Aigaiai

Tarsos

•Birthplace of St. Paul

•Kilise Cami – Church Mosque, built 300 AD perhaps dedicated to St. Paul, converted in 1415

•Roman-age Cleopatra Gate, monumental remnant of the defensive walls

•St. Paul’s well : old stone well

•Museum : housed in a 16th cent. medrese (theological school)

Aigaiai

•People use the Greek name, island with castle

•Pictures with church walls made up of old pillars- ancient Aigeai

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•Dioskourides (active 65 – 30 BC) a Greek master from Aigeai is one of the few gem carvers recorded in ancient literature. He is mentioned by several Roman authors as the carver of the personal seal of the emperor Augustus (ruled 27 BC – 14 AD). Dioskourides’ fame led later carvers to copy his works and forge his signature

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•Constantine ordered the destruction of the temple of Asclepios at Aigeai in Cilicia. The local bishop stripped the temple of its exterior colonnade and reused it to build his church.

•Epimenes, Solon, Dioskourides and Gnaios. These carvers sometimes signed their work, but usually not.

•Epimenes : active around 500 BC

•Solon : active 70 – 20 BC worked in roman imperial circles fashioning portraits of Augustus and his sister along with mythological figures. His signature preserved in 5 ancient gems including the Strozzi Medusa

•Dioskourides and sons: this intaglio showing Diomedes stealing the Palladion (a talismanic statuette of Athena) is among the finest of all gems that survive from antiquity. In a field of just a few cm. He convincingly rendered details of a dynamic, living body, clearly distinguishing skin, muscle, bones and even fingernails.

•His sons Eutyches, Hyllos and Herophilos followed him

•This cameo by Hyllos depicting a satyr shows the finely detailed carving that is characteristic of him

•Gnaios : although he signed in Greek, he had a latin name. Active 40 – 20 BC.

•Yilanli kale (castle) nearby. City on Pyramos river : its source is at Cataonia near Arabissus (today Elbistan). At times, it passes underground. Many parts through Taurus are so narrow that Strabo claims a god can leap across it. In classical times Ceyhan reached the sea at Mallus. This location is inland a few miles, near Karatas. In classical times, it carried so much mud that according to an ancient oracle its deposits would one day reach Cyprus