Tarsus (Cilicia)

Tarsus, on the Cydnus River in Cilicia (southern Turkey), is one of Anatolia's oldest cities. Under the Persians it was the seat of the local Cilician rulers, and under Rome (from the 60s BCE) the capital of the province of Cilicia and a renowned centre of Greek learning, home of the Stoic Athenodorus, tutor of Augustus. The Book of Acts names it as the apostle Paul's home city. After the Arab conquests it became the chief Abbasid fortress on the Byzantine frontier (rebuilt 787-788) until Byzantium retook it in 965; it was later ruled by Armenian, Mamluk and Ottoman powers.