Tarsus

TARSUS - The capital of the Roman province of Cilicia (Ac.22.3) in the SE. of Asia Minor, and the birth-place of Paul, is a place about which much more might be known than is known if only the ancient city could be excavated in the way that Pompeii, Olympia, Pergamum, and other cities have been excavated. Tarsus, as a city whose institutions combined Oriental and Western characteristics, was signally fitted to be the biithplace and training ground of him who was to make known to the Gentile world the ripest development of Hebrew religion.

Tarsus (modern Tersous ) is situated in the plain of Cilicia, about 70 to 80 feet above sea-level, and about 10 miles from the S. coast. Thc level plain stretches to the north of it for about 2 miles, and then begins to rise gradually till it merges in the lofty Taurus range, about 30 miles N. The climate of the low-lying city must always have been oppressive and unfavourable to energetic action, but the undulating country to the N. was utilized to counteract its effects. About 9 to 12 miles N. of the city proper there was a second Tarsus, within the territory of the main Tarsus, in theory a summer residence merely, but in reality a fortified town of importance, permanently inhabited. It was to periodical residence in this second city among the hills that the population owed their vigour. In Roman times the combined cities of Tarsus contained a large population.

The history of the Maritime Plain of Cilicia was determined by the mutual rivalries of the three cities, Mallus on the Pyramus, Adana on the Sarus, and Tarsus on the Cydnus. The plain is mainly a deposit of the second of those rivers, and contains about 800 square miles of arable land, with a strip of useless land along the coast varying from 2 to 3 miles in breadth. The site of Mallus has been rediscovered at Kara-Tash, S. of Adana. The other two cities retain their names and some of their importance to the present day. In ancient times Mallus was a serious rival of Tarsus, and was at first the great harbour and the principal Greek colony in Cilicia. The struggle for superiority lasted till after the time of Christ, but the supremacy was eventually resigned to Tarsus. The river Cydnus flowed through the middle of the city. This river, of which the inhabitants were very proud, was liable to rise very considerably when there had been heavy rains in the mountains, but inundation in the city was in the best period very carefully guarded against. Between AD. 527 and 563 a new channel was cut to relieve the principal bed, which had for some time previously been insufficiently dredged, and it is in this new channel that the Cydnus now flows, the original channel having become completely choked. About 5 or 6 miles below the modern town the Cydnus flowed into a lake; this lake was the ancient harbour of Tarsus, where were the docks and arsenal. At the harbour town, which was called Aulai, all the larger ships discharged, and in ancient times buildings were continuous between the north of this lake and the city of Tarsus. Much engineering skill must have been employed in ancient times to make a harbour out of what had been a lagoon, and to improve the channel of the river. This city lies on the road to one of the greatest passes of ancient times, the 'Cilician Gates.' Cilicia is divided from Cappadocia and Lycaonia by the Taurus range of mountains, which is pierced from NW. to SE. by a glen along which flows the Tchakut Su. This glen offers a natural road for much of its course, but there are serious difficulties to overcome in its southern part. A waggon road runs over the hills there, and a level path has been cut out of the solid rock on the western bank of the stream, perhaps already by the Hittite kings.

Shalmaneser III., king of Assyria, captured Tarsus about the middle of the 9th cent. b.c. as did Sennacherib. 696 BC. Neriglissar campaigned in Hume (E. Cilicia) in 556 BC. Afterwards kings ruled over Cilicia, with the Persian kings as overlords. In 401 B.C. there was still a king with the name or title Syennesis, but not in 334 BC., when Alexander the Great entered the country. It then was governed by the Satrap Arsames. During the 4th cent. Tarsus was subject to the Greek kings of Syria of the Seleucid dynasty. It continued during the 3rd cent. in abject submission to them. The peace of 189 BC. changed the position of Cilicia. Previous to that date it had been in the middle of the Seleucid territory. Now it became a frontier country. About 175-164 BC. Tarsus was reorganized by Antiochus IV. Epiphanes as an autonomous city under the name Antioch-on-the-Cydnus (cf 2 Mac.4.30f, 36). It is extremely probable that the exact date of this refoundation was 171-170 BC.; the new name lasted only a few years. Not only Tarsus, but a number of other Cilician cities also were reorganized at this time, but Tarsus received the most honourable treatment.

The population of this reconstituted Tarsus in addition to what remained of the earlier population, consisted of Dorian Greeks from Argos. That the Greek element in the population was mainly Dorian is proved by the fact that the chief magistrates bore the Dorian title damiourgos. A mythology was invented to prove that this Dorian element was much earlier. It is likely that a large body of Jews also was added to the population by Antiochus. These would be incorporated in a new tribe by themselves, to enable them to practise their own religion unhindered. St. Paul, and probably the 'kinsmen' of Ro.16.7, 11, 21, Were citizens of Tarsus enrolled in the Jewish tribe. As the Seleucid empire decayed. the Greek element in Tarsus became weaker, and the Asiatic spirit revived. About 83 BC. its influence swept over Cilicia with the armies of Tigranes, king of Armenia, under whose power Tarsus fell. For about twenty years it continued under Oriental domination, till the reorganization of the East by Pompey the Great in 65-64 BC. The Roman province Cilicia had been instituted about 104 or 102 BC., but Tarsus was not then included in it. It was established mainly to control piracy in the Levant, and included the S. and E. of Asia Minor, but was not sharply defined in extent. In 25 BC. the province GALATIA (q.v.) was established by Augustus, and Cilicia in the narrow sense became a mere adjunct of Syria. Tarsus was the capital even of the large province Cilicia, and remained that of the smaller under the Empire, which brought many blessings to the provinces and their cities. Experience of the barbarian Tigranes caused a revulsion in favour of Hellenism, and the Tarsians were enthusiastic for the Empire, which carried on the work of Hellenism. Cassius forced them, in 43 BC., to take his and Brutus' side against Octavian and Antony, but they returned to their former loyalty on the earliest opportunity. Tarsus was made a free city (that is, it was governed by its own laws) by Antony, who met Cleopatra here. This privilege was confirmed by Octavian in or after 31 BC. It is likely that Pompey, Julius Caesar, Antony, and Augustus all conferred Roman citizenship on some Tarsians, and these would take new names from their benefactors: Gnaeus Pompeius from Pompey, Gaius Iulius from Julius Caesar or Augustus, Marcus Antonius frora Antony. The Roman administration probably trusted more to the Jewish than to the Greek element. The latter was capricious, and was restrained by the Stoic Athenodorus, a Tarsian, who had the influence of Augustus behind him. The Oriental element seems to have thus become more assertive, and about AD. 100 it was predominant. This Athenodorus lived from about 74 BC. till AD. 7. He was a Stoic philosopher, distinguished for his lectures and writings. He gained a great and noble influence over Augustus, who was his pupil, and he remained in Rome from 45 BC. till 15 BC. as his adviser; in the latter year he retired to Tarsus. There he attempted by persuasion to reform local politics; but being unsuccessful, he used the authority granted him by Augustus, and banished the more corrupt of the politicians. A property qualification was now required for possession of the citizenship. (Among these citizens the Roman citizens formed an aristocracy.) Athenodorus was succeeded by Nestor, an Academic philosopher (still living AD. 19). These men had influence also in the university, which was more closely connected with the city than in modern times. A new lecturer had to be recognized by some competent body. There was a great enthusiasm in Tarsus and neighbourhood for leaming and philosophy, and in this respect the city was unequalled in Greece. It was here that Paul learned sympathy with athletics, and tolerance for the good elements in pagan religion. The principal deity of Tarsus was Sandon (Ba'al Tarz ), who was identified with Heracles.
A. So. - E. G. K.
[Article: Dictionary of the Bible, J.Hastings, 2nd Ed., T&T.Clark, 1963.]