Let's start in Tarsus, Paul's hometown, which is located between Mersin and Adana. The Apostle Paul emphasized that Roman Tarsus was a very significant city during the New Testament period (Acts 21:39, 22:3) and it became the capital city of the Roman province of Cilicia in 64 AD. It is now, however, buried approximately ten feet underneath Old Tarsus with a small portion of the Roman city and road excavated for viewing.
Next is the Cilician Gates. A few miles east of Tarsus is the highway that leads through the Cilician Gates, a narrow gap in the Tarsus Mountains, north onto the Cappadocian (Kap-puh-do-kee-an) plateau. This pass has been used by Hittites, Alexander the Great, Romans, and the Apostle Paul.
Do you remember Turkish history after WWI when the treaty stated that the Turkish provinces were to be divided among the Allied nations? Do you remember that the Turks fiercely resisted this division? In the northeastern portion of the Mediterranean Region is the province of Kahramanmaras (Kah-ra-man-ma-rosh), however it used to be named simply Maras (Ma-rosh). After WWI, the citizens of Maras resisted the occupation of the French, and their opposition resuled in the French leaving the lands of Anatolia. The city was given the prefix Kahraman which means "hero."
Bonus fact: To the east of Osmaiye (Os-ma-nee-ye) is the province of Gazientep (Ga-zee-an-tep). Though this province sits in the Southeastern Anatolia Region, I felt it was worth mentioning that the historic city of Kargamis (Carchemish) is located here, very near the Syrian border along the Euphrates River. Carchemish is mentioned in 2 Chronicles 35:20.
In the book of Daniel, there are multiple prophecies that reveal the order of ancient kingdoms. Do you remember the statue with the head of gold, the chest and arms of silver, the hips of brass, the legs of iron, and the feet of iron and clay? Well the chest stood for the Medo-Persian Empire and the hips stood for Greece. In the Turkish province of Hatay (Ha-tie) is the city of Iskenderun, formerly Alexandria, which was built to commemorate Alexander the Great's victory over King Darius in 333 BC.
Finally is the city of Antioch (modern Antakya) which we discussed yesterday. This city, where followers of Christ were first called Christians, used to be a thriving Christian and monastic center.
Like the entire Mediterranean Region, this is no longer true. This area, especially that closest to the Syrian border, experiences a good amount of political tension. There also exists a fair amount of Orthodox Christians and there are obviously a large number of mosques and Islamic centers.
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