Anemurium

Anemurion (Latin Anemurium ), now Eski Anamur, was an ancient settlement in Rough Cilicia ( Cilicia Tracheia ) southwest of present-day southern Turkish province of Mersin in the Anamurs. Compared to Cape Anemurion lies the Cape of Cypriots or Krommyus Cape (Cape Kormakitis ), 350 stadia ( about 60 miles) from the mainland.

History

The first traces of settlement date from the 8th century BC In the heyday of this settlement in the Roman Empire there lived perhaps 20,000 inhabitants. 52 AD Anemurion was besieged in vain by the Cilician Clitae under their leader Troxobor. A relief force from Syria under Curtius Severus was repulsed by them, until the king Antiochus IV of Commagene they could defeat and kill Troxobor and other leaders.

A major earthquake in the 4th century destroyed the entire water supply, and a restoration of the aqueducts was deemed not worthwhile. However, the city existed until the middle of the 7th century.

Anemurion consisted of a fortified upper town on the Cape Anamur and a north adjoining lower town. A large necropolis in the north- west of the city has about 350 graves from the 1st to the 4th century. Inside, they were decorated with wall paintings and mosaics, one of which (including the presentation of a Medusa ) are to be seen the remains. In the city itself remains of a theater for about 1,500 spectators, an Odeon (or Buleuterions ) with about 900 seats, three bathrooms and a line running in a north-south direction column road can still be seen. Consider value are the mosaics at the Odeon, located in a hallway under the stands. In one of the bathrooms you can still see the water supply; there is a warm-water pool, which was heated by a fire beneath the stone basin.

Excavations have also provided important Byzantine finds.

The titular Anemurium goes back to an earlier diocese of the city.

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