Sirkeli Höyük and its Environment
Cilicia – At the Interface between Anatolia, Cyprus, and Syria
The region that was known as ›Cilicia‹ in Antiquity, located at the interface between Syria, Cyprus and Anatolia on the southeastern coast of Asia Minor, was—and is—geographically divided into two parts: Cilicia Tracheia (›Rugged Cilicia‹) in the west and Cilicia Pedias (›Flat Cilicia‹) in the east. The fertile plain is watered by the Tarsus Çayı (Cydnos), the Seyhan (Saros, Šamri in Hittite) and the Ceyhan (Pyramos, Puruna in Hittite) rivers. Today, the region is called Çukurova, the city of Adana being its regional capital.
Map of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Location of Cilicia.
The Tauros Mountains as seen from Sirkeli Höyük.
While ›Rugged Cilicia‹ in the west with its mountainous and rocky headlands was only poorly settled in history and therefore lacked large cities, the region of ›Flat Cilicia‹ in the east consists of a large coastal plain with abundant fertile soils that were extensively used for agriculture in Antiquitiy. Even today the region still is one of the most fertile regions in Turkey. This situation is also reflected in the archaeological record: a high number of settlement mounds (arabic Tell, Turkish Höyük) can be found within the region which confirms its importance throughout history. In the northern and eastern part the plain is surrounded and bordered by the Tauros and Amanus Mountains which separate it from the central plateau of Anatolia and Syria respectively, south of the plain lies the ›Gulf of Alexandrette‹ (İskenderun).
The Amanus Mountains as seen from Sirkeli Höyük.
Protected by the Mediterranean Sea in the south and the high mountain ranges in the north and east, the plain was only accessible by the narrow gorges (or passes) called the ›Amanic Gates‹ (today called ›Bahçe Pass‹) and the ›Syrian Gates‹ (today called ›Bailan Pass‹) in the Amanus Mountains in the east and the ›Cilician Gates‹ in the Tauros Mountains and the Göksu Valley (Kalykadnos in Antiquity) in the north and west. The region therefore was incorporated into a large interregional network of trade and cultural exchange between the various regions of the Ancient Near East, i.e. Mesopotamia, Syria, the Levant and eastern Mediterranean (including Cyprus) and Egypt. In pre-classical Antiquity the region of ›Flat-Cilicia‹ was called Qawa, Que, Kizzuwatna, Ḫume or Ḥiyawa.
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