Listed 7 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "KORAKISSION Ancient city TURKEY" .
Coracesium (Korakesion), Strabo's boundary on the coast of Asia Minor
between Pamphylia and Cilicia. At Alaya, which is the site of Coracesium, begins
the mountainous coast which extends eastward to Cape Cavaliere. A mountain a little
east of Alaya, and near the coast, is marked 4800 feet high in Beaufort's map.
The promontory of Alaya (Coracesium) rises abruptly] from a low sandy isthmus,
which is separated from the mountains by a broad plain; two of its sides are cliffs
of great height, and absolutely perpendicular; and the eastern side, on which
the town is placed, is so steep that the houses seem to rest on each other: in
short, it forms a natural fortress that might be rendered impregnable; and the
numerous walls and towers prove how anxiously its former possessors laboured to
make it so. (Beaufort's Karamania, p. 172.) The bay is open to southerly winds,
the anchorage indifferent, and there is no harbour or pier. Beaufort supposes
that there may, however, have been a mole constructed here, but circumstances
prevented him from examining into that matter. The cliffs at Alaya are from 500
to 600 feet above the sea, and their perpendicular direction is continued for
60 or 70 feet below it. They are of compact white limestone, tinged by a red dross
on the outside. On the summit of the hill there are the remains of a Cyclopian
wall, and a few broken columns; but no Greek inscriptions were discovered.
Strabo's brief description of Coracesium agrees with the facts. The
natural strength of this position, a lofty and almost insulated rock, resembling
Gibraltar, will explain its historical importance. Antiochus, king of Syria, was
occupied with the siege of Coracesium when the Rhodians sent him the message which
is mentioned by Livy (xxxiii. 20). It was the only place on the Cilician coast
that had not submitted to him. The rebel Tryphon afterwards maintained himself
for some time at Coracesium. The pirates of Cilicia, against whom the Romans sent
Cn. Pompeius, kept their plunder in the strong places of the Taurus, but their
naval station was Coracesium, where with their fleet they awaited the attack of
the Roman admiral, who defeated them. (Plut. Pomp. c. 28.) In the old maps Alaya
is called Castel Ubaldo, which may possibly have been the name given to it by
the Venetians and Genoese, when in possession of this and other strongholds upon
the Caramanian coast, but there is no recollection of the name in this country
at present. (Leake, Asia Minor, p. 126.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Korakesion. A very strong city of Cilicia Aspera, on the borders of Pamphylia, standing upon a steep rock, and possessing a good harbour. It was the only place in Cilicia that offered a successful resistance to Alexander the Great.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
City in Cilicia Aspera, recorded by Pseudo-Skylax in the mid 4th c.
B.C., but never a place of much importance. About 197 B.C. it successfully resisted
capture by Antiochos III, and in the mid 2d c. was used as headquarters by Diodotos
Tryphon (Strab. 668). Later it was the scene of the decisive sea battle in which
Pompey defeated the pirates, who had used the place as a major stronghold. Korakesion
and the neighboring area were presented by Antony to Cleopatra to supply timber
for shipbuilding (Strab. 669). Coinage begins under Trajan.
Very little remains of the ancient city. The walls of the citadel
erected on the great rock by Keykubad I in the 13th c. stand in part on the Hellenistic
walls, which are of regular ashlar masonry. Otherwise only scattered ancient blocks
and a few inscriptions have been found in the suburbs of AIanya.
G. E. Bean, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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