Listed 4 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "MOPSOUESTIA Ancient city TURKEY" .
MOPSOUESTIA (Ancient city) TURKEY
Mopsuestia (Mopsou hestia or Mopsouestia: Eth. Mopseates), a considerable
town in the extreme east of Cilicia, on the river Pyramus, and on the road from
Tarsus to Issus. In the earlier writers the town is not mentioned, though it traced
its origin to the ancient soothsayer Mopsus; but Pliny (v. 22), who calls it Mopsos,
states that in his time it was a free town. (Comp. Strab. xiv. p. 676; Cic. ad
Farm. iii. 8; Steph. B. s. v.; Procop. de Aed. v. 5; Amm. Marc. xiv. 8; Phot.
Cod. 176; Ptol. v. 8. § 7; It. Ant. p. 705; Hierocl. p. 705; It. Hieros. p. 680,
where it is called Mansista.) A splendid bridge across the Pyramus was built at
Mopsuestia by the emperor Constantius. (Malala, Chron. xiii.) It was situated
only 12 miles from the coast, in a fertile plain, called Aleion pedion. (Arrian,
Anab. ii. 5; Eustath. ad Dionys. Per. 872.) In the middle ages the name of the
place was corrupted into Mamista; its present name is Messis or Mensis. Ancient
remains are not mentioned, and travellers describe Mensis as a dirty and uninteresting
place. (Leake, Asia Minor, p. 217; Otter's Reisen, i. c. 8.)
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
(Mopsou hestia, also Mopsou polis and Mopsos). Now Messis; an important city of Cilicia Campestris, on both banks of the river Pyramus, twelve Roman miles from its mouth, on the road from Tarsus to Issus, in the beautiful plain called to Aleion pedion, was a civitas libera under the Romans. The two parts of the city were connected by a handsome bridge built by Constantius over the Pyramus. In ecclesiastical history, it is notable as the birthplace of Theodore of Mopsuestia. In the Middle Ages it was called Mampsista.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Some 19 km E of Adana and sited at a most important crossing of the
Ceyhan (Pyramos) where the foothills of the Jebel-i-Nur most nearly approach the
river. Two km NE it is dominated by the limestone outcrop crowned today by the
12th c. castle known as Yilan Kale, a fortress of the Little Armenian kingdom.
Its legendary founder Mopsos, whose wanderings in Cilicia and Syria
are an early feature of Greek mythology, appears in the literary sources and may
have been a historic figure. Mopsukrene, near the Cilician Gates, adds substance
to the legend. The city was in Persian hands until Alexander's time, and was later
renamed Seleucea on the Pyramos for Seleucus IV Epiphanes. It was issuing semiautonomous
coinage by the 2d c. B.C., and in 67 B.C. adopted a new era to celebrate Pompey's
conquest of the Cilician pirates and their resettlement in such established cities
as Mopsuestia. It joined in the intercity rivalry of Roman Cilicia, styling itself
"free" and the center of "holy, ecumenical games," as well
as "Hadriane" in honor of the emperor. Captured by the Parthians in
260, it later became a Christian bishopric, the see of the famous Theodore, declared
a heretic after the Council of Chalcedon (451).
A magnificent Roman bridge, a theater, stadium, and colonnaded street
still exist, while W of the city mound is a huge basilican church with mosaics
(5th c?).
M. Gough, 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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