CILICIA

Ancient district, southern Anatolia .

The district was located along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea south of the Taurus Mountains . In ancient times it comprised the only land route from Anatolia to Syria, making it a prized territory. Controlled by the Hittites (14th–13th century BC), the Assyrians (8th century), and the Persian Achaemenids (6th–4th century), it later came under Macedonian and Seleucid rule. In the 1st century BC it became a Roman province (see Roman Republic and Empire ). The apostle Paul visited the district, which has early Christian monuments. Muslim Arabs occupied it (7th–10th century AD), at the end of which time it was reconquered by Byzantine Empire . It was absorbed by the Ottoman Empire in 1515 and after 1921 became part of the Republic of Turkey.