ISAURA VETUS
or Isauria or Isara Turkey.
City of Isauria on a hill (Zengibar Kalesi) near Ulu
Pinar, 10 km E of Boskir (Silistat). It was the main
fortress of Isauria when Perdiccas took it in 322 B.C.
(
Diod. 18.22), was destroyed by Servilius Isauricus in
75 B.C., and later restored by Amyntas of Galatia who
died when the wall was under construction (
Strab. 12.6.3;
14.3.3). It appears on Roman Imperial coinage as metropolis of the Isaurians.
The wall around the hill is ca. 3.8 km long. Parts of
it are well preserved, including two well-fortified gates
and 14 polygonal towers. The masonry is pseudo-isodomic. The small acropolis is on a rise at the SE end of
the city. Inside the walls remains still standing include
arches to Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, and Severus Alexander, a well-preserved church, and an octagonal chapel.
Outside the walls are some elaborate rock-cut graves and
heroa, apparently of the 2d-3d c. A.D.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
W. J. Hamilton,
Researches in Asia
Minor II (1842) 327f; J. S. Sterrett,
Papers Am. Sch.
of Classical Studies Athens 3 (1884-85) 97, 105f; J.
Jüthner et al.,
Vörlautiger Benicht über eine Archäologische Expedition nach Kleinasien (1903) 44-50
MPI;
Jüthner et al.,
Denkmäler aus Lykaonien, Pamphylien
md Isaurien (1935) 69-92, 119-42
MPI; D. Magie,
Roman
Rule in Asia Minor (1950) esp. 1170 n. 22, 1171 n. 24;
F. E. Winter, Greek Fortifications (1971) 136, 190f, 194,
200-2PI.
T. S. MAC KAY
