ANAZARBUS
ANAZARBUS or--A (
Ἀνάζαρβος, Ἀνάζαρβα: Eth.
Ἀναζαρβεύς, Anazarbenus), a city of Cilicia, so called, according to Stephanus, either from an adjacent mountain of the same name, or from the founder, Anazarbus.
It was situated on the Pyramus, and 11 miles from Mopsuestia, according to the Peutinger Table. Suidas (s. v.
Κύϊνδα) says that the original name of the place was Cyinda or Quinda; that it was next called Diocaesarea; and (s. v.
Ἀνάζαρβος) that having been destroyed by an earthquake, the emperor Nerva sent thither one Anazarbus, a man of senatorial rank, who rebuilt the city, and gave to it his own name. All this cannot be true, as Valesius (
Amm. Marc. 14.8) remarks, for it was called Anazarbus in Pliny's time (5.27). Dioscorides is called a native of Anazarbus; but the period of Dioscorides is not certain.
Its later name was Caesarea ad Anazarbum, and there are many medals of the place in which it is both named Anazarbus and Caesarea at or under Anazarbus. On the division of Cilicia it became the chief place of Cilicia Secunda, with the title of Metropolis.
It suffered dreadfully from an earth-quake both in the time of Justinian, and, still more, in the reign of his successor Justin.
The site of Anazarbus, which is said to be named
[p. 1.132]Anawasy or
Amnasy, is described (
London Geoq. Journ. vol. vii. p. 421), but without any exact description of its position, as containing ruins “backed by an isolated mountain, bearing a castle of various architecture.” It seems not unlikely that this mountain may be Cyinda, which, in the time of Alexander and his successors, was a deposit for treasure. (Strab. p. 672;
Diod. 18.62,
19.56;
Plut. Eum. 100.13.) Strabo, indeed, places Cyinda above Anchiale; but as he does not mention Anazarbus, this is no great difficulty; and besides this, his geography of Cilicia is not very exact. If Pococke's account of the Pyramus at
Anawacsy being called Quinda is true, this is some confirmation of the hill of Anazarbus being Quinda.
It seems probable enough that Quinda is an old name, which might be applied to the hill fort, even after Anazarbus became a city of some importance.
An old traveller (Willebrand v. Oldenburg), quoted by Forbiger, found, at a place called
Naversa (manifestly a corruption of Anazarbus) or
Anawasy, considerable remains of an old town, at the distance of 8 German miles from Sis.
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