MOPSUE´STIA
MOPSUE´STIA (
Μόψου ἑστία or
Μοψουεστία: Eth.
Μοψεάτης), 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 (
5.22), who calls it Mopsos, states that in his time it was a free town. (Comp.
Strab. xiv. p.676;
Cic. ad Farm. 3.8;
Steph. B. sub voce Procop.
de Aed. 5.5;
Amm. Marc. 14.8;
Phot. Bibl. 176;
Ptol. 5.8.7;
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
Ἀλήιον πεδίον. (Arrian,
Arr. Anab. 2.5; Eustath.
ad Dionys.  |
| COIN OF MOPSUESTIA. |
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, 1.100.8.)
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