FLAVIOPOLIS
(Kadirli) Cilicia Campestris, Turkey.
Almost certainly identifiable with modern Kadirli
on the river Savrun at the NE corner of the plain and ca.
160 km from Adana. Kozan (120 km NE of Adana) is
out of the question since it has virtually no pre-Armenian
remains and no trace of an ancient road thither from the
ruins of Anazarbos (Anavarza) 35 km S. According to
the
Antonine Itinerary, however, Flaviopolis was the first
city from Anazarbos on the road N to Kokossos (Göksun), and a stretch of this road, with milestones in situ,
still exists. Also, ca. 5 km N of Anavarza, a Roman
bridge spans the Savrun at Tozlu and a number of inscriptions were found there in 1949. Most scholars agree
on the identification of Flaviopolis with Kadirli, for epigraphic evidence there proves the existence of a city
whose magistrates were demiurgi.
Flaviopolis was founded in A.D. 74 by Vespasian, as
part of an imperial program for the urbanization of the
Cilician Plain. Until then the rural hinterland, as well as
the city of Anazarbos, was probably administered by the
Tracondimotid dynasty from Hieropolis Castabala. Some
mosaic floors, inscriptions, and building blocks have been
found at Kadirli, and a 6th c. church has been excavated.
Flaviopolis was bishopric of Cilicia Secunda in the Christian era.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ItAnt. 212.2; J. T. Bent,
JHS 11 (1890)
223-26; R. Heberdey & A. Wilhelm, “Reisen in Kilikien,”
Wien. Denkschr. 44 (1896) 32-33; H. Bossert & B. Alkim,
Karatepe, Second Prelim. Report (1947) 17ff; M. Gough,
AnatSt 2 (1952) 93-95.
M. GOUGH
