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25-604: The village has an ancient history as a center of settlement. It was established on the Zeytun Stream in a narrow valley between the Ceyhan River and the Göksun Stream in the west of Maraş , between the high mountains and 69 km (43 mi) north of the center of Kahramanmaraş. The surface of the region has a very indented and protruding surface as it is cut by many streams with abundant water and strong flow. For this reason,

50-800: A mountain complex in southern Turkey , separating the Mediterranean coastal region from the central Anatolian Plateau . The system extends along a curve from Lake Eğirdir in the west to the upper reaches of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers in the east. It is a part of the Alpide belt in Eurasia . The mountain range under the current name was mentioned in The Histories by Polybius as Ταῦρος ( Taûros ). Heinrich Kiepert writes in Lehrbuch der alten Geographie that

75-533: A yearly tax. In the 19th century, Zeitun was one of the few places where a ruling Armenian nobility still existed, consisting of four ishkhans (barons or princes) ruling the town and the surrounding villages. According to one contemporary Armenian source, the town consisted of 1,500 homes inhabited by Armenians in 1900, while 24 Turkish families had lived in the town before leaving in 1896. The inhabitants fought with Ottoman forces multiple times from 1780 to 1895 to preserve their autonomy. The most notable rebellions in

100-628: Is a natural frontier: west is Cilicia , east is Syria. There are several passes, like the Amanian Gate (Bahçe Pass) , which are of great strategical importance. In 333 BC at the Battle of Issus , Alexander the Great defeated Darius III in the foothills along the coast between these two passes. In the Second Temple period, Jewish authors seeking to establish with greater precision the geographical definition of

125-758: Is a river in Anatolia in the south of Turkey . The Ceyhan River (Pyramus) has its source (known as Söğütlü Dere ) at a location called Pınarbaşı 3 km (1.9 mi) on the Nurhak Mountains of the Eastern Taurus Mountains range, southeast of the town of Elbistan in the Kahramanmaraş province of Turkey. According to classical references its source is at Cataonia near the town of Arabissus . Its main tributaries are called Harman, Göksun, Mağara Gözü, Fırnız, Tekir, Körsulu, Aksu (which joins Ceyhan at

150-538: The Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia , with a Roupenid fortress named Inkuzut first mentioned in 1199. The Armenians of Zeitun and the surrounding district historically enjoyed a high degree of autonomy owing to their defensible position in the mountains. This autonomy was acknowledged by an edict of the Ottoman Sultan Murad IV made in 1618, which gave the inhabitants a high degree of autonomy in exchange for

175-725: The Promised Land , began to construe Mount Hor as a reference to the Amanus range of the Taurus Mountains, which marked the northern limit of the Syrian plain . During World War I , the German and Turkish railway system through the Taurus Mountains proved to be a major strategic objective of the Allies. This region was specifically mentioned as a strategically controlled objective slated for surrender to

200-636: The Allies in the Armistice , which ended hostilities against the Ottoman Empire . In addition to hiking and mountain climbing, there are two ski resorts on the mountain range, one at Davras about 25 km (16 mi) from the two nearest towns of Egirdir and Isparta , the second is Saklıkent 40 km (25 mi) from the city of Antalya . The Varda Viaduct , situated on the railway lines Konya - Adana at Hacıkırı village in Adana Province ,

225-747: The Central Taurus Mountains. It has many peaks rising above 3,000–3,700 m (9,800–12,100 ft). Mt. Kizlarsivrisi , 3,086 m (10,125 ft), in the Bey Mountains is the highest peak in the Western Taurus. The Central Taurus Mountains are roughly defined to include northern Mersin Province and northwestern Adana Province . The highest point in the Central Taurus is Mt. Demirkazık (3,756m). The Cilician Gates or Gülek Pass has been

250-681: The Hunchaks, occurred during the Armenian genocide . The town was captured and its inhabitants were deported to Syria. Some Armenians returned to Zeitun during the occupation of Cilicia by the French army from 1918 to 1921. However, when the region was ceded back to Turkey, the Armenians were forced to flee once again. Ceyhan River The Ceyhan River (historically Pyramos or Pyramus ( Greek : Πύραμος ), Leucosyrus ( Greek : Λευκόσυρος ) or Jihun )

275-608: The Mediterranean Sea at Mallus . Currently this location is inland a few miles from the Mediterranean coast on an elevation in the Karataş Peninsula, Adana Province, Turkey, a few miles from the town of Karataş . In classical times it carried with it such a quantity of mud, that, according to an ancient oracle, its deposits would one day reach the island of Cyprus , and thus unite it with the mainland. The delta formed at

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300-547: The deep valleys, only the one called Kısıklı Canyon exists in its natural form, south of the location the Menzelet Dam. The quantity of water flow on the Ceyhan River changes greatly season by season. During August and September the river is at its lowest flow. During November and December the autumn rains temporarily raise the water flow rate from 50 to 380 cubic metres per second (1,800 to 13,400 cu ft/s). In January

325-468: The flow rate decreases until mid-February. As the snows melt in the Taurus Mountains during spring and early summer months, the flow increases and, periodically caused flooding prior to its damming. During the last quarter of the 20th century, during the floods, the two rivers of the Çukurova plain, the Ceyhan River and the Seyhan River , joined at least 6 times. In classical times the Ceyhan River reached

350-522: The houses have an irregular appearance of leaning on steep slopes. The name Zeitun comes from the Arabic word for olive. Another name for the town and the surrounding district used by Armenians is Ulnia. After the Turkish government had already changed the town's name to Yeni Şehir ( lit.   ' New City ' ), the town was renamed Süleymanlı on 8 June 1915 after the Turkish military commander Süleyman Bey who

375-748: The mouth of the Ceyhan River is a refuge for wetlands birds and some years their numbers reach a few million. The sand bank in front is famed for nesting ground for sea turtles. (Comp. Scylax , p. 40; Ptol. v.8.4; Plin. v.22 ; Mela, i.13 ; Curtius iii.7 ; Arrian , Anab. ii.5.8.) [REDACTED]  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain :  Smith, William , ed. (1854–1857). "Pyramus". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography . London: John Murray. 36°33′55″N 35°33′39″E  /  36.5652°N 35.5609°E  / 36.5652; 35.5609 Mount Taurus The Taurus Mountains ( Turkish : Toros Dağları or Toroslar, Greek : Ταύρος) are

400-583: The name was borrowed into Ancient Greek from the Semitic ( Old Aramaic ) root טורא ( ṭūrā ), meaning "mountain". The Taurus Mountains are divided into three chains from west to east as follows; The Western Taurus Mountains form an arc around the Gulf of Antalya . It includes the Akdağlar, Bey Mountains, Katrancık Mountain, Kuyucak Mountains, and Geyik Mountains. The East Taşeli Plateau and Goksu River divide it from

425-421: The outskirts of Kahramanmaraş), Çakur, Susas, and Çeperce. Its total length is 509 kilometres (316 mi). In classical times for a time it passed under ground, but then came forward again as a navigable river, and forced its way through a glen of Mount Taurus , which in some parts was so narrow that Strabo claims a dog or hare could leap across it. Its course, which to this point had been south, then turned to

450-676: The principal pass through the Eastern Taurus since ancient times, connecting the coastal plain of Cilicia with Central Anatolia . The Tarsus-Ankara Highway ( E90 , O-21 ) passes through it. Mountain ranges in the Central Taurus include: The Southeastern Taurus Mountains form the northern boundary of the Southeastern Anatolia Region and North Mesopotamia . They include the Nurhak Mountains, Malatya Mountains, Maden Mountains, Genç Mountains, and Bitlis Mountains. They are in

475-719: The southern slopes of the Beydaglari range. The mountains have a Mediterranean climate , with dry summers and rainy winters. Temperatures vary with elevation, with warm winters on the lower coastal slopes and cold winters in the high mountains and in the interior. At lower elevations, the predominant vegetation forest and woodland of evergreen oaks and Turkish pine ( Pinus brutia ), and areas of maquis shrubland . Above 1200 meters elevation are montane forests of black pine ( Pinus nigra ), Lebanon cedar ( Cedrus libani ), Taurus fir ( Abies cilicica ), and juniper ( Juniperus spp.). The high peaks are home to alpine meadows. The bull

500-425: The southwest, and reached the sea. The river was deep and rapid; its average breadth was 1  stadium . At present, because of the narrow deep valleys that used to exist, the Ceyhan River has been dammed for hydroelectric generation, for flood control and for providing irrigation to the fertile Çukurova region. The main hydroelectric generating dams are at Menzelet , Kılavuzlu , Aslantaş , Sır and Berke . Of

525-560: The town occurred in 1862 , 1895 and 1915 . Although Ottoman forces were unable to capture the town during the 1862 rebellion, the residents of Zeitun were unable to preserve their traditional autonomy after the 1860s. The rebellion of 1895 was incited by revolutionaries of the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party , and was ended by the mediation of the European powers after four months of fighting. The 1915 rebellion, also led by

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550-534: The various storm-gods of the ancient Near East, were a people whom modern scholars place in the Taurus Mountains at their probable earliest origins. A Bronze Age archaeological site, where early evidence of tin mining was found, is at Kestel . The pass known in antiquity as the Cilician Gates crosses the range north of Tarsus . The Amanus range in southern Turkey is where the Taurus Mountains are pushed up as three tectonic plates come together. The Amanus

575-573: The watershed of the Euphrates River and Tigris River . The Taurus Mountains were formed by the collision of the African and Eurasian tectonic plates . The predominant underlying rock is limestone . In the Aladaglar and Bolkar mountains, limestone has eroded to form karstic landscapes of waterfalls , underground rivers , and some of the largest caves of Asia . The Manavgat River originates on

600-499: Was commonly the symbol and depiction of ancient Near Eastern storm gods , hence Taurus the bull, and hence the name of the mountains. The mountains are a place of many ancient storm-god temples. Torrential thunderstorms in these mountains were deemed by the ancient Syrians to be the work of the storm-god Adad to make the Tigris and Euphrates rivers rise and flood and thereby fertilise their land. The Hurrians , probably originators of

625-513: Was killed fighting Armenian resistance against the Armenian Genocide in the town in 1915. The monastery of Bārid , a major Syriac Orthodox monastery, was built close to the village in 969 and existed until around 1213. According to folk tradition, Armenians first came to Zeitun from the medieval Armenian capital of Ani after its fall in 1064. In the twelfth century the region was primarily settled by Armenians and belonged for some time to

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