CILICIA

CILICIA
CILICIA, district on the southeastern coast of Asia Minor, between Pamphylia and Syria. Cilicia became part of the Seleucid Empire on the death of Alexander the Great, and in   65 B.C.E. fell to the Roman conqueror Pompey, who immediately made the region into a Roman province. Tarsus, the capital of Cilicia, has been identified by various authors with the biblical Tarshish. Josephus relates how Jonah embarked at Jaffa "to sail to Tarsus in Cilicia" (Ant. 9:208), and a similar tradition is attributed to Saadiah Gaon, by Ibn Ezra in his commentary to Jonah (1:3). During the Second Temple period the kings of Judea maintained various links with Cilicia. Alexander Yannai recruited a major portion of his mercenary force among its inhabitants (Jos., Ant., 13:374), and Herod, on one of his return journeys from Rome, visited it with his sons (Jos., Ant., 16:131). Herod's great-granddaughter Berenice was married for a short time to Polemo, king of Cilicia (Jos. Ant. 20:145–6). Little is known of the early settlement of Jews in Cilicia. A general allusion to a community is made by Philo, who quotes the petition of Agrippa I to Emperor Caligula (Legatio ad Gaium, 281). The New Testament refers to Cilician Jews in Jerusalem (Acts 6:9), with Paul describing himself as "a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia" (Acts, 21:39; 22:39; cf. 9:11). After the destruction of the Second Temple a number of rabbis visited Cilicia, among them Akiva, who is mentioned at Zephyrion in Cilicia (Tosef., BK 10:17; Sif., Num. 4; TJ, Av. Zar. 2:4, 41), and Nahum b. Simai, who preached at Tarsus (PR 15:78). During the fourth century messengers were sent to Cilicia by the patriarchs to collect funds for Palestinian Jewry. The rabbis were so well acquainted with the wine and beans of Cilicia that the latter were even used by them as a standard measure: the space of a "bright spot" of leprosy must be "a square with both sides the length of a Cilician split bean" (Tosef., Shev. 5:2; Ma'as. 5:8; Kelim 17:12; Neg. 6:1). -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Schuerer, Gesch, 3 (1909), 22; Frey, Corpus, 2 (1952), nos. 782–95. (Isaiah Gafni)

Encyclopedia Judaica. 1971.

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  • Cilicĭa — Cilicĭa, Landschaft, s. Kilikien …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Cilicia — [sə lish′ə] region in SE Asia Minor, on the Mediterranean, under the domination of various kingdoms & rulers from the Assyrians in the 7th cent. B.C. until conquered by the Turks in the 15th cent. Cilician adj., n …   English World dictionary

  • Cilicia — Not to be confused with Sicilia. See also: Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia Cilicia (Կիլիկիա) Cilicia (Κιλικία) Ancient Region of Anatolia Location Southeastern Anatolia State existed: 16 14th c. BC (as Kizzuwatna) 12 8th c. BC (as Khilikku, Tabal …   Wikipedia

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  • Cilicia — Cilician, adj., n. /si lish euh/, n. an ancient country in SE Asia Minor: later a Roman province. * * * Ancient district, southern Anatolia. The district was located along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea south of the Taurus Mountains. In… …   Universalium

  • Cilicia — Das Königreich Kleinarmenien, 1199–1375 Kilikien (lat. Cilicia, dt. auch Zilizien) ist eine antike Landschaft im Südosten Kleinasiens. Sie entspricht in etwa den heutigen türkischen Provinzen Adana und Mersin. Inhaltsverzeichnis …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Cilicia — Cilicie La Cilicie en tant que province de l empire romain La Cilicie est une ancienne province romaine située dans la moitié orientale du sud de l Asie Mineure en Turquie. Elle était bordée au nord par la Cappadoce et la Lycaonie, à l est par la …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Cilicia —    Region in southeast Asia Minor (q.v.), between the Mediterranean and the Taurus (qq.v.) mountain range whose strategic importance is related to the Cilician Gates (q.v.). From 703 965 the Arabs (q.v.) controlled Cilicia and were able to invade …   Historical dictionary of Byzantium

  • Cilicia —    A maritime province in the south east of Asia Minor. Tarsus, the birth place of Paul, was one of its chief towns, and the seat of a celebrated school of philosophy. Its luxurious climate attracted to it many Greek residents after its… …   Easton's Bible Dictionary

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