ANAZARBUS (med.

See also:

• AIN

Ain Zarba; mod. Navarza)  , an ancient Cilician city, situated in the Aleian plain about 10 m . W. of the main stream of the Pyramus (Jihun) and near its tributary the Sempas Su . A lofty isolated ridge formed its acropolis . Though some of the masonry in the ruins is certainly pre-Roman, Suidas's identification of it with Cyinda, famous as a treasure city in the wars of Eumenes of Cardia, cannot be accepted in the face of Strabo's express location of Cyinda in western Cilicia . Under the early Roman empire the place was known as Caesarea, and was the metropolis of Cilicia Secunda . Rebuilt by the emperor Justin after an earthquake, it became Justinopolis (A.D . 525); but the old native name persisted, and when Thoros I., king of Lesser Armenia, made it his capital early in the 12th century, it was known as Anazarva . Its great natural strength and situation, not far from the mouth of the Sis pass, and near the great road which debouched from the Cilician gates, made Anazarbus play a considerable part in the struggles between the Byzantine empire and the early Moslem invaders . It had been rebuilt by Harun al-Rashid in 796 A.D., refortified at great expense by Saif addaula, the Hamdanid (loth century) and Saiked, and ruined by the crusaders . The present wall of the lower city is of late construction, probably Armenian . It encloses a mass of ruins conspicuous in which are a fine triumphal arch, the colonnades of two streets, a gymnasium, &c . A stadium and a theatre lie outside on the south .

The remains of the acropolis fortifications are very interesting, including roads and ditches hewn in the

rock; but beyond ruins of two churches and a fine tower built by Thoros I. there are no notable structures in the upper town . For picturesqueness the site is not equalled in Cilicia, and it is worth while to trace the three fine aqueducts to their sources . (D . G .