Tarshish (Hastings' Dictionary)

The name of a maritime country, situated far to the W. of Palestine. The biblical passages teach us the following facts about this much discussed name : — In Gn 10'= 1 Ch 1' Tarshish is one of the sons of Javan, under wliich latter name the Orientals seem to have comprised almost all Western mari- time nations. In Gn 10 we find the order : Elishah (i.e.

Cyprus, after the most modiin lesearches), Tarshish, Kittim (AV Chittim, which was, until recently, usually explained as the Cyprians, but they belong, with all probability, to nuicli more westerly tracts of the Mediterranean ; cf. Winckler, Forscliungen, ii. 442), and Uodaiiim (or Uodaiiim, a very obscure name). Tliis arrangement does not allow any certain conclusions. — In Jon P the prophet embarks at Jojipa to Ilee to Tarshisli (cf.

4^), which seems to represent here the extreme ends of the earth, so far as it was known to the Hebrews, the country farthest away from Jeho- vah's seat. — In Is 60'" it represents, togetlier with Javan, with the isles afar oil' and several Asiatic (if we except the somewhat doubtful Pul or Put) countries, the most remote quarters of the earth to which the exiled Jews may have fled ; cf. below on 60".

— Somewhat similnrly, Ezk 38" places Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish parallel 684 TARSHISII TARSHISH with (or, better probably, in contrast to) the mysterious Gog of Magog. It is impossible to draw any inferences about the situation of Tarshish from this parallelism ; certainly vicinity to the Arabian countries Sheba and Dedan is not indicated (cf. Gn 10'). — Ps 72'° quite analogously places the kings of Tarsliish and of the isles in contrast to the kings of Slieba and Seba.

— In Is 23* the prophet sarcastically advises the Tyrians to flee from the approaching destruction of their city to Tarshish and tlie isle (read evidently the plural: isles). V.'" works this out more fully: ' Overflow (liVm) thy land as the Nile, O daughter of Tarshish : there is no more girdle ' (AVm ; text ' strengtii '), i.e. that country will be overcrowded by Phoenician fugiti^es. Evidently, Tyrian ships were specially familiar with the journey to Tarshish.

The remote position of Tarshish led to the use of the expression 'Tarshish ship' for a certain class of specially strong and large ships, destineil for longer voyages, exactly as sailors used to mean by an ' East Indiaman ' a type of ship, not only one sailing to or from India (thus, correctly, alreadj' Gesenius, Tliesaurus). Ezk 27^° (RV) ' the ships of Tarshish were thy caravans for thy merchandise,' need not necessarily point to a prevalence of naval trade with Tarshish.

Is 60' ' the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first to bring thy sons from far,' might, indeed, also be understood literally as a parallel to 66". The curse on Tyre, however, in 23', beginning ' Howl, ye ships of Tarshish,' means, evidentlj-, the Tyrian fleet, or its best ships ; or, at any rate, not ships belonging to the inhabitants of Tarshish.

Ps 48' ' with the east wind thou breakest the ships of Tarsliish,' intends only a very general illustration of God's power over the most mighty things. Cf., analo- gously. Is 2" ' (the day of the Lord shall be) on all ships of Tarshish.' In 1 K 10^ ' the king (Solomon) had at sea a navy (better : a ship) of Tarshish with the navy of rfiram,' and this ship was sent to bring ' gold and silver, ivory, and apes and pea- cocks'; evidently, the expeditions to Ophir (v." and O-"*) are meant.

Wherever that country of Ophir may have been, it is clear that the Tarshish ship was not sailing to or from Tarshisli, but along the E. African coast, as already its sailing port Ezion-geber shows. The Chronic ler, however, no longer understood that old nautical expression, and interpreted it, literally, of an expedition sent to Tarshish. Thus 2 Ch 9*' ' ships that went to Tarshish with the servants of Hurnm,' etc.

(after 1 K lU"), and 2u^ ' Jehoshaphat of Judah joined himself with Aliaziah, king of Israel, to build ships in Ezion, geher to go to Tarshish.' These sliijis were liroken so that they were not able to go to ' Tarshish,' while the original text, 1 K 22'', spoke merely of ' ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold.'

These [passages might be understood (together with Ezk 38'^, Ps 72'") as pointing to a region of Arabia, Africa, or even India, assump- tions which of course would be in direct conflict Willi Gn 10, etc.* The products of Tarshish are mentioned Ezk 27'-'; Tarshish traded with Tyre with a ' multitude of all kinds of riches, with silver, iron, tin, and lead.' According to Jer 10' ' silver spread (RV 'beaten') into plates' is brought from Tarshish. Fin.

ally, the precious stone called tarshish may be noticed ; but this, unfortunately, cannot be identilied. See preceding article. The tradition of the ancii^nt veraions on the • To avoid this confliet, Bochart assumed two Torehiah*— one in the W. of the Mediterranean, the other in the Indian Ocean. This desperate effort to avoid the acknowledgment of a small misunderstanding by the Chronicler is now universally aban- doned. See, further. W. B. Smith, OTJC^ 140 ; A. R Uavid- •oa, Eiekiel, p.

200 ; Sayce, UCil 130. situation of Tarshish is very unsatisfactory. First, the passages are to be set aside where it was felt, correctly, that Tarshish, translated literally as a geographical name, would be misunderstood, i.e. the passages speaking of the Tarshish ships. The Jewish scliolars translated, or rather paraphrased there freely, but not inadequately, ' sea ships.' Thus already LXX in Is 2'" (TrXofa eaXdcrcrTjs).* The Vulg. extends this translation to less suitahle passages ; cf.

Is 23'- •» (Jilia maris !) 60" 66" (gentes in mari), Ezk Ti''^, 1 K 10-^ (per mare), 2 K22^'^'>, otherwhere, mostly, Tharsis. Thus also the Targum (nd"), usually, in the Prophets (for exceptions see below). This was followed by Saadia and modem versions (e.g. Luther). Jerome (on Is 2'") was told by his Jewish teachers that I'/iarsis was the proper Hebrew word for ' sea ' t (in opposition to Aramaic ?) : a strange artifice ! Another Jewish tradition appears in the LXX of Ezk 27'" (also Vulg.)

and Is 23, where Tarshish is rendered ' Carthage ' or ' Carthaginians ' ; likewise Targ. in 1 K 22™, Jer 10' ' Africa ' (i.e. the Roman province of Africa, the fonuer territory of Carth- age). This tradition is evidently founded on the frequent association of Tarshish with Tyre, the apparent mother-city of Carthage, J but it does not suit the sense of the other passages. Josephus (Ant. I. vi.

1) read the name ap- parently Tarshush, and explained it as Tarsus in Cilicia, an interpretation which formerly seemed very satisfactory. Now, however, we know from coins of Tarsus and from Assyrian inscriptions (Delitzsch, Paradies, 103, etc.) of Shalmaneser that the old Cilician city had the name iin 'I'arzi, not as Josephus presupposed. The interpretation most widely accepted at present was proposed by Bochart, Phaleg (pre- ceded by Eu.sebius [Onom. ed. Lag. 166. 8, cf. 183.

17-18], who already combined Tarshish and the Iberes, i.e. Spaniards). Bochart found the Hebrew name Tarshish in the Greek Tartessos, explaining the seeming interchange of t and sh by the analogy of Aram, th for Heb. sh (which analogy, unfor- tunately, does not apply here, where no Araniasans come in question). The remote position attributed both to 'farshish and to Spain, the W.

end of tiie world, according to the opinion of the ancients, suits well, and so does the wealth in metals (especially the Spanish silver and tin) ; finally, some connexion of the Phoenicians with Spain seems to be recognizable before the Carthaginian conquest. Tartessos is supposed to have been the name of a city (?), extended first to the S. of Spain, then to the whole country.

The name of the soutliern coast, Turdetania, and of a tribe, somewhat farther north, the Tiirdidi, Turdali, seems to allow a comparison (cf. Straho, below). A very vigorous attack upon this popular theory has been made by P. le Page Renouf in PSBA xvi. (1894) 104.

He urges that the whole theory rests only on a deceptive similarity of sound, that Bochart's appeal to Aramaic is unsuitable (see above), that we have no proof for Phcenician settlements in Spain (which were only alleged to have existed in order to suit Is 23* etc.) § He even claims that the city or country Tartessns seems ' to have existed only in the realms of imagination, like the isle of Calypso or the garden of the Hesperides.

Its site was certainly un- known at the time of Straho, though it was then identified on grounds of probability with the * This mipht, however, be taken from a Hexaplaric 80uro« (Symmachus or Theodotion ?) t ' llebnei putant lingua propria mare Tarshish appellarL i More correctly, the mother-city was Sidon. \ For such colonies, indeed, the tradition (Strabo, p. 157, Arrian, etc.) is very recent.

It Ifl questionable if those lat« writers were able to distia^isb between Oartha(;iuuia and earlier PbtiBoiciaD coloDie& TARSUS TARSUS 68& nei<;lil)oiirliood of the B.^etis or Quadalquivir.* Late writers, like Valerius Maximus, I'liny, and Arriaii, confounded Tartessus and Cades.' The metallic treasures of Spain, Kenouf claims, were developed onlj' by Harailcar Barcas after the first I'nnic war, and the tin in the bronze of earliest Greece and Babylonia came rather from Eastern mines (?)

t Thus the necessity for going to Spain for tin is removed. Renouf's {I.e. p. 138) idea is that Tarshish has a Semitic etymology, 'the broken '(??), which might (!) mean 'shore, coast '(??), whence the translation 'sea' in the versions (?)$ The passages connecting it with Tyre show tlien, he claims, that the Phcenician coast itself is meant. This theory is so inconsistent with Ezk 27, etc., and so forced, that it does not deserve a detailed refutation. W<inckler (Forschuntjr.n, i. 44.

5) modifies the Tartessus theory of Bochart, by referring Tarshish to Tap<n)io>', a place mentioned by Polyb. III. xxiv. 1 as one of the principal cities of Carthaginian Spain. § This view, however, he puts forward with great reserve. Cheyne (Or. Lit. ■ Zeitnng, iii. 151; cf. the present writer, ib. 204) expresses the opinion that Tarshish is identical with Tiras (lietter vocalized probably 7'«r(i7).?) of Gn 10".

This latter name might have come in from another source or as a gloss, so that the same nation would Ije represented in two dillercnt forms. Vocalizing Tursliu.ik (cf. Jo.seiihus), we should obtain the Tyrsenians, Tyrrenians or Etruscans, bold sea- farers, and well known as pirates already to the ancient Egjptians (c. 1200 B.C.), by whom they were called Tursha. Their name might stand for the whole of Italy, possibly even for all European coa-sts west of Greece.

This compariscm with the Tyrsenians (jiroposed already by Knobel) agrees with the wealth in metals, especially with the tin. The Etruscans might have brought this from Spain, although a more probable assumption would be that they obtained it eitlier in the har- bours of Southern tiaul (cf . Diodonis, v. 38, on the trading of English tin through Gaul to Massilia) or more directly in Upper Italy, where it might have been brought from various places in Central Europe.

This last identification seems to the present writer the most plausible. Next to it, the identi- fication with Spain might claim most relative probability. Certainty will hanily be obtained with our present means of knowledge. W. Max MiJLLER. TARSUS (Top(r6s ; on coins nn) is mentioned in the Bible only as the city where St. Paul was born, of which he was a citizen (Ac 9" 2P' 22'), and in or near which he spent a number of years not long after his conversion (Ac O'"" ir-").

It has been nniversally recognized that his lurth and his early education in this city were important factors in preparing the Apostle of the Gentiles for his career. No direct evidence is accessible as to • Cf. Strabo (148 ff.), who, indeed, quotes this only fta a hypo- Ihesix, doea not know with certainty what the ancit-nlH nnvinl by TarteHHus, and cannot identify an alleged city Tarti-nsuB (at the nxjuth of the Bajtis or at Cartcia?)

The old name Tarteyais (I) of Spain seetnfl to him to survive in that of the TouplaZku (?) and T«v?'rT«n« (■;). However, Ic Paj^c Ilenouf Keenis to overstate licre tlie shadowy position of Tarshish. Hcro<iotus (e.g. iv. 192) uses it clearly for Southern Spain. Eratosthenes (in Strabo, US) taltes it more narrowly as the region around Calpe- Gibraltar. t This l)elief, for which he quotes O. Schrader, Prfhigtorie Ant. lit'i, etc. (where the Paropaniisiis is thought of), has been refutes!

by Winckler, ForKchumjen, i. 161 (cf. the present writer in Or. Li't..Zeitunif, ii. 29.'», on the Kgyptian texts). The tin of tho ancient East come from the West, evidently through marl- lime commerce. t Sea and coatt are, however, very different idea«. J This WW mostly confoimded with Tartessus, whils. In Polybius, it seems to have been another name of Maatia. The text in Polybius is, besides, very ol)scure. the surroundings of St.

Paul's early years, which makes it all the more necessary to study the general character of the city and the society in which he grew up. The history of Tarsus is at the same time the history of Cilicia, which afibrds the opportunity of somewhat fuller treatment of that subject than was given under CILICIA. i. Situation.

— Tarsus, the chief city of Cilicia in ancient times, was situated in a rich and fertile plain, only slightly elevated above sea-level, less than 10 miles from the seacoast at its nearest point. The river Cydnus flowed through the middle of the city, and entered the Rhegma,* a sort of lake t some distance below the city and close to the sea. This lake served as an arsenal and harbour for Tarsus ; but ancient ships could ascend the river right up to the city (as Cleopatra did).

In modem times the lake has become a large marsh X on the west side of the river, while the bed of the river has become shallow and im- passable to anything larger than a small rowing- boat, and its mouth is blocked by a bar. These changes are the residt of the ignorance, careless- ness, and incapacity of government and inhabit- ants, neglecting the engineering operations which must have been ap]>lied by tlie ancients to regu- late the river-bed.

The proximity of the marshes has made Tarsus more unliealthy than it was in ancient times, though from its low situation in the plain under the mountains of Taurus it can never nave had an invigorating climate. South-west of Tarsus towards Soli lay the strong walled city Anchialos, which must have been between Mersina and the Cydnus, a little way back from the coast.

§ Mersina, the modern port of Tarsus, stands on or close to the ancient Ze)iliyiion, a small town near a promontoi-y of the same name, 16 miles W.S.W. from the great city. This promontory is a very little way west of Mersina. Anchialos is described by Ritter as the [lort of Tarsus, and as closely con- nected with it (like Piraeus with Athens), so that the two might be regarded as a single great city, which would suggest that Anchialos was some- where near the west side of the lake.

But Aulai is said to have been the name of the port-town on the lake, and Ritter's view seems a misinterpretation of Arrian, Anab. ii. 5. II The statements of the ancients as to the mutual relations of these places are confused. The Cydnus originally flowed through the heart of Tarsus, as many authorities mention. But, w hen a flood in the river had done great harm in the cily, Justinian (."i27-5()3) cut an artificial channel to carry part of the water round the east side of the city.

It would ajipear that gradually the branch of the river that flowed through the citj' grew sm.aller as its bed became choked, and in modern limes almost the whole of the water passes through Justinian's channel. II In 1432 the i.Tuer branch is described as a tiny stream ; and in 1473 the eastern branch is spoken of as the only one (see the quotations in Ritter's Klcinasicn, ii. p. 184 f.)

The falls of the Cydnus beside the northern entrance to the city are still very pictur- esque, though only a few feet high. Tarsus possessed almost all tho qualifications required for a great commercial city. Not merely dia it possess a safe and good harbour and a ridi territory, it was also placed in front of the •'Krfut, Strabo, p. 672. t Xif*¥iiivit Tc-ro;, a]tpitretit1y a broadening of the river so as to look like a lake, Stralio, p. 072. t A marsh .

SO miles id circumtercnce (Barker, iMrtt and Peniilet, p. 137). 5 .strabo, p. 671. I Hitter, KleiiMKien, ii. 202 ; Steph. Byi. ».t>. AiX«i. *| Barker says that a canal from the Cydnus passes through Tarsus, and formerly flowed into the marsh, but was recently diverted to rejoin the river. This may be the old cVannel. t>86 TARSUS TARSUS southern end of the great trade and war route across Mount Taurus, Ihroujjh the Ciliciau Gates, to Cappadocia, Lycaouia, and inner Asia Minor generally.

Such a situation made it a great city from time immemorial. ii. Tarsus the Oriental City.— Its foundation was attributed by legend to Sardanapalus, who was said to have built Tarsus and Andiialos in one day, and whose tomb is said to have been at the latter place. A more Oriental form of the legend, as reported by Eusebius (Chron. i. p. 27*), named Sennacherib, king of Nineveh, as the founder.

When Tarsus became a Greek city, a centre of Greek civilization and seat of a university, it could not be satisfied with such an origin, but invented a Greek foundation. Perseus or Herakles was named by the Tarsians as founder of the city (see Dion Chrysostom's Oratio xxxiii. ad Tars.; Libanius, Or. xxviii. 620) ; but this is only the Assyrian legend in a slightly Grecized form, for Perseus was a peculiarly Oriental and Assyrian hero (Herod, vi.

54), connected with the mythology and religion of many places in the eastern parts of Asia Minor ; and Herakles was the Tyrian god, the founder of colonies. These legends contain a memory of the time when the AssjTian power extended over Syria and Cilieia, and Tarsus was their western capital. Tarsus is mentioned on the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser among the towns which he captured in the middle of the 9th cent. B.C.

Athenodorus, the Tarsian, said that the city was originally called Parthenia, from Parthenius, son of Cydnus, and grandson of Anchiale, daughter of Japetus : here, too, fancy is giving a Greek colour to local Asiatic legend. Tarsus continued for a long time an essentially Oriental town. Its early coinage was struck, not by a municipal government like that of a Gretk city, but by native kings or Persian satraps, who used Tarsus as their capital.

It is true that at an early time considerable influence was exerted on the city by Greek trade and civilization. Thus Greek letters were sometimes engraved on the early coins, and the coinage as a whole was modelled after Greek coins, and was probably made by Greek artisans employed by the rulers of Tarsus. Yet even in the Koman period, after Tarsus had for centuries been transformed (at least externally) into a Greek city, marked Oriental characteristics are apparent.

A deity standing on a homed lion, thoroughly non-Greek and Asiatic in character, probably the god Sandon, often appears on coins under the empire ; and a monument at Anchialos, inscribed with letters believed to be Assyrian, is often mentioned t by Greek WTiters. larsus therefore was never so thoroughly Hellenized as to lose or to forget its Asiatic character and origin ; even as a Greek city it was far from being wholly Greek.

Its population, doubtless, was very mixed (as it is at the present day) ; and even to a greater degiee than Syrian Antioch it may be regarded as a meeting-place of Greeks and Orientals. In the Assyrian and afterwards in the Persian period hardly anything is known of Tarsus. When the central government was strong, presumably the city was governed by Witraps.

When the central government was weak, the satraps teinlfd to become more and more independent, and even a dynasty of native kings seems to have held Tarsus during part of the 5th and 4th cents. B.C. In the Anabasis of Xenophon, Tarsus is described about B.O. 400 as a great and wealttiy city, containing the palace of Syennesis the Citician king, but its coinage is much older. E^ectrum coins of the 6th cent, have been assigned to it, though not with great probability.

The kings or satraps of Cihcia struck coins at Tarsus throughout the &th and 4th cents., with legends mostly Aramaic, but partly Greek, frequently with * Ed. Schoene : Eusebius quotes from Alex. Polyhistor. t Athenaeus, viii. p. 335, xii. p. 629 f. ; Strabo, p. 072 ; Cicero, Tusc. v. 35 ; Arrian, Anab. ii. 6 ; Clearchus Solenais in Fragm. Hist. Grcec. ii. p. 305. 5. Baaltars, the Baal or 2^us of Tarsus, enthroned, holding sceptre, grapes, and corn.

Coins of Baaltars were struck during the last efforts ot the Persians and under the earlier Seleucid kind's ; but they appear to have been minted al Babylon, and many of the extant specimens have come from India. iii. Tarsus the Greek City. —In Seleucid times autonomous coins were first struck at Tarsus, showing its transformation from an Oriental town into a Greek polls, a highly important stage in its history. This municipal and strictlj' Greek coinage began under Antiochus IV. Epiphanea (B.

C. 175-104), when the city was styled 'Antioch beside the Cydnus,' * and took that name on its coins. The growth of Tarsus is evidently the result of a change in the Seleucid rule ; it is con- nected with their frontier policy, and shows that increasing attention was paid to Cilieia by that Syrian king. Before 190 Cilieia had been a district in the heart of the Seleucid empire ; but, at the peace of 189, the whole of Asia Minor up to the Taurus mountains was taken from Antioclius III.

, and Cilieia became a frontier land. It was neces- sary now to pay more attention to its organization and defences ; and the refoundation of cities like Tarsus- Antiocheia, Epiphaneia, Adana-Antioclieia, Magarsa-Antiocheia, belongs to the same reign. t Mopsuestia, guarding the important crossing of the Pj-ramus, was refounded as Seleuceia by Seleucus III. (187-175).

Almost all these cities (along with Alexandria ad Jssum and Hieropolis-Castabala) began to coin as self-governing municipalities in the reign of Antiochus IV.J It is therefore highly probable that Cilieia had previously been treated more like a subject country or satrapy,§ and that now its cities began to be allowed greater liberty and to be more thoroughly Grecized in their insti- tutions, when it was important to make them heartily loyal.

The incident mentioned in 2 Mao 4*" takes us into the midst of this process, and shows that about 171-169 is the probable date of this important transformation. In 171 Antiochus gave the revenues of Tarsus and Mallus to his mistress Antiochis. This provoked riot and even insurrection ; and Antiochus had to go in person to quell the disturbances. Apparently he suc- ceeded in this peaceably, by granting freer consti- tutions to the cities and reorganizing the country generally. The year 170 B.C.

, therefore, marks an epoch in the history of Tarsus, for it was now refounded as a Greek polis, and called by a new name, ' Antiocheia on tne Cydnus.' There is no reason to think II that the change of name was a mere act of adulation to the reigning king, implying no real development in the city constitution.

It is true that the name Antiocn soon fell into disuse, and the name Tarsus revived ; but this was due partly to the fact that the town was not thoroughly Grecized, partly to the fact that the name Antioch was already too common, and the three new Antiochs would hardly establish a right to exist beside the many older Antiochs, Rather we must look on the refoundation of Tarsus aa a critical epoch in its history.

The refoundation was certainly accompanied by an increase of population, for the regular Seleucid policy in such cases was to introduce a body of settlers whose loyalty might be reckoned on, and to give them special privileges in the city. The colonists whom the Seleucid kin^s most commonly planted in tlie cities of Asia Minor were Jews ; * and therefore it is highly probable that a Jewish colony was established at Tarsus about B.C. 170. •Steph. Byi. and le Bas-Waddington, Irucr. d'Atu Min. No.

14b8. t Compare Magarsos (see Mallos). t Hill, Catalogue (if British Museum Coins, Cilieia, etc pp. xcviii, ci, ex, etc. } The name sattapy was used in the Seleucid empire • w* Bauisay, Cities and Bishoprics oj Phrygia, L p. 267. I As Waddington (f.c.) wrongly thinks. \ See PuETOiA, vol iii. p. 86S. TAESUS TAK&US 687 iv. Tarsus the Roman Citv.— From thedeeav- ing Seleiioiil empire Tarsus passed into the liantls of the Romans. From R.C.

103 onwards llie name Cilicia became 'the Roman term for a great, ill- delined, half-subdued agglomeration of lands, cora- firisin" parts of Cilicia, Pampliylia, and other auJs (Kanisay, Histor. Comm. on Galatinns, p. 103).

In 66 Cilicia Campestris was decisively conquered by I'onipey, after having been under the power of king Tigranes more or less since 83 ; and in 64 it was properly organized (see Cilicia) as a province with Tarsus for its capiUil, tliough considerable parts of the country were left for a long time uniler native kin"s— Tarcoudimotos I. and 11. and Antiochus being tlie most famous.

Tarsus, while exposed to tlie oppression gener- ally exercised on subject cities by the Roman republican officials, was favourably treated by Julius Ca?sar, Antonius, and Augustus. Ca;sar pas-sed tlirough the city on his march from Egypt to Pontus ; and the strong partisansliip of the Tarsiansfor him was shown by the name Juliopolis which was granted to, or assumed by, tliera (Die C. 47. 26). In punishment for its devotion to Ca?sar, Tarsus was harshly treated by Cassius in 43.

But Antonius soon after granted it the privilege of enjoying its o\vn laws (aacivitns libera) and the right of duty-free export and import trade.* He also made it his residence for a time : and received liere a visit from Cleopatra, v.ae sailed up to Tarsus in B.C. 38 in circumstances of extraordinary magnificence and luxury. It formed part of the large realm which he bestowed on the Egyptian queen (see vol. ii. p. 86).

When Augustus triumphed over Antonius he recognized that the Tarsians were partisans, not of Antonius specially, but of the Emjiire as contrasted with the Re- public j and he even increased their privileges. Cilicia was now united in one large province with Syria. Thus Tarsus, when St.

Panl was a child, stood before the world at the entrance to the greatest province of the East as a metropolis, a free city witli a free harbour, mistress of a large and fertile territory, a centre of Roman imperial partisanship. It had been a Greek self-governing city since B.C. 170, and the enthusiasm with which it had taken up Greek education and civilization had made it one of the three great university cities of the Mediterranean world. Strabo (14, 5, 13, p.

673) speaks of the Tarsian university as even suri>assin^ in some respects those of Athens and Alexandria ; and he observes that all the students were natives.t and no strangers came to it ; but, on the contrary, many natives of the country went abioad to study and reside, few returning home again : Rome was full of Tarsian and Alexandrian scholars. So strong was the Tarsian love for letters and education ! They filled their own university and foreign cities ana Rome itself.

Demetrius, as Plutarch tells (de Defect. Orcic., ad init.), went to Britain and Egypt, the Erythra-an Sea and the land of the Troglodj'tes, to satisfy his scientific curiosity. Athenodorus the Stoic was the com- panion of Cato the younger, and died in his house ; another Stoic, Athenodorus Kananites, was the teacher of Augustus ; Nestor taught tlie young Mareellus, his heir (and Til)eriuB the emperor, according to pseudo-Lucian, Macr.

21); Antipatcr the Stoic was iiead of the school in Atliens and the great opponent of Carneades ; and other pliil- • Pspudo-Lucian {\iacr.'^ and Dion Chrys, {nd Tar^.) im.4i^'n thia i^runt to AuguHtuB, who gave it again wlicn ho mit;tit have tftlien it away. t Atiiontf the natives {ivt-^ipttt) Strabo includes, doubtless, persons (rom the Deighl)ounn^ parts of Asia Minor. Atheiio- donia, the most famous of Tarsian philosophers, was called Eananitrt, from the name of his native village.

The village probably was Kanna in eastern LycaoniA, which afterwards rose to be a city coiiiinir money. osophers and poets of Tarsus are named by Strabo, p. 674 f. Philosophers governed Tarsus at the important crisis when it was adapting itself to the imperial system. Athenodorus retired to Tarsus in his old age, greatly honoured by liis pupil Augustus, and invested by him with extraordinary authority in the city.

He found tliat Tarsus had been seriously misgoverned and plundered by a certain clique, favoured by Antonius, but now greatly weakened since his defeat. After vainlj' attempting to bring them back by reason to a law-abiding spirit, Athenodorus, in virtue of the powers conferred by Augustus, sent them into exile, and reformed the constitution of Tarsus.* It appears from Dion Clirysostom {Orat. xxxiii. ad Tar.i.

20) tliat the constitution in the Roman period was of oligarchic or rather timocratic type, citizenship requiring a certain fortune ;t and there can be no doubt that this was the kind of reform introduced by Atheno- dorus, for it was in harmony with the whole tendency of the Roman imperial policy.

^ After the dcatli of Athenodorus, at the age of 82, anotlier Tarsian philoso]ilier named Nestor, who also had approved himself to Augustus, succeeded to his commanding position in tlie city, and enjoyed the respect of a series of pro ineial governors. The rule of these two philosophers probably continued from about li.C. 2'J to some time after Christ.§ It is very probable that St. Paul may have seen and listened to Nestor, who lived 92 years.

|| The influence of Atlienodorus, too, lasted long in Tarsus, where he was worshipped as a hero, for Dion Chry.sostom about A.D. lUO quotes his name (in the Oration which he addressed to the Tarsians) as a household word among them. His doctrines may be taken as those which most influenced Tarsus in tlie time of St. Paul, and wliicli the latter is likely to have been taught in the schools of that city.

Being a Stoic, he found the aim and end of life in release from ])assions ; but, if we may judge from the scanty quotations from or allusions to his writings, he estimated the quality of human action greatly by reference to its relation to God.

' Know,' said he, 'that you are set free from all passions, when you have reached such a point that you ask nouglit of God that you cannot ask openly'; and iSeneca, who quotes this,1I goes on to state as the rule of life, in his spirit, if not in his words, ' So live with men as if God saw ; so sjjcak with God as if men were listening.'

Tlie spirit in which he guided the politics of Tarsus is expressed in a longer extract,** the gist of which is ; ' It would be best to strengthen one's mind by making oneself useful in politics to fellow-citizens and the world ; but in tlie degraded and envenomed state of iiolitics one must be content with the ojjpor- tunity for free expansion of the mind in benefiting one and all by educating them, by encouraging virtue, by teaching them to comprehend the gods, and to have a good conscience : thus even in ]>rivate life one fulfils a public duty.

The student lives well, not by renouncing hiinianity and society, l)ut by drawing friends round himself. He who lives and studies for his own sole benefit will from • jutTi/b^i TrF KxOirT^ffxt weXjrt'BLv (Slrab. p. 074). t See Kiilin, Stadteverwaliun^ im rOm. Eaiserreiche, pp. 25L 470. t See Kithn, I.e. § The exact date of Athenodorus is uncertain. He Is (^ova. monly ccmjt-ctured by modern writers to have been a pupil of PosirioniuB (u.o. 140-(;o); but Kvisebius, C'Aron.

, gives the date when lie was flourishing as a. D. 7. Tliis tends to show that the common dating of his career is too early ; perhaps he may be placed B.C. 72 to A.I). 10 ; or, more probably, Kusebiua maxle a mistake, taking his death in the height of influence for the date whin he flourished : in that cose 76 B.o. to 7 A.D. wag hii period. II Pseudo-Lucian, Macr. 21. T Kp. M&r. I. x. 6. I •• Senecn, dc Tra nq.An.HinSt. Paul Uit Trav. p. 894, Cltm. I ii mentioned wrongly In place of Trariq.)

588 TARSUS TARSUS lack of work fall into mere misuse of the time which nature rec|uires us to spend. One must be able to give an account of one's time and prove one's old age by the amount of what one has done for the good oi the world, and not simply by the length of time one has lived.' Such was tlie environment, on its best side, amidst which St. Paul spent his early years.

To estimate its influence on him would be out of place here ; but we remember that, when he was rescued from imminent death, bruised doubtless and torn by the hands of the mob in Jerusalem, in answer to the question of the Roman officer, the words that rose to his lips as he recovered breath were : ' I am a Jew, a man of Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city' (Ac 21^'). In such circumstances a man does not waste words, or speak what does not lie dee]) in his nature. St.

Paul had to show the officer that he was not an Egyptian, but the tone in which he spoke of Tarsus shows a warm feeling about it as a city and for its own sake.* The timocratic system introduced by Atheno- dorus into Tarsus has an important bearing on St. Pauls life. In a city where the mass of the in- habitants could be said to be ' outside of the citizenship,' i.e. not possessing the full rights of a citizen, t he claimed to be a citizen.

Citizenship in Tarsus was the certificate of respectability and .standing which he mentioned to Claudius Lysias, when it was necessary at once to explain away appearances which were certainly much against him as he was pulled out of the murderous hands of the mob.

One may ask why he did not mention his Roman citizenship at that time, for Roman citizenship was a liigher honour and a greater proof of respectability ; and it seems hardiy pos- sible to make any other ans^rsr except that, in the excitement of that terrible scene, the feeling that lay deepest in his heart alwut worldly position rose to his lips. When he was a child he felt himself a 'Jew, a citizen of Tarsus,' and almost uncon- sciously the words rose to his lips.

But the Tarsian citizenship had this value in the eyes of those who possessed it, because it was confined to a select small body. The history of Tarsus under the empire is a large subject.

The following points may be noticed as characteristic of the Asiatic Roman cities gener- ally, and illustrative of their relation to the early Christians and to the Roman State : — The loyalty of those great cities to the emperors was very strong, and is unusually well illustrated in the case of Tarsus, which a.

ssunied titles from the name of ths emperors Hadrian, Commodus, Severus, Antoninus (Caraoalla), Maorinus, and Alexander Severus,J dropping some when the empemr died, and Iteeping others for long. It took the title of Temple- Warden {nMxifiot, iit »MBe«/Mf), indicating that one, or two, temples of the imperial worship were built in the city.

It induced governors of the province and even the emperor him- self, Alexander Severus, to accept office (of course merely honorary) in the city, and boasted of this on coins and in in- scriptions. Titles like these, however, sprang as much from vanity as from loyalty. The great cities vied with one another in invent- ing titles and appropriating the titles of rivals. Tarsus and Anazarlnis ronipeleti with one another in this way. Each claimed such titles aa .

Metropolis, First and Greatest and Fairest, Tcinple-Warden ; but Anazarbus was never Twice Temple- Warden, nor Metropolis of the Three Eparchiai (Cilicia, Lyca- onia, Isauria), but only Metropolis of the Nation (iHtevt, i.e. Cilicia). On one occasion, about a. D. 213, Anazarbus induced the emperor Elagabalus to accept the otlicc of llemiourgos} in the city, and struck coins to commemorate this honour.

Tarsus doubtless was downcast till it could strike similar coins boasting of Alexander Severus as Demiourgos. Both cities boasted that It must be remembered that such expressions as ovm o-rrfMu wc>-ui;, •v« oXjyt. often imjilv a strong ajisortion of the opposite. t (m TXrOat ev« iXiyov -urrtfi ij«(^i» T^t T«XjTi(flw (Dion, Chrys. ad Tan. p. ill ; see p. (3S7, col. 2, n. I). On the rights and meaning of tsX,ti.'« see Szanto, Da» griech. Burgerrecht.

J It calls itself ' AKlialp>«vy, ^IWipiatn ' .\yrA/>tia¥ii ' A^fiiec¥i; in an inscription, and coins often give the last three cumulated. { Title of the chief magistrate in many Cilician cities ; the titJe is Doric, and points to the old Doric relations of Cilicia. the koinoboulion (Council of the Koinon of Cilicia) met wtthis its walls ; but Tarsus alone could beast of the festival and games common to the three united provinces.

And so on, titta after title was devised to imitate or outshine a rival. Tarsus was saved by the barrier of Mount Taurus from many of tlie invasions which swept over Asia Minor. Only an enemy who took the route from Syria over ^lt. Amanus through Cilicia would reach Tarsus ; but most invasions preferred the route through Eastern Cappadocia, keeping north of Mt. Taurus.

Thus, in the long peace of the empire the defences and the defensive powers of the people in Cilicia must have grown weak, and when at last an enemy entered tne country they found it a helpless prey. In the Byzantine ecclesiastical and political system Tarsus became even more important than in the older empire, owing to the steady growth of the Eastern provinces in wealth, education, and weight. Thus BasU of Ca>sarea (Ep. 34), in A.D.

373 (or 369), emphasizes its importance as ' a city so placed as to be united with (Jilicia, Cappadocia, and Assyria ' (i.e. Syria). Two churches are mentioned at Tarsus. In A.D. 485 Leontius forced Verina to proclaim him emperor at Tarsus in the Church of St. Peter out- side the city. Stich an important ceremony is likely to have been held in the principal church of Tarsus, and we may identify this Church of St. Peter as the great church of Tarsus destroyed by the Moslems in A.D. 885.

* If so, it is remarkable that the principal church was not dedicated to St. Paul ; but it is recorded that the Church of St. Paul in Tarsus was buUt by the emperor JIaurice (583- 602),t while we may be confident that the great church of Tarsus was built as early as the 4th century. v. Tarsuo thb AaAB CrrY.

— In view of the strongly Syrian associations of Tarsus, it is important to observe the way in which it lost its Western relations, and reverted to a purely Oriental type during the long wars against the Mohammedans. The Arabs lirst crossed into Cihcia by the SjTian Gates from Antioch in lJ41.t In 846 the Arabs found all the fortresses between .

Antioch and Tarsus deserted ; presumably the terror of these raids and the neglect of frontier defence by the emperor made the people flee to the mountains. In 6.o0 the Arabs invaded Isauria (so Theophanes; 649 Ibn Al Athir).

This would appear to imply that Tarsus, with Cilici* generally, was in Arab hands, though it must be remembered that the Arab invasions were often only passing raids, in which the forts and cities were left unattacked, or watched by detach- ments of the invading forces, while the open countrj' was ravaged, and captives swept off into slavery. Cilicia, however, having been so neglected by the central government, was exposed defenceless to the Arabs.

Yet the military strength of the empire soon revived, while the Arab raids made little permanent impression. Tarsus was quickly reoccupied by the Christians but in 673 it was captured (after a defence presumably) by the Arabs.

In the following years the Arab attacks were made chiefly by the north road nearer the Euphrates, or by sea ; Capjiadocia was occupied, and Armenia and Pontus att^icked, while Cilicia was not much molested by formal invasions, but its cities seem to have still remained unprotected, and exposed to any small raids. Thus in 602 an Arab army advanced from the Euphrates nearly to Amorion, and returned by Cilicia.

In 699-700 the Christians recovered Cappadocia, and the Arabs henceforth made regular use of the Cilician route in invading the Byzantine empire. Mopsuestia at the impoilant crossing of the'Pyramus was fortifleJi in 701, and Tarsus was now permanently occupied as an Arab capital on tlieir north- western frontier.

The northern part of Eastern Cilicia, with the town of Sision (now called Sis), was conquered in 703 ; in 706 the last struggle of the Romans to retain this country is recorded by Al Tabari. The wars of the following years imply that Cilicia was the permanent basis for the Arab operations! in Lycaonia. Pisidia, Phrygia. and Bithynia. At the same time C-esarea, with Eastern Cappadocia, was again taken by the Arabs in 726. but recovered by Constantino in 746.

After this the Arab frontier cities on tlie north were generally Melitene • Muralt, Etsai de Chnmogr. Bi/zant. p. 740. ♦ Sim. viii. 13. There may have been an older Church of St Paul, of coune, in Tarsus, but this was built, not rebuilt, by Maurice. t Dates from Arab authorities from 641-760 are given accord- ing to Mr. E. Vf. Brooks' papers in Journal o/ Hellenic Stvdies, IsftS, p. 182 f., 1811!!, p. 19f. ; dates from Byzantine authorities according to Muralt, E»mi de Clironogr. Byzant.

} This appears in incidental expressions, such as Xheopb p. 390,1. Wf.(deBoor). TAKSUS TARTAN 689 and Oermaniceia, and a dehateable land lay between them and Ceaareia. tliou(,'h the Christians attacked or even destroyed one or otlier of the two Arab fortresses in 750-764 and 77i>, while the Arahb frequently advanced north and north-west into Cuppa- doeia, Pajihlaironia, etc.

In SOa and 830 the Arabs carried for- ward the Cilician frontier to Tvana, buildine a mosque and settling colonists there ; but both attempts failed inmH, diately, and Tarsus reuiained the capital of Orientalism aj^ainst the U est. In (5^*7 the einiK-ror Xicejihorus invaded Cilicia, and deitaled the Arabs near Tarsus ; but the Caliphs Harun and nl-.Mainun tttrenirthened the Arab jtower on this frontier. The latter die<l at (or near) Tarsus in S;U. About the middle of the Uth cent.

ISvzantiiic power grew stronj^er, and Cilicia and Tarsus were tiie ^cene of many conflicts, while the Caliphs' vi;rour waned. In fcSii Tarsus is mentioned as a' strong fortress, the capital of an UKlependcnt Mohammedan State. In b:il an Arab fleet is said to have sailed from Tarsus towards the Byzantine coasts; and in 900 the fleet at Tarsus was bunied by the Caliph on account of the dislo.valty of the city. In 89S the Oreck forces land.d near Tarsus and pained a victory over the Arabs.

About this lime Tarsus is mentioned frequently as the centre of Mohammedan opposition to the reviving Cbriutiau power. In 904 a Tarsian fleet burned Thessalonica. At length, in 906, after all the rest of Cilicia had been recaptured by the Chris- tians, Tarsus surrendered on favourable terms, the Mo.slem population were given safe retirement to Antio<:h, and only Christians were left in the city. Tlic great gates of Tarsus were carried in triumph to Constantinople. vi. MoDB[t.*f Tarsl'S.

— The new Christian city of Tarsus had a checkered history. Byzontine Greeks, Latins, Annenians, Turcomans, Turks, Ejfj-ptians strutrnled for it, and alternately held it and lost it. For a century Greek rule in Cilicia was practically unchallenged by the decaying Saracen empire ; but even dviri'ng this time Tarsus must have undoubtedly retained many traces of the three centuries of Arab rule, and become far n'lore Oriental than it h.ad been under the Roman and early Byzantine rule.

About 1067 the Seljuk Turks began to rava^'e Asia Minor, and their terrible annies were seen and felt m Cilicia ; and in 1071 the victory of Mauzikert laid the country prostrate and helpless at their feet. Their rule over Phrygia, Lycaonia, Cappadocia, Annenia, Pontus, was recognized by the feeble emperors; but Cilicia still remained, on the whole, in Christian hands, so that the wall of Sit.

Taurus once more formed a line of demarcation between the two religions (though now Islam was on the north and Christianity on the south). A new power now appearefl in Cilicia: in 108() Reuben, the first Armenian prince of Cilicia (called often during the next three centuries Lesser Annenia), seized some forts in the eastern Taurus mountains on the north frontier of Cilicia. The history of Lesser Armenia was stormy, and its bounds varied from year to ye.ar.

sometimes confined' to the Taunis forts, sometimes including Tarsus and Cilicia as a whole. In 1097 Baldwin with his Crusading army captured Tarsus, and introduced another factor into the confiised history of Cilicia, The vicissitudes of Tarsian history in this period are so rapid and so numerous that they cannot lie traced \n detail. Tarsus, the capital, passed from hand to hand. The Turks, who cap. tured It in 1078, did not hold it ; the Cnisaders were a more permanent power.

The emperor John Conuienus look Tarsus in ll:i7, the Armenian Reuben IL in 1182. The Memluk Sultans of Kg\-pt became a factor in Cilician liistAjry in 1200. The terrible Egyptian invasion of 1322 devastated the country. The .-Vrmenians sufTered from quarrels in the governing family, from religious feuds, and from national inability to unite in a vigorous defensive policy.

In 1375 the Armenian kingdom of Cilicia (Lesser Armenia^ finally ^ave place to the Egyptian f lower, and Tarsus may from this tune be said to have relapsed nto its original condition of a purely Oriental city. But it was still not subject to Turkey.

It was the prey sometimes of Egypt, sometimes of Turcoman chiefs called Ramazarioglu, whose tribes seem to have entered the Taurus fastnesses ab<nit 1200, and to have gradually established their hold on the plain, and to have brought the country once more almost into nomadic barliarism. In 1400 the Osmanli or Ottoman Turks entered Cilicia, when the army of .Mohammed il. captured Tarsus ; but the city was often reraptured, until. Selim destroyed the Memluk power in 1618.

Again in 1832 the Egyptian forces of Mehemet Ali entered Cilicia. and held Taraiu till 1840, when once more it passed under Ottoman power. Tarsus remains a wretclied town of the Turki.sh style, little more than a large collection of hovels, with a trying climate, an oi>i)rcssive atino»i)liero, retaining not a trace of its former splemjour, and few scraps even of ancient marbles. There are few place.s where the contrast between ancient and iiodern life is more conspicuous.

The unsightly and Khapeless nia-ss of concrete, wrongly called the Tomb of Sardanapalu.s, is the only ancient monu- ment that is displayed to the tourist. It is the substructure of the platform on which stood a temple of the Roman period, and woa originally hidden under the marble walls and floors and steps, afterwards utilized to make mediaeval build- ings, which in their turn have licen utterly destroyed. VOL. IV.— 44 LiTERATiT.K. — Ritter, K[einast>n. ii. (Erdkiinde con AtAtn, voL xxi.) ]ip.

lSI-23.'i: Beaufort, Karamania ; Leake, Tour and Ge'»jrai)hy of Asia Minor, p. 214 ; Barker, Lares and Penates; Hili, Oitaloijxu o/ Lritiith Museum Coins cif Iti/caonia, Isauria, and Cilicia, pp. IxxvifT., 162 ff.; Koldewey in Itobert, Aut der Anomia, p. 178 f.; Wernicke, ib. p. 77 f.; Sir C. Wilson io Hurrays Handbook. W. M. KamSAY.