Cilicia

Cilicia, an ancient division of Asia Minor, now included in the Turkish province of Adana, which lay between the Tanrus range and the Cilician Sea, while the Amanus range separated it from Syria. The eastern portion of Cilicia was fertile in grain, wine, &c.; the western and more mountainous portion furnished inexhaustible supplies of timber to the ancients. The pass called by the Turks Gölek Boghaz (anciently Pylæ Cilicie) is that by which Alexander the Great entered Cilicia. In early ages Cilicia was ruled by its own kings, the people, who were probably akin to Syrians and Phoenicians, being notorious pirates. The country fell successively under Persian, Macedonian, and Syrian rule, and was made a Roman province by Pompey in 67 B.C. See ASIA MINOR.