View source for Isauria

{{Short description|Ancient district of South Asia Minor}}
{{For|the genus of moth|Isauria (moth)}}
{{Infobox
| bodyclass = geography
| abovestyle = background:#DEB887;
| subheader = Ancient region of Anatolia
| above = Isauria
| image =
| caption =
| label1 = Location
| data1  = South-Western [[Anatolia]]
| label2 = Not organized in a State
| data2  =
| label3 = Language
| data3  =  [[Isaurian language|Isaurian]]
| label4 = Biggest city
| data4  =  [[Isaura Palaea]]
| label5 = [[Satrap#Medo-Persian satraps|Persian satrapy]]
| data5  =  [[Greater Phrygia|Phrygia]]/Intermittently independent along with [[Pisidia]]
| label6 = [[Roman provinces|Roman province]]
| data6  =  [[Galatia (Roman province)|Galatia]]
| data8  = [[File:Asia Minor in the Greco-Roman period - general map - regions and main settlements.jpg|thumb|right|300px|[[Asia Minor]]/[[Anatolia]] in the Greco-Roman period. The classical regions and their main settlements, including Isauria.]]
}}
'''Isauria''' ({{IPAc-en|aɪ|ˈ|z|ɔr|i|ə}} or {{IPAc-en|aɪ|ˈ|s|ɔr|i|ə}}; {{langx|grc|Ἰσαυρία}}), in ancient geography, is a rugged, isolated district in the interior of [[Asia Minor]], of very different extent at different periods,<ref name=EB1911>{{EB1911 |wstitle=Isauria |volume=14 |page=866 |first=David George |last=Hogarth |author-link=David George Hogarth |inline=1}}</ref> but generally covering what is now the district of [[Bozkır]] and its surroundings in the [[Konya Province]] of Turkey, or the core of the [[Mount Taurus|Taurus Mountains]]. In its coastal extension it bordered on [[Cilicia]].
[[File:Location of Isauria-Asia Minor Map, Classical Atlas, 1886, Keith Johnston.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Location of Isauria in Asia Minor]]
It derives its name from the warlike Isaurian tribe and the twin settlements ''[[Isaura Palaea]]'' (Ἰσαυρα Παλαιά, Latin: ''Isaura Vetus'' 'Old Isaura') and ''[[Isaura Nea]]'' (Ἰσαυρα Νέα, Latin: ''Isaura Nova'' 'New Isaura').
The Isaurians were fiercely independent [[mountain people]] who marauded and created havoc in neighboring districts under Macedonian and Roman occupations.
== History ==
=== Early ===
The permanent nucleus of Isauria was north of the Taurus range which lies directly south of [[Iconium]] and [[Lystra]]. [[Lycaonia]] had all the [[Iconium|Iconian]] plain; but Isauria began as soon as the foothills were reached. Its two original towns, Isaura Nea and [[Isaura Palaea]], lay, one among these foothills (Doria) and the other on the [[water divide|watershed]] ([[Zengibar Kalesi]]),<ref name=EB1911/> located at approximately 37°29′N 32°12′E near Bozkir.
In the 4th century BC, Isauria was the wild district about Isaura Palaea and the heads of the [[Calycadnus]].<ref name=EB1911/> When the capital, Isaura (also known as Isaura Vetus or [[Isaura Palaea]]), a strongly fortified city at the foot of Mt. Taurus, was besieged by [[Perdiccas]], the [[Macedon]]ian regent after [[Alexander the Great]]'s death, the Isaurians set the place alight and let it perish in flames rather than submit to capture.<ref name=EB1911/><ref>{{cite book |last1= Rogers |first1= Clifford |year=2010 |title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology, Volume 1 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=0-1953-3403-5 |pages=42}}</ref>
=== Roman rule ===
[[File:DAVIS(1879) p469 PLAN OF THE RUINES OF THE CITY OF ISAURA.jpg|thumbnail|300px|Plan of the ruins of Isaura (Davis, 1879)]]
When the [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] first encountered the Isaurians (early in the 1st century BC), they regarded [[Cilicia Trachea]] as part of Isauria, which thus extended to the Mediterranean Sea; and this extension of the name continued to be in common use for two centuries. The whole basin of the [[Calycadnus]] was reckoned Isaurian, and the cities in the valley of its southern branch formed what was known as the [[Isaurian Decapolis]].<ref name=EB1911/>
The Isaurians were brought partially under control (76–75 BC) by the Romans.  During the war of the Cilician and other pirates against Rome, the Isaurians took so active a part that the [[proconsul]] [[Publius Servilius Vatia Isauricus (consul 79 BC)|P. Servilius]] deemed it necessary to follow them into their rugged strongholds, and compel the whole people to submission, an exploit for which he received the title of Isauricus (75 BC).<ref name=EB1911/>
In the year AD 6, Cassius Dio mentions that the Isaurians were marauding through the province of Asia until they were faced with open war and were defeated.<ref>Cassius Dio, Bk 55, Ch 28</ref>
The Isaurians were afterwards placed for a time under the rule of [[Amyntas of Galatia|Amyntas, king of Galatia]]; but it is evident that they continued to retain their predatory habits and virtual independence. In the 3rd century they sheltered the rebel emperor [[Trebellianus]].<ref name=EB1911/>
In the early 4th century, all Cilicia was detached by order of [[Diocletian]] for administrative purposes from the northern slope of Taurus. A province called at first Isauria-Lycaonia, and later Isauria alone, extended up to the limits of Galatia, but not past Taurus on the south. [[Pisidia]], part of which had hitherto been included in one province with Isauria, was also detached, and made to include Iconium; Isauria received the eastern part of [[Pamphylia]].<ref name=EB1911/> The coastal Metropolis of Seleucia was designated as Isauria's provincial capital.<ref name="edwards">{{cite book|last1=Edwards|first1=Robert W., "Isauria"|title=Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Postclassical World, eds., G.W. Bowersock, Peter Brown, & Oleg Grabar|date=1999|publisher=[[Harvard University Press]]|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|isbn=0-674-51173-5|pages=[https://archive.org/details/lateantiquitygui00bowe/page/515 515–516]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/lateantiquitygui00bowe/page/515}}</ref>
In the 4th century they were still described by [[Ammianus Marcellinus]] as the scourge of the neighbouring provinces of Asia Minor, with a major series of raids occurring from AD 404 to 409, including one campaign to eradicate them led by the [[Byzantine Empire|Eastern Roman]] general [[Arbazacius]], but they were said to have been effectually subdued in the reign of [[Justinian I]].
Some Byzantine emperors were of Isaurian descent: [[Zeno (emperor)|Zeno]], whose native name was Tarasicodissa Rousoumbladadiotes; his son, [[Leo II (emperor)|Leo II]]; and perhaps [[Leontius]], who reigned from 695 to 698.{{efn|While [[Leo III the Isaurian|Leo III]] is nicknamed "the Isaurian" and his dynasty is often called the Isaurian dynasty, the emperor was actually of [[Assyrian people|Syriac]] origin, with his original name being Conon (or Cononus).}} The empire used Isaurians as soldiers, generals and at one point they even formed part of the emperor's personal guard, the [[Excubitores]].<ref name=edwards />  However, the population of Constantinople considered the Isaurians as barbarians, and emperor [[Anastasius I Dicorus|Anastasius I]] had to fight a long war against Isaurian rebels ([[Isaurian War]], 492–497).
=== Later ===
The ruins of Isaura Palaea are mainly remarkable for their fine situation, fortifications and tombs. Those of Isaura Nea have disappeared, but numerous inscriptions and many sculpture stelae, built into the houses of [[Dorla]], prove the site. It was the latter, and not the former town, that Servilius reduced by cutting off the water supply. [[J. R. S. Sterrett]] explored in the highland of Isauria in 1885 but it was not exhaustive. The site was identified by [[William Mitchell Ramsay|W. M. Ramsay]] in 1901.<ref name=EB1911/>
Ramsay discovered there more than fifty Greek inscriptions, the greater number Christian, as well as magnificent tombs.<ref>Ramsay, Studies in the History and Art of the Eastern Provinces of the Roman Empire (Aberdeen, 1906), 25–58</ref> These monuments date from the third, fourth, and fifth centuries.<ref name=CE>{{Catholic Encyclopedia|wstitle=Isaura|volume=8|first=Siméon |last=Vailhé|inline=1}}</ref>
== Ecclesiastical history ==
It is argued that Paul evangelised in [[Claudiopolis (Cilicia)|Claudiopolis]], the only Roman colony in the region by that time.<ref name="pilhofer">{{cite book|last1=Pilhofer|first1=Philipp|title=''Das frühe Christentum im kilikisch-isaurischen Bergland. Die Christen der Kalykadnos-Region in den ersten fünf Jahrhunderten'' (Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur, vol. 184) | date=2017|publisher= De Gruyter| location= Berlin, Boston|isbn=978-3-11-057381-7|pages=110–118|url=https://edoc.bbaw.de/files/3071/BBAW_TU184_Pilhofer_Bergland.pdf}}</ref>
The Isaurian church was originally under the authority of the [[Patriarch of Antioch]], but was attached to the [[Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople|Patriarch of Constantinople]] in the late 7th or early 8th century.<ref name=edwards />
Because Aetius, [[floruit|fl]] 451.<ref>Le Quien, "Oriens christ.", I, 1085</ref> is called in inscriptions bishop of Isauropolis and Isaura Palaea and as no ''[[Notitiae Episcopatuum|Notitia episcopatuum]]'' makes mention of Isaura, or Isauropolis, Ramsay supposes that the Diocese of Isaura Nova was early joined with that of Leontopolis, the more recent name of Isaura Palaea which is mentioned in all the "Notitiae".<ref name=CE/>
== See also ==
* [[Ancient regions of Anatolia]]
* [[Olba (ancient city)]] – [[Hellenistic period]] city in Isauria.
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}
{{Late Roman Provinces|state=collapsed}}
{{Anatolian peoples}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Isauria| ]]
[[Category:Late Roman provinces]]
[[Category:States and territories established in the 4th century]]
[[Category:Provinces of the Byzantine Empire]]