* 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.