The Mediterranean southern coast of Asia Minor, easily connected by sea with Cyprus, the Aegean Sea and the coasts of the Eastern Mediterranean, was home to many flourishing cities of the ancient world.
The cities of ancient Lycia, about 60 recorded, played a big role both during the Hellenistic and Roman years and also during the crusades. Cities such as Telmessos, Tlos, Xanthos, Patara, Myra, Side, Attalia, Alanya, Anemurio, have played important roles throughout time. Homer even mentions Lycians in the Iliad as allies of the Trojans (i.e. Sarpedon) and Herodotus tells of inhabitants of Lycia being matrilinear.
Lycia is known for its characteristic architecture, with the distinctive rock-cut tombs in the sides of cliffs, built over two stories high, with a triangular roof. Many have relief decoration, while inside they have large sarcophagi adorned with representations from everyday life and mythology.
Pamphylia was a narrow strip along the Gulf of Attalia, between Lycia in the west and Cilicia in the east, with Pisidia extending to its north. Its inhabitants were a mix of tribes and were therefore called Pamphyli (of many tribes).
Pamphylia was part of many empires, states and provinces: Persia, Macedonia, Syria and Pergamum. As a Roman province under Claudius, it was initially united with Lycia and then with Galatia. The most famous cities of Pamphylia were Aspendos, Side, Sylleion and Pergi, the capital, the ruins of which are today near Antalya.
Cilicia, the region directly across the sea from the island of Cyprus, has been inhabited since the Neolithic period, with the first settlements appearing in the 8th millennium BC. Homer mentions the "plain of the Aleans" from which Bellerophon carried the people of Cilicia northwest and made them allies of the Trojans.
Most of the cities of Cilicia recorded by Homer have pre-Greek names: Tarsus (Tarsus), Ingira (Anchiali), Adana, Pachros (Mopsuestia) and Kinda (Anazarvos), some of which still exist today. Other cities were Korykos, Soli of Cilicia (Roman Pompeiopolis) and Selinoundas, the Roman Traianoupolis.
Narrow passages in the steep mountains of the region, the Cilician Gates, were passages through which the ancient inhabitants of the country connected with the neighboring ancient countries. This passage that Xenophon described as impassable was crossed by the army of Cyrus the Younger in 401 BC. and the army of Alexander the Great in 333 BC. Later, during the Arab-Byzantine wars, control of the forts that dominated these passes played a strategic role.
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