Tarsus

Understand

thumb | 300px | Cleopatra Gate Tarsus was so-named by the Hittites around 1700 BC, when it was already ancient. It stands on the Çukurova or Cilician plain, with sea access and routes inland, so it commands trade routes. Little is known of its early years as the modern city has paved over everything, but it was important during the Roman Empire. After the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC, the empire was divided between a triumvirate, a trio of rulers, and Mark Antony got the eastern portion including Cilicia. Cleopatra VII of Egypt had been Julius Caesar's unofficial consort and needed to ally with the new man, so she visited and lushed up his court.

The town's other famous citizen was Saul or Paul, born here circa 5 AD. Like many, he had a Hebrew or Jewish name (Saul, שָׁאוּל, Sha'ûl) and a Graeco-Roman name (Paulos, Παῦλος) and used whichever fitted the company. From a pious Pharisee family, he was sent to Jerusalem for his education, then was later employed persecuting the Christian converts in that area. He never met the living Jesus, but circa 36 AD had a vision of the resurrected Jesus while on the road to Damascus to do more persecuting. He was overwhelmed and struck blind for three days, and when he recovered he was baptised and became a fervent Christian apostle and missionary. Most of what we known of him is from the New Testament "Acts", of which he wrote a quarter to a half himself, and he set his stamp on early Christian creed and practice. He died in Ro…

Get in

() 15 km east of town is the region's principal airport, replacing Adana which closed in 2024. It has daily flights from Istanbul (both IST and SAW), Ankara, Izmir and other Turkish cities (including Ercan in Northern Cyprus) and seasonal holiday flights mostly from Germany and Russia. The airport has the usual facilities including car hire. Hourly buses run to Tarsus (45 min) and Adana.

Tarsus is on Highway D400, which runs the length of Turkey's Mediterranean coat then continues away east to the border with Iran. It's now bypassed to the north by E982, so inter-city buses rush past on that. From the west change for a dolmuş at Mersin, from other directions change at Adana.

the bus station is 5 km east of town centre. You'll need another dolmuş or a taxi to get there.

No trains until 2026 on the Adana-Tarsus-Mersin railway as a tunnel and spur to the airport is built. Adana in turn is cut off from the railway network by other engineering work, at least until 2027.