CILICIA (K/Noda), the south-eastern part of Asia Minor, bounded on the W. by Pamphylia ; separated on the N. from Cappadocia by the Taurus range, and on the E. by Amanus from Syria ; and having the gulf of Issus (Iskenderoon) and the Cilician Sea (Acts xxvii. 5) on the South. By the ancients the eastern part was called Cilicia Propria (I) lilies litXoc/a, Ptolemy), or the level Cilicia (42 re&cts, Strabo) ; and the western, the rough (iirpaxda, Strabo xiv. 5), or mountainous (11 clPs4P7), Herod. ii. 34). The former was well watered, and abounded in various kinds of grain and fruits (Xenoph. Anab. i. 2, Cilicia dives bonis omnibus terra. Ammianus Marcell. xiv. 3, sec. I. The chief towns in this division were Isms (Xenoph. Anab. i. 4), as the south eastern extremity, celebrated for the victory of Alexander over Darius Codomanus (B.c. 333), and not far from the passes of Amanus (ray, 'AmaviScov Xeyop,ivcor IluXwv. Polyb. xii. 17); originally a colony of Argives and Rhodians, the birth-place of Menander, the comic poet (B.c. 262), of the stoic philosopher Chrysippus (B.c. 206), and of Aratus, author of the astronomical poem Ta (B.c. 270) • and Tarsus, the birth-place of the Apostle Paul ITABstts]. Cilicia Trachma furnished an inex haustible supply of cedars and firs for shipbuilding; it was also noted for a species of goat, of whose hair a cloth (cilicium) was manufactured for cloaks and tents (Varro de Re Rustica, lib. ii. cap. xi.) Its breed of horses was so superior, that 36o (one for each day of the year) formed part of the annual tribute to the king of Persia (Herod. iii. 9o). The neighbourhood of Corycus produced large quanti ties of Saffron (Crocum sylvestre optimum. Prima nobilitas Cilicio, et ibi in Coryco monte, Plin. Nat.
IIist. xxi. 6, 17). Herodotus says that the first inhabitants of the country were called Hypachmi, 'nraxatot; and derives the name of Cilicia from Cilix, son of Agenor, a Phoenician settler (vii. 91). He also states that the Cilicians and Lycians were the only nations within the Halys who were not conquered by Crcesus (i. 28). Though partially subjected to the Assyrians, Medes, Persians, Syrians, and Romans, the Ele'uthero- (or free) Cilicians, as the inhabitants of the mountainous districts were called, were governed by their own kings (Reguli, Tacit. ii. 78), till the time of Ves pastan. The sea-coast was for a long time occu pied by pirates, who carried on the appropriate vocation of slave-merchants, and found ample encouragement for that nefarious traffic among the opulent Romans (Mannert, vi. I ; Strabo xiv. 5) ; but at last their depredations became so formid able, that Pompey was invested with extraordinary powers for their suppression, which he accom plished in forty days. He settled the surviving freebooters at Soke, which he rebuilt and named Pompeiopolis. Cicero was proconsul of Cilicia (A.u. c. 702), and gained some successes over the mountaineers of Amanus, for which he was re warded with a triumph (Epist. ad Fain. xv. 4). Many Jews were settled in Cilicia (Acts vi. 9 ; Philo, De legal. ad Caium, sec. 36).
According to the modern Turkish' divisions of Asia Minor, Cilicia Proper belongs to the Pashalic of Adana • and Cilicia Trachea to the Liwah of nail in the Mousselimlik of Cyprus (Conybeare and Ilowson's St. Paul, 2d ed., 1858, vol. i. pp. 24-26, 291 ; Mannert's Geographic der Griechen and Romer. vi. 2, pp. 32-113.—j. E. R.