Tarsus

Tarsus, an ancient city, situated amid fertile surroundings, in Cilicia, upon both banks of the Cydnus, whose cold waters are celebrated as having caused the death of Alexander the Great. The names of the deities worshipped and the nature of coins that have been discovered on the site, show the city to have been of Semitic origin, but it gradually became Hellenised, and in the time of Xenophon was in a prosperous condition. It was noted for its school of philosophers both Stoic and Platonic, among them being Athenodorus and Zeno, and St. Paul came into contact wlth some of its members. At a later period the general tendency of the city's philosopby was Epicurean. Tarsus became Roman in 66 B.C., and many privileges were conferred upon it by Antony and Augustus. In early Moslem days the city decayed and fell into ruins, but was rebuilt in 787 A.D. by Haroun Alraschid. It passed into the hands of the Crusaders, and eventually fell to the Turks.