Overview
Anavarza — ancient Anazarbus — is one of the most monumental archaeological sites in southeastern Anatolia, spread across a dramatic landscape where a massive rocky outcrop rises from the flat Cilician plain in Adana province. The site encompasses a lower Roman and Byzantine city and an enormous fortified citadel crowning the cliff above, together spanning over two thousand years of history.
The city was elevated by Roman emperor Augustus to the status of "Caesarea," and it eventually became the capital of the Roman province of Cilicia Secunda in the 4th century CE. Its most striking surviving monument is a magnificent Roman triumphal arch, one of the best-preserved in Turkey, which once marked the entrance to the colonnaded main street. The arch's relief carvings celebrate imperial victory and remain remarkably crisp after nearly two millennia.
"Anazarbus is a city of Cilicia, which was formerly called Caesarea by the Romans."
— Strabo, Geographica (c. 20 CE)
Anavarza also preserves a Roman stadium (one of few surviving in Cilicia), an extensive aqueduct system, a large bath complex, rock-cut tombs, churches, and a vast necropolis. The city's mosaic floors — particularly in the bath complex — rank among the finest in southern Turkey.
The enormous castle that crowns the cliff was expanded by the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia in the 12th-13th centuries, when Anazarbus served as one of the Armenian kingdom's most important fortresses. The castle walls stretch along the entire ridgeline, creating one of the largest medieval fortifications in the region. Despite its extraordinary scale and preservation, Anavarza receives a fraction of the visitors of comparable sites.
Anavarza Castle | Nedim Ardoğa (CC BY-SA 3.0)
