Cilicia (Roman province)

Provincia Cilicia ἐπαρχία Κιλικίας
Province of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire
← 64 BC–mid-7th century →
Roman Cilicia highlighted
Capital		Tarsus
History
•	Conquest of Cilicia by Pompey	64 BC
•	Depopulation of Cilicia following the Muslim conquest of the Levant	mid-7th century
Today part of		Turkey

Cilicia was an early Roman province, located on what is today the southern (Mediterranean) coast of Turkey. Cilicia was annexed to the Roman Republic in 64 BC by Pompey, as a consequence of his military presence in the east, after pursuing victory in the Third Mithridatic War. It was subdivided by Diocletian in around 297, and it remained under Roman, and subsequently Byzantine, rule for several centuries, until falling to the Islamic conquests.

Cilicia was a haven for pirates that profited from the slave trade with the Romans. When the Cilician pirates began to attack Roman shipping and towns, the Roman senate decided to send various commanders to deal with the threat. It was during the course of these interventions that the province of Cilicia came into being.

Parts of Cilicia Pedias became Roman territory in 103 BC, during Marcus Antonius Orator’s first campaign against the pirates. While the entire area of “Cilicia” was his “province”, or more correctly, his area of imperium during his propraetorial command, only a small portion of that region was made a Roman province at that time.

In 96 BC, Lucius Cornelius Sulla was appointed the propraetorial governor of Cilicia, during which time he stopped an invasion by Mithridates II of Parthia. In 80 BC, the governor of Cilicia was Gnaeus Cornelius Dolabella, who was later convicted of illegally plundering the province. His replacement in 78 BC was Publius Servilius Vatia Isauricus. He was given the responsibility of clearing out the pirates, and his posting lasted until 74 BC. From 77 to 76 BC, he achieved a number of naval victories against the pirates off the Cilician coast, and was able to occupy the Lycian and Pamphylian coasts. After the pirates fled to their fortified strongholds, Vatia Isauricus began attacking their coastal fortresses. He captured the town of Olympos before going on to capture Phaselis and subduing Corycus and a number of minor pirate strongholds.

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