Germanicia
| Kahramanmaraş | |
|---|---|
| Metropolitan municipality | |
A view of the city center
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 Kahramanmaraş
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| Coordinates: 37°35′N 36°56′E / 37.583°N 36.933°ECoordinates: 37°35′N 36°56′E / 37.583°N 36.933°E | |
| Country | Turkey |
| Region | Mediterranean |
| Province | Kahramanmaraş |
| Area | |
| • District | 3,017.45 km2 (1,165.04 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 67 m (220 ft) |
| Population (2012) | |
| • Urban | 443,575 |
| • District | 558,664 |
| • District density | 190/km2 (480/sq mi) |
| Time zone | EET (UTC+2) |
| • Summer (DST) | EEST (UTC+3) |
| Area code(s) | 0344 |
| Licence plate | 46 |
Kahramanmaraş is a city in Akdeniz, Turkey (the Mediterranean Region) and the administrative center of Kahramanmaraş Province. Before 1973, Kahramanmaraş was named Marash. The city lies on a plain at the foot of the Ahir Dağı (Ahir Mountain) and has a population of 558.664 as of 2015. The region is best known for its production of salep, a flour made from dried orchid tubers, and its distinctive ice cream. It is connected by air to Istanbul and Ankara. Turkish Airlines has daily direct flights from İstanbul and also AnadoluJet operates direct flights from Ankara.
In the early Iron Age (late 11th century BC to ca. 711 BC), Maraş was the capital city of the Syro-Hittite state Gurgum (Hieroglyphic Luwian Kurkuma). It was known as "the Kurkumaean city" to its Luwian inhabitants and as Marqas to the Assyrians. In 711 BC, the land of Gurgum was annexed as an Assyrian province and renamed as Marqas after its capital.
Maraş was called Germanicia Caesarea (Γερμανίκεια, Germanikeia, in Greek) in the time of the Roman and Byzantine empires. According to a 2010 Cumhuriyet article, the first ruins of Germanicia have already been unearthed in the Dulkadiroğulları quarters of the city.
In 645 Germanicia was taken from the Byzantines by the Muslim Arabs, to whom the city was known as Marʻash (Arabic: مرعش [ˈmarʕaʃ], which is also the Syriac ܡܪܥܫ). Marash was an important Syrian Orthodox diocese. Mor Dionysius Bar Salibi (died 1171) was its bishop. Over the next three centuries, Marash belonged to the fortified Arab-Byzantine frontier zone (Thughur) and was used as a base for incursions into Byzantine-held Asia Minor by the Arabs. It was destroyed several times during the Arab-Byzantine Wars. It was rebuilt by the Umayyad caliph Muawiya I and was expanded ca. 800 by the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid. The city was also controlled by the Tulunids, Ikhshidids and Hamdanids before the Byzantines under Nikephoros Phokas recovered it in 962.
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Wikipedia