Biblical Nations - Cilicians

Cilicians

Key Scripture: Acts 21:39

Figures: Saul of Tarsus (later called the Apostle Paul) 

We come at last to the home of one of the New Testament's prominent figures.  Like several other locations throughout Anatolia, the area known as Cilicia played a role in the growth of the early Christian church.  Its capital city, Tarsus, is well known to readers of the Bible as the birthplace of Saul, and would later be the place where Barnabas would find him prior to their joint ministry together.  The region had several similarities with other nearby provinces, but what has made it unique? 

The land at the farthest northeast point along the Mediterranean Sea was almost certainly originally populated by the descendants of Japheth after the Flood, and has probably been continually populated ever since.  Geographically, the area is typically referred to as being split between Cilicia Trachea (rough) on the west and Cilicia Pedias (flat) on the east.  The mountainous side was forested, and its rocky shoreline served both pirates and traders.  On the other hand, the east was quite fertile and supported agriculture.  The most important pass through the Taurus mountains just to the north of Tarsus was known as the Cilicia Gates, and it was not just a boundary between east and west Cilicia but something of a divide between Asia and Syria where the cultures mingled.  As with the surrounding regions, Cilicia was known to have been dominated by the Hittites during the 17th century BC, although local kings did have periods of control as well.  It subsequently changed hands over time to the Babylonians, Persians, and Greeks before being fully defeated by Pompey in 64 BC and, once he had laid waste to much of the pirate activity along the coast, Cilicia was incorporated into the Roman Empire.  Among the provincial leaders was the Roman statesman and orator Cicero, who (unwillingly) served as governor there in 51 BC and had to fend off an attempted raid by invading Parthians.

It was into this cosmopolitan city which boasted a legacy of Greek culture and thought alongside the improvements of Roman amenities that Saul was born.  Apparently a significant Jewish presence had already established itself in Cilicia, possibly congregating there as early as the 3rd century BC while it was under the control of the Ptolemies, as members of their community were involved in some of the earliest interactions between the new Church and the established Jews in Jerusalem.  Acts 6 records that a group called the synagogue of the Freedmen debated with Stephen, which may reference a group of Jews that had previously been enslaved and possibly included Saul himself, but that despite their arguments were unable to match the wisdom of this man who had just recently been selected as one of the original seven deacons.  Reading the studious logic contained within the works of Paul later in the Bible, it is amazing to realize that the Spirit had enabled Stephen so well to defend the name of Jesus that even his most educated and capable opponents had to settle for false witnesses to discredit him.  But God had a purpose for Saul as well, and even after his involvement in Stephen's stoning and the subsequent period of Jewish persecution against Jesus' followers, he would eventually find himself believing in the Way he had sought to destroy.

After Saul's miraculous conversion he eventually found his way back home to Tarsus.  Cilicia was known for a goat hair cloth called cilicium that was produced there, which may have tied into Saul's profession as a tentmaker.  It may be that he combined his trade with his new calling for quite some time, as he went through Syria and Cilicia for the better part of the following decade.  Tarsus is not especially far from Antioch, perhaps a two day walk, so when Barnabas encountered a church at the latter city that needed teaching and exhortation he knew that Saul was the one he wanted.  Saul and Barnabas worked there together for a year prior to the start of their first missionary journey, and it is noteworthy that at this point Scripture first mentions that the followers of Jesus there became known as Christians.  Saul's testimony in Cilicia had done its work there, however, as the believers there are specifically mentioned in the letter from the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15.  By that point, Biblical writers had taken to using the name "Paul" for the apostle, and that wasn't the only change for the ambitious evangelist as he had a disagreement with Barnabas which led to their parting of ways.  Paul then joined Silas at the start of his second missionary journey, and together they journeyed through Cilicia for what appears to have been the last time.  At the end of Paul's third missionary journey he was arrested in Jerusalem and eventually sent to Rome, and although he made note of his voyage sailing past the coast of Cilicia there is no record he ever returned to the province of his birth.

Cilicia remained in Roman hands until the fall of the western empire in the 5th century, at which time it began exchanging hands between Eastern Roman (Byzantium) and Arab control.  During the Crusades, Armenians who had migrated west into Byzantine lands established the Kingdom of Cilicia whose base was in Tarsus, and successfully maintained their stronghold in the midst of hostile Muslim states for 300 years.  During that time, the Mongols under Genghis Khan and his successor, Ogedei Khan, invaded the Middle East and defeated many of the surrounding nations.  Cilicia, however, preemptively decided to ally themselves with the powerful invaders who agreed to support the Armenians against the Egyptian Mamluks.  Eventually the Mongol influence in the region waned and Cilicia was left to fend for themselves just as the Black Death plague arrived in AD 1348.  The remaining Latin and Armenian population were unable to unify and consequently they became a target for conquest.  A combined force of nomadic Turkmen and Egyptian Mamluks took over the major cities of Cilicia and ended Armenian rule for good in AD 1359.  Even under Muslim rule, however, Cilicia served a notable purpose as it served as a buffer between the northern Ottoman Empire and the southern Mamluk Sultanate.  Eventually, however, the Ottoman Empire was victorious and by 1608 Cilicia was permanently ruled directly from Constantinople.  The remaining Armenian population maintained their identity into the 20th century until the empire began to fracture, and significant migration from other parts of the Ottoman Empire which were involved in ethnic cleansing led to hopes of a new autonomous Armenian state.  In 1909 a countercoup took place which saw the slaughter of 25,000 ethnic Armenians and the destruction of Christian neighborhoods throughout the region.  Three years later the 70,000 remaining survivors were ordered to be evicted to Syria.  At the end of World War I, France was given control of Cilicia and they ordered the repatriation of 170,000 Armenians.  By May 4, 1920 they declared the independence of Cilicia, but it did not last.  Faced with constant attacks, the French steadily retreated and by October of the next year a treaty was signed that had all remaining military forces withdraw entirely.  Once the Republic of Turkey was established, laws were quickly enacted that led to the forced removal or forfeiture of property of all non-Muslim inhabitants.  Before World War II had ended the region was recognized as being entirely Muslim/Turkish, as it remains to this day.