Isaura Vetus
City of Isauria on a hill (Zengibar Kalesi) near Ulu Pinar, 10 km E of Boskir (Silistat). It was the main fortress of Isauria when Perdiccas took it in 322 B.C. (Diod. 18.22), was destroyed by Servilius Isauricus in 75 B.C., and later restored by Amyntas of Galatia who died when the wall was under construction (Strab. 12.6.3; 14.3.3). It appears on Roman Imperial coinage as metropolis of the Isaurians.
The wall around the hill is ca. 3.8 km long. Parts of it are well preserved, including two well-fortified gates and 14 polygonal towers. The masonry is pseudo-isodomic. The small acropolis is on a rise at the SE end of the city. Inside the walls remains still standing include arches to Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, and Severus Alexander, a well-preserved church, and an octagonal chapel. Outside the walls are some elaborate rock-cut graves and heroa, apparently of the 2d-3d c. A.D.
BIBLIOGRAPHYW. J. Hamilton, Researches in Asia Minor II (1842) 327f; J. S. Sterrett, Papers Am. Sch. of Classical Studies Athens 3 (1884-85) 97, 105f; J. Jüthner et al., Vörlautiger Benicht über eine Archäologische Expedition nach Kleinasien (1903) 44-50MPI; Jüthner et al., Denkmäler aus Lykaonien, Pamphylien md Isaurien (1935) 69-92, 119-42MPI; D. Magie, Roman Rule in Asia Minor (1950) esp. 1170 n. 22, 1171 n. 24; F. E. Winter, Greek Fortifications (1971) 136, 190f, 194, 200-2PI.
T. S. MAC KAY