Soli (Ancient Greek:Σόλοι,Sóloi), often renderedSoli/Pompeiopolis (Ancient Greek:Πομπηϊούπολις), was an ancient city and port inCilicia, 11 km west ofMersin in present-dayTurkey.
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Located in Southern Anatolia, on the edge of the timber-richTaurus Mountains and fertileCilician alluvial plain, Soli was constantly at or near regional boundaries;Kizzuwatna andTarḫuntašša duringLuwian/Hittite occupation, and Cilicia Trachea and Cilicia Pedia during Graeco-Roman period.[1] This, coupled with the city's good harbor and proximity to theCilician Gates ensured that Soli was consistently of strategic importance throughout ancient history.
Archaeological evidence indicates a human presence in the area as early as 7000 BCE at theYumuktepe mound, 9 km to the northeast.
The first knownLuwian settlements and fortifications at Soli proper date the 15th century BCE, and the city was an active port from that time onwards.[1] Soli may have functioned as the harbor city ofKizzuwatna, but this is disputed.[2] The region was controlled by theHittite Empire from the 14th-13th centuries BCE, and recoveredMycenaean bronzes and ceramics indicate trade with the Aegean.[3][4]
TheBronze Age Collapse ended Hittite hegemony in Cilicia, and Soli may have suffered an attack from theSea Peoples. This "destruction layer" is populated by burned and broken pottery and is followed by a hiatus in human occupation.[1]
Achaean and Rhodian colonists[5] reestablished a permanent human presence at Soli between 700 and 690 BCE,[6] leaving behindgeometric pottery characteristic of theArchaic period.
Cilicia became a vassal state to and satrapy of theAchaemenid Empire after the reign ofCyrus the Great, assisting the Persians in multiple military campaigns.[7] Soli briefly allied itself with theDelian League,[8] but otherwise prospered under Achaemenid hegemony, minting coins to the Persian standard untilAlexander the Great drove the Persians out of Cilicia in 333 BCE.[9][10] He imposed a fine of 200 talents on the city for favoring the Persians, imposed a democratic constitution, made a sacrifice toAsclepius and held honorary games.[11] A year later, Alexander extracted three triremes from Soli and nearbyMallus to assist in his siege ofTyre.[12]
After Alexander's death (323 BCE), Soli fell to the control ofPtolemy I Soter, and was attacked unsuccessfully byDemetrius I Poliorcetes.[13] Cilicia traded hands between Alexander's successors until the end of theFifth Syrian War (197 BCE), at which point Soli was held by theSeleucid Empire. Throughout the Hellenistic Period, the city gained considerable local autonomy, minting its own coinage and largely conducting its own affairs.[14] Rhodes appealed to theRoman Senate to liberate Soli from the Seleucids on the grounds of their common heritage, but this case was dropped.[15]Tigranes the Great ofArmenia sacked Soli during the Seleucid Empire's collapse (83 BCE), and took the city's citizens to inhabitTigranocerta, his newly founded capital.[16]
In 67 BCE, thelex Gabinia was passed by the Roman Senate, endowingPompeius Magnus (Pompey) with proconsular powers to combat piracy in the Eastern Mediterranean. After subduing the pirates, he resettled some surrendered pirates in the depopulated Soli,[17][18] renaming itPompeiopolis (not to be confused with thePompeiopolis in nearbyPaphlagonia, also founded around this time).[19][5] The harbor was improved and expanded withRoman concrete,[20] and new city walls, a theater and baths were built.[1] The harbor was renovated again by 130 CE under the aegis ofAntoninus Pius (though the project may have been begun byHadrian),[20] and the port city flourished under Roman rule.
The Soli-Pompeiopolis became a bishopric sometime around 300 CE. In 525 CE, the city was leveled by a powerful earthquake and largely abandoned.[21]
Diogenes Laërtius wrote thatSolon founded Soli as anAthenian colony, and named the city after himself. This account is in conflict with the work ofStrabo[5] and comparative archaeological studies of the region.[6] While largely discredited, the idea was preserved in the wordsolecism, derived from σόλοικος (sóloikos, "speaking incorrectly"), as since the dialect of Greek spoken there was thought to be corrupted form ofAttic Greek.[22]
"...[Solon then] lived in Cilicia and founded a city which he called Soli after his own name. In it he settled some few Athenians, who in process of time corrupted the purity of Attic and were said to "solecize."[23]
Alternately,soloi could derive from local economic resources, namely "metal ingots"[24] or "a mass of iron."[25]
Adrienne Mayor suggested that the inhabitants of Soli might have attributed their city's name toSolois, an Athenian who was helplessly in love with the AmazonAntiope and for that reason they minted coins with Amazons on them,[26] however this theory has been criticised as weak on account of insufficient evidence as neither Solois nor Antiope were ever unambiguously connected to Soli.[27]
The city may be mentioned in theŠunaššura Treaty,[28] betweenHittite kingŠuppiluliuma I andKizzuwatna, asEllipra orPitura.[2] These may alternately refer to theYumuktepe site, but certainly refer to one of the few harbor settlements on the border between Kizzuwatna and Tarḫuntašša.
It has been suggested that Soli corresponds to the coastal citySallusa in the laterAnnals ofḪattušili III, which indicates that some Luwian variant of the classical name may have predated Hellenic settlement of the area.[2]
Locally, the site is known asViranşehir, meaning "Ruined City".[29]
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36°44′31″N34°32′24″E / 36.74194°N 34.54000°E /36.74194; 34.54000
