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Issus (Latin;Phoenician:Sissu) orIssos (Ancient Greek:Ἰσσός,Issós, orἸσσοί,Issoí) was an ancient settlement on the strategic coastal plain straddling the smallPinarus river (a fast melt-water stream several metres wide) below the navigationally difficult inland mountains towering above to the east in theTurkish Province ofHatay, near the border withSyria. It can be identified withKinet Höyük in the village ofYeşilköy nearDörtyol inTurkey'sHatay Province. Excavations on the mound occurred between 1992 and 2012 by Bilkent University. It is most notable for being the place of no fewer than three decisive ancient or medieval battles each called in their own era theBattle of Issus:
Whether Issus is still present within a modern settlement is hotly debated among researchers. Regardless of which mountain brook was the locus of the battles, the old town was situated close to present-dayİskenderun, Turkey, in theGulf of İskenderun. Today, no town exists on both sides of the Pinarus river, which may or may not have been called Issus.
Although Issus was once considered to have been anepiscopal see, there is no evidence to support that idea: Issus is not mentioned in the "Notitiae Episcopatuum" of the Patriarchate of Antioch, to which theRoman province ofCilicia belonged.[1]
36°51′13″N36°09′25″E / 36.85361°N 36.15694°E /36.85361; 36.15694
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