Meydankale is the archaeological site of a ruined castle in

Mersin Province Mersin Province (), formerly İçel Province (), is a Provinces of Turkey, province and Metropolitan municipalities in Turkey, metropolitan municipality in southern Turkey, on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast between Antalya Province, A ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

Geography

Meydankale is situated between the İmamlı and Yenibahçe villages in the rural area of

Silifke Silifke is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Mersin Province, Mersin Province, Turkey. Its area is 2,692 km2, and its population is 132,665 (2022). It is west of the city of Mersin, on the west end of the Çukurova plain. ...

district. In the antiquity this region was called

Cilicia Trachaea Cilicia () is a geographical region in southern Anatolia, extending inland from the northeastern coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. Cilicia has a population ranging over six million, concentrated mostly at the Cilician plain (). The region inclu ...

(Rugged Cilicia). Meydankale is to the north of Silifke and the Turkish state highway D.400. It can be reached via a road from Atakent which is on D-400. The distance from Meydankale to Silifke is and to

Mersin Mersin () is a large city and port on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast of Mediterranean Region, Turkey, southern Turkey. It is the provincial capital of the Mersin Province (formerly İçel). It is made up of four district governorates ...

is .

History

The settlement dates back to

Hellenistic In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

era (

Seleucid Empire The Seleucid Empire ( ) was a Greek state in West Asia during the Hellenistic period. It was founded in 312 BC by the Macedonian general Seleucus I Nicator, following the division of the Macedonian Empire founded by Alexander the Great ...

). But it was rebuilt and inhabited during the later eras. Neither Hellenistic nor the Roman name of the settlement is known. Meydankale is a Turkish name.Mersin Ören Yerleri, Mersin Valiliği, İstanbul, 2009, p.240

Ruins

Meydankale is a fort situated on a hill which oversees the mid portion of the road from the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

coast to the ancient city of

Uzuncaburç Uzuncaburç is a neighbourhood in the municipality and district of Silifke, Mersin Province, Turkey. Its population is 878 (2022). Before the 2013 Turkish local government reorganisation, 2013 reorganisation, it was a town (''belde''). Geography ...

, (ancient Diokaesareia). A deep canyon is to the north of the fort. There are ruins of observation towers, bastions, cisterns a necropolis in the fort. There is also a staircase to the river at the east of the fort. The main building material is polygonal stones typical of Seleucid masonry. Bossage had been used in later architecture.

References

{{Authority control Silifke District Ruined castles in Turkey Castles in Mersin Province Archaeological sites in Mersin Province, Turkey Olba territorium Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Turkey