The Aksu (

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

name in Hittite: 𒁉𒋻𒀀𒅀, ''Kaštaraya'',

ancient Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history cov ...

name in

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

Κέστρoς, ''Kestros''), is a river in

Antalya Province Antalya Province ( tr, ) is located on the Mediterranean coast of south-west Turkey, between the Taurus Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea. Antalya Province is the centre of Turkey's tourism industry, attracting 30% of foreign tourists visi ...

(southwestern

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

), which rises in the mountains of Toros. The course of the Aksu is between the Düden to the west and of the Köprüçay to the east.

History

A treaty between the Hittite Great King Tudhaliya IV and his vassal, the king of Tarhuntassa, defined the latter's western border at the "Kastaraya River", near "Parha". Parha is likely the future

Perga Perga or Perge ( Hittite: ''Parha'', el, Πέργη ''Perge'', tr, Perge) was originally an ancient Lycian settlement that later became a Greek city in Pamphylia. It was the capital of the Roman province of Pamphylia Secunda, now located in ...

. As Kestros, the river is mentioned by

Pomponius Mela Pomponius Mela, who wrote around AD 43, was the earliest Roman geographer. He was born in Tingentera (now Algeciras) and died AD 45. His short work (''De situ orbis libri III.'') remained in use nearly to the year 1500. It occupies less ...

as navigable, as far upriver as Perga, 60 stadia (about ) from its mouth, according to Strabo. It silted up over the Byzantine era, and Perga declined as a result.

Today

The Aksu is wide at its mouth, and deep within the bar, which extends across the mouth, and so shallow in places in its delta as to be impassable to boats that draw more than of water. The swell from the sea meeting the stream generally produces a violent surf. At its headwaters is the Kovada Lake and just below that the Karacaören Dam reservoir.

References

* Smith, William (editor); '' Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography''
"Cestrus"

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, (1854)
Glover, Clare P, Robertson, Alastair F (March 1998) "Role of regional extension and uplift in the Plio-Pleistocene evolution of the Aksu Basin, SW Turkey" ''Journal of the Geological Society'' 155(2): pp. 365-387Çapraz, Soner and Arslan, Naime (2005) "The Oligochaeta (Annelida) Fauna of Aksu Stream (Antalya)" ''Turkish Journal of Zoology'' 29: pp. 229-236
*Wildekamp, R.H. (1997) "First record of the eastern Asiatic gobionid fish ''Pseudorasbora parva'' from the Asiatic part of Turkey" ''Journal of Fish Biology'' 51(4): pp. 858–861 Rivers of Turkey Landforms of Antalya Province {{Turkey-river-stub