(Coracesium-Kolonoros-Alaiye)
The inhabitancy of Alanya goes back to the dark ages. This
was proved by the explorations and investigations carried
out by Prof. Kylyc Kokten in 1957 who found human skeletons
and fossils in the Kadiini Cave located between the villages
of Bademagacy and Oba in the northeast directions of the
center of the province. Alanya, which has such a rich and
deep historical inheritance, sometimes became a part of
Kilikia and sometimes was a part of Pamphylia. Heredot the
father of history writes about this region "It is known
that the people that lived in this region received clans
that came after the Troy war (1820 B.C.)". Evidence
is seen that the Hittites came here in the first half of
the XIV Th. century B.C. and killed about six thousand people
and included Kilikia and Pamphylia into their dominion.
Pamphylia is a word meaning "multiracial, multikind".
The fertility of the lands, densely populated forests,
the unpassable Taurus mountins protecting the coastline
from the inland attracted those who came to visit and made
them to settle here. I believe in the future we will have
to look hard find our Alanian fellowman. Although the whole
of Kilikia was invaded by the Great Antiochus in 224-188
B.C. it preserved its independence because of the difficulty
encountered in the siege and conquest of Coracesium. The
Coracesium went even further to threaten the Assyrian Kingdom
and went on to exercise piracy as an easy way of living.
In this period Coracesium retained its independence although
it was under the influence of the Greek civilization. This
is endorsed with the finding of objects for example phallus
and tear bottles in Syedra where many churches are concentrated.
Coracesium became a place of terror in the hands of a pirate
leader Tryphon. To protect himself he built a thick wall
by using large stones with no cement from the present Arab
Evliyasi to Ehmedek. This notorious pirate leader used the
cave presently named Kizlar Yarigi or Korsanlar Magarasi
to store the loot. Also according to the rumors he separated
the Alanya Castle (Coracesium) as an island by digging a
channel between the present Damlatas Cave and the Council
House. They had the courage to sneak into the shores of
the Roman Empire a powerful empire of the period, to obtain
ransom from the rich, they kidnapped the daughters of the
known personalities and taxed the area. Due to these circumstances
no-one could sail into the Mediterranean and therefore the
city of Rome was starved of hunger. With the intention of
freeing the people from their problems, this notorious pirate
leader was wiped out by the battle proclaimed on him by
Anthiochus in 139 B.C.. The pirates regained strength later,
to find an eventual solution, the Roman emperor appointed
Anthiochus with extensive powers. In spite Anthiochus enlarged
the Empire's borders the pirates day by day grew even stronger
and continued to harass many towns and cities along the
Mediterranean shores. Pirates went even further by kidnapping
the daughter of Anthiochus and annoyed the Romans furiously.
This time to find an absolute ending to these harassment's
the Roman Emperor appointed Pompeus who was one of the most
powerful commanders of the army to put a stop to the pirates
activities. With his merciless attacks from the land and
sea this commander wiped out the pirates, who had terrorized
the Mediterranean for many years, to the degree that they
could not develop strength again.
The Romans who ruled these regions in every sense handed
over the Kilikia region to Antonius after the death of Caesar.
In these periods while the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra, known
with her beauty world wide, was touring in the Mediterranean
she met Antonius. After falling in love with each other
Cleopatra and Antonius got married. As a wedding gift Antonius
gave Coracesium (Alanya) to Cleopatra. It is known that
in this period the cedar and pine trees extending as far
as the coast had been cut by Cleopatra and sent to Egypt
to be used in the construction of ships for her fleet. Not
being able to stand the relation between Antonius and Cleopatra
Octavius in Rome declared a war against them. At that time
Cleopatra and Antonius were in Greece. The lovers met a
great assault from Octavius and escaped to the forelands
of Alexandria.
Fearing capture the lovers killed themselves using a snake
firstly Antonius and later Cleopatra with a bite to her
bosoms. The places torn down by Pompeii's during the campaign
against the pirates were rebuilt by the Romans in a better
way. The best example of these are the churches in the castle
and on the Cilvarda nose and also the Asarlyk Churches in
the town of Mahmutlar and nearby the Kargycak Village.
After being rebuilt by the Romans Coracesium (Alanya) preserved
its importance until VII th century, and later when the
Arab attacks had started it gained greater importance. During
the Byzantine period it was named Kolonoros meaning "beautiful
mountain". The old name Coracesium was said to be meant
"Gokkarga", and furthermore inhabitants were said
to be named "gokkargalylar". Gokkarga is a kind
of bird seen often in the old times in Alanya, with its
many colors this beautiful bird can nevertheless be seen
rarely around Camyolu and the Mahmutlar regions.
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