Cilicia (Roman province) in the context of "Septimius Severus"

Tarsus (/ˈtɑːrsəs/; Hittite: 𒋫𒅈𒊭 Tārša; Greek: Ταρσός Tarsós; Armenian: Տարսոն Tarson; Arabic: طَرسُوس Ṭarsūs) is a municipality and district of Mersin Province, Turkey. Its area is 2,029 km, and its population is 350,732 (2022). It is a historic city, 20 km (12 miles) inland from the Mediterranean Sea. It is part of the Adana-Mersin metropolitan area, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in Turkey. Tarsus forms an administrative district in the eastern part of Mersin Province and lies at the heart of the Çukurova region.

With a history going back over 6,000 years, Tarsus has long been an important stop for traders and a focal point of many civilisations. During the Roman Empire, it was the capital of the province of Cilicia. It was the scene of the first meeting between Mark Antony and Cleopatra, and the birthplace of Paul the Apostle.

Pompey's eastern settlement was the reorganization of Asia Minor and the Levant carried out by the Roman general Pompey in the 60s BC, in the aftermath of his suppression of piracy, his victory in the Third Mithridatic War and the dissolution of the Seleucid Empire, which brought the entire Near East under Roman control. It involved the establishment of new Roman provinces: alongside an enlarged Asia, Bithynia and Pontus in the north and Cilicia in the south, while the Seleucid realm was annexed as the province of Syria. In the interior, a network of native client kingdoms was established as a buffer to the Parthian Empire.

Pompey also carried out reforms to the provincial administrative and taxation systems in the Roman East, and founded new cities. Although generally acknowledged as humane and sound, the Eastern Settlement was carried out without the advice or consent of the Roman Senate, and the reorganization was not ratified for several years due to senatorial opposition against Pompey, who stood to gain enormous prestige, as well as expand his patronage over the entire East. This eventually led Pompey to join forces with Crassus and Julius Caesar in the First Triumvirate; ratification of the eastern settlement was one of the main legislative planks of Caesar's first consulship in 59 BC. Many of the provisions of Pompey's survived for centuries, well into the Roman Empire.

Cosmas and Damian (c. 3rd century – c. 287 or c. 303 AD) were two Arab physicians and early Christian martyrs. They practised their profession in the seaport of Aegeae, then in the Roman province of Cilicia.

Cosmas and Damian were third century Arabian-born twin brothers who embraced Christianity and practised medicine and surgery without a fee. This led them to being named anargyroi (from the Greek Ἀνάργυροι, "the silverless" or "unmercenaries"); by this, they attracted many to the Christian faith. They reputedly cured blindness, fever, paralysis and reportedly expelled a serpent. They were arrested by Lysias, governor of Cilicia (modern-day Çukurova, Turkey) during the Diocletian persecution because of their faith and fame as healers. Emperor Diocletian, who favoured the worship of the Olympian gods, issued a series of edicts that condemned the Christians with the goal of eliminating Christianity from the Roman Empire.