Pisidia

Province Description

Archaeological evidence in the region of Pisidia, a mountainous area in southwestern Anatolia, has revealed the area’s long history of settlement, from the Neolithic to the Classical periods. The mountain chains of the Taurus formed Pisidia’s frontier with Phrygia, while to the east Pisidian territory bordered the province of Lycaonia, and in the south, Pamphylia. The terrain is riddled with basins, high plateaus, numerous lakes, and three great rivers, the Cestrus (modern Aksu Çayı), Eurymedon, and Melas (modern Manavgat Çayı).

Its political history, like its neighbors in Anatolia, is marked by shifting powers: after belonging to an Achaemenid satrapy, Pisidia was a subject of the Seleucid and Attalid dynasties following the conquests of Alexander. In 101 BCE, the Romans, having become interested in the region, entrusted it to Amyntas of Galatia, and Pisidia was added to this latter province (Strabo 12.7.1). According to the Res Gestae of Augustus, the first emperor founded colonies at Comama, Cremna, Olbasa and Parlais, as well as a road system centered on the Via Sebaste originally constructed in 6 BCE. Under the Flavian dynasty, Pisidia was incorporated as a formal province, at the same time that neighboring Lycia and Pamphylia were combined. In the imperial period, cities such as Sagalassus and the colony at Cremna became prosperous, and Hadrian deemed the former the ‘first city’ of Pisidia and located his imperial cult there. S. Mitchell (1998) has called Pisidia an “inescapable component of the geopolitical structure of classical Asia Minor.”

Strabo (12.7.1-3) records the fertility of the land during the Roman period, which supported in particular the cultivation of olive groves and wheat, livestock breeding, and the production of wine and timber. The native styrax wood produced a gum that was used to make an aromatic perfume known across the empire, and the Amblada area was reputable for its wine (Pliny 12.55). Evidence of stone terracing, olive press weights and drainage spouts at sites such as Sagalassus support this identification of Pisidia’s agricultural wealth. In addition, a recent pollen core taken from Sagalassus reveals the presence of olives in a period dating roughly from the third century BCE to the seventh century CE, indicating that olive cultivation was pervasive during the city’s existence as a Hellenistic and Roman province. While no garden archaeology has yet been published from any sites, excavations at the city of Ariassos have uncovered several houses dating to the Roman period, including ones with peristyles. Archaeological evidence for the construction of large bath houses, sanctuaries, and gymnasia in the imperial period also suggests that some of these public areas may have boasted gardens or parks. At the colony of Cremna, for example, originally established by Augustus but enhanced following the reign of Hadrian, public structures such as the Doric-style forum had porticos and exedrae.

Bibliography

• A. Dalby, Empire of pleasures: luxury and indulgence in the Roman world. New York: Routledge, 2000. (worlcat)
• S. Mitchell, “Ariassos 1990,” Anatolian Studies, 41, 1991, pp. 159-72. (worldcat)
• S. Mitchell, Cremna in Pisidia: an ancient city in peace and in war. London: Duckworth, 1995. (worlcat)
• S. Mitchell, “The Pisidian Survey,” in ed. R. Matthews, Ancient Anatolia: fifty years’ work by the British Institute of Archaelogy at Ankara. 1998, pp. 237-53. (worldcat)
• S. Mitchell, “Olive cultivation in the economy of Roman Asia Minor,” in eds. S. Mitchell and C. Katsari, Patterns in the economy of Roman Asia Minor. London: Duckworth, 2005, pp. 83-114. (worldcat)
• R. Syme, Anatolica: Studies in Strabo. 1995, Oxford: Clarendon Press. (worldcat)
• M. Vermoere et al., “Pollen sequences from the city of Sagalassos (Pisidia, southwest Turkey),” Anatolian Studies, 53, 2003: 161-73.

Places

• Pisidia (Pleiades:639060)