Arch of Anazarbus

The Arch of Anazarbus is a well-preserved Roman triumphal arch standing at the southern entrance to the ruins of ancient Anazarbus, an important city of Cilicia in what is now Adana Province, Turkey. Built under Roman rule, the monumental gateway was later absorbed into the city's fortifications and continued to function as its south gate through the Byzantine and medieval periods. Anazarbus itself had a long and shifting history: founded under the name Cyinda, it was later known as Diocaesarea before taking the name Anazarbus and serving for a time as capital of the Roman province of Cilicia Secunda. After a severe earthquake in 526 CE, Emperor Justinian I rebuilt the city, briefly renamed Justinianopolis in his honor, and by the eleventh century it ranked as a major fortress comparable to Tarsus and Marash. The city and its arch endured until Anazarbus was destroyed by Mamluk forces in 1374.