Near the mouth of the river _Pyramus_ (now _Gihoon_), and further up, are three towns which may be taken together. The first is MALLUS, very near the sea, on the left bank of the river over which Alexander threw a bridge, in Mallotis, Strabo’s name for the circumjacent district; or Megarsus (possibly an earlier name for Mallus,) described in Lycophon as standing on a “sea-worn hill”—an expression Beaufort says accurately applies to a place now called _Karadash_.[95] Mallus retained its name, slightly modified to Malo, till mediæval times (Sanut. Secret. Fid. li. p. iv. c. 26): 2ndly, above Mallus, MOPSUESTIA, the creation of a certain mythical hero called Mopsus. According to Pliny, this town was a “free” city, and Procopius states that Justinian repaired the bridge over it (Ædif. v. 5). During the Byzantine period the name was modified to _Mensis_. Still further up the same river was ANAZARBA (sometimes called _Cæsarea ad Anazarbum_), the capital, in the fifth century, of Eastern Cilicia as Tarsus was of the Western—(Hierocles). It was nearly destroyed by earthquakes in the reigns of Justin and Justinian (Procop. Hist. Arcana, c. 18; Cedren., p. 299). Dioskorides and Oppian were born there. The last place in Cilicia to which we shall call attention is ISSUS, ever memorable as the scene of the famous conflict between Alexander and Darius. Its modern name, Scandaroon or Alexandretta, is obviously derived from Alexandreia. The town stood at the foot of the main chain of Mount Amanus, and, at the head of the gulf to which it gave its name. It was early (as might have been expected from its position) a considerable town, but, in Strabo’s time, had ceased to be more than a small port. Cicero, in his expedition against the mountaineers in the neighbourhood stayed there for some time (Epist. ad Attic. v. 20). The famous defile leading from Cilicia into Syria was to the east of the town. Footnote 95: Lycophron’s words are— Πυράμου πρὸς ἐκβολαῖς. ──────────── Αἰπὺς δ’ ἀλιβρὸς ὄχμος ἐν μεταιχμίῳ Μέγαρσος.—(Cassandr. v. 439.) The river Pyramus, according to Scylax, could be ascended by ships as far as Mallus, but the poets feigned that its mud would, in time, join Cyprus to the mainland. The poetical words are— Ἔσσεται ἐσσομένοις ὅτε Πύραμος εὐρυοδίνης Ἡϊόνα προχέων ἱερὴν εἰς Κύπρον ἵκεται. It has been disputed whether Megarsus was really on the river, but the legend on its coins—ΜΕΓΑΡΣΕΩΝ ΠΡΟΣ ΤΩ ΠΥΡΑΜΩ—sets _this_ question at rest. The Aleian plain, which lay between Tarsus and Mallus, was the traditional scene of Bellerophon’s disaster (Il. z. 200). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER IV.