ISAURIA, in ancient geography, was a district in the interior of Asia Minor, bounded by Mount Taurus and Cilicia on the S., by Lycaonia on the E., by Phrygia on the N., and by Pisidia on the W. Like the neighbouring Lycaonia, it consisted in great part of a cold and barren upland plain, while the southern portions weιe nigged and mountainous. No mention is found of the Isaurians during the early periods of the history of Asia; but they were doubtless, like their neighbours the Pisidians, in all ages a lawless race of freebooters, owing merely a nominal allegiance to either the Persian or the Macedonian monarchy. The only occasion on which they come prominently forward in history was during the war of the Cilician and other pirates against Rome, in which they took so active a part that the proconsul P. Servilius deemed it necessary to follow them into their mountain fastnesses, and compelled the whole people to submission, an exploit for which he received the title of Isauricus (75 b.c.). They were afterwards placed for a time under the rule of Amyntas, king of Galatia; but it is evident that they always continued to retain their predatory habits and their virtual independence; and under the Roman empire they gave so much trouble that it was ultimately agreed to leave them in the undisturbed possession of their inaccessible mountain homes. In the 4th century they are still described by Ammianus Marcellinus as the scourge of the neighbouring provinces of Asia Minor; but they are said to have been effectually subdued in the reign of Justinian....
From the nature of the countιy Isauria contained but very few towns, the most important of which bore the name of Isaura, as the capital of the district. It was rebuilt by Amyntas, and extensive remains of it are still visible at a place called Zengi Bor. Carallia, which seems to have been included in the province, and was noted as giving name to the Lake Caralitis, was situated farther north. This lake, now known as the Kereli Göl, is a considerable sheet of water; it communicates by the river called Bei Sechr with a lesser lake called by Strabo Trogitis, now known as Soghla Göl; both are perfectly fresh. The boundary of Isauria and Lycaonia seems to have been always unsettled. Strabo indeed speaks of Isauria as a part of Lycaonia, but it is certain that they were separate districts for administrative purposes, though their limits cannot be accurately defined. Of the ethnographical character or origin of the Isaurians we know nothing.
The comparatively obscure tribe of the Isaurians had the honour on two occasions of giving birth to a Byzantine emperor. The first of these, Zeno, in the 5th century (474-495 A.D.), was not calculated to reflect any lustre on his native country; but at a later period Leo III., who ascended the throne of Constantinople in 718, and reigned till 741, was a monarch of vigour and capacity, and became the founder of a dynasty which ruled over the empire for three generations.
[520 words — estimated reading time: 3 minutes]