Cilicia in Fausset's Bible Dictionary

A province S.E. of Asia Minor, having the Mediterranean on the S., Pamphylia on the W., the Taurus and Antitaurus range on the N., separating it from Lycaonia and Cappadocia, and on the E. the range of Areanus separating it from Syria. The eastern portion is level, well watered, and fruitful; the western rugged, and chiefly fit for pasture. Tarsus, on the Cydnus, capital of the E., became a favorite residence of the Greeks and seat of learning under the Graeco-Macedonian empire. Many Jews were settled there and had their synagogue (Acts 6:9). Paul belonged to Tarsus, and there acquired his knowledge of the Greek poets, three of whom he quotes: Aratus of Cilicia, Menander, and Epimenides (Acts 17:28; 1 Corinthians 15:33; Titus 1:12). He naturally visited it after his conversion, and probably founded the church there. Cilicia was the high road between Syria and the W.; from Syria into Cilicia by the gates of Amanus, a pass at the head of the valley of Pinarus; from Cilicia by the gates of Cilicia, near the sources of Cydnus, through the Antitaurus into Lycaonia and Cappadocia, the pass whereby Paul crossed into Lycaonia (Acts 15:41). The goats' hair cloth, called cilicium, was one of its products. Paul, according to the excellent Jewish custom that all boys should learn a trade, wrought at; making tents of this hair cloth procurable in every large town of the Levant, a profitable trade in those days of traveling. The hair cloth is still manufactured in Asia Minor, and the word still retained in French, Spanish, and Italian (cilicio). Theodore of Mopsus in Cilicia was another of its eminent Christian writers.