View source for Limonlu River

{{Short description|River in Turkey}}
{{Infobox river
| name              = Limonlu Çayı
| name_other        = Lamos, Lamus
| subdivision_type1 = Country
| subdivision_name1 = [[Turkey]]
| subdivision_type2 = Province
| subdivision_name2 = [[Mersin Province|Mersin]]
| subdivision_type3 = 
| subdivision_name3 = 
| river_system      = Limonlu Çayı
| length_km = 6
| source1_location  = Yüğlük Dağı
| source1_elevation = c. {{convert|2000|m|abbr=on}}
| source1_coordinates= {{coord|36.994641|N|33.819911|E}}
| mouth_location    = Near [[Limonlu]] on the [[Mediterranean]]
| mouth_coordinates = {{coord|36|33|27|N|34|14|51|E|display=inline,title}}
| tributaries_right = Lamas Çayı (or Susama Deresi) 
| image             = Kayaci Valley-Limonlu Cayi Kaynagi.jpg
| image_caption     = Limonlu in the Kayacı valley
}}
The '''Limonlu River''' ({{langx|grc|Λάμος}} ''Lamos''; [[Latin]]: ''Lamus''), also known as ''Gökler Deresi'', is a river of ancient [[Cilicia]], now in [[Mersin Province]], [[Turkey]].

The river rises at Yüğlük Dağı in the [[Taurus mountains]] and flows through deep gorges to the southwest until it reaches the [[Mediterranean Sea]] at [[Limonlu]] (the ancient [[Antiochia Lamotis]]) in the district of [[Erdemli]]. About halfway along its course it is receives the ''Susama Deresi'' from the west as a tributary.

In the town of Limonlu, about 500 metres west of the river mouth on a flat hill on the right bank is the medieval castle {{Interlanguage link|Lamos Kalesi|de}}. Below the castle a [[Late Ottoman period|Late Ottoman]] bridge crosses the river, probably on the site of an earlier Roman bridge. North of the town are the remains of an [[aqueduct (bridge)|aqueduct]], which carried water from the river west to the ancient towns of [[Elaiussa Sebaste]] and [[Corycus]].

== History ==
The ancient name of the river was ''Lamos'' ({{lang|grc|Λάμος}}, Latinised as ''Lamus'', [[Arabic]]: اللامس, ''al-Lāmis''). The river formed the boundary between Rough Cilicia ''(Kilikia Tracheia)'' to the west and Flat Cilicia ''(Kilikia Pedias)'' to the east. At its mouth was the city [[Antiochia Lamotis]], earlier ''Lamos'', formerly the capital of the surrounding region, the [[Lamotis]].<ref>[[Alexander Polyhistor]] cited by [[Stephanus of Byzantium]]; [[Ptolemy]] 5.8.6; [[Strabo]], ''Geography'', 14.5.6-7)</ref> Later it formed the eastern edge of the [[Byzantine]] [[Theme (Byzantine district)|theme]] of [[Seleucia (theme)|Seleucia]] ([[Silifke]]), part of the border region of the empire known as the [[Kleisoura (Byzantine district)|Kleisoura]]. Thus, the river formed part of the empire's border with the Islamic [[Caliphate]]. During the 9th–10th centuries, the river was the site of several [[Arab–Byzantine prisoner exchanges]]. The first of these exchanges occurred in 797 or 805 in the reign of the [[Caliph]] [[Harun ar-Rashid]] and the Byzantine Emperor [[Nicephorus I]].<ref>{{EI2 | title = Lamas-Ṣū | first = Cl. | last = Huart | authorlink = | volume = 5 | page = 647 | url = http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/lamas-su-SIM_4631}}</ref> Within twelve days, 3700 Arabic prisoners were released. The final prisoner exchange took place in 946 under [[Constantine VII]] and [[Al-Muti]]. 2482 Muslim men and women were released, 230 were kept in captivity. Later exchanges took place elsewhere, since it subsequently belonged to the Byzantines.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Rivers of Turkey}}
{{Mersin Province}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Limonlu Cayi}}
[[Category:Geography of ancient Cilicia]]
[[Category:Rivers of Turkey]]
[[Category:Rivers of Mersin Province]]


{{Mersin-geo-stub}}
{{Turkey-river-stub}}
{{AncientCilicia-geo-stub}}