Site: Alahan
Country: Turkey
Region: Cilicia, South-Central Turkey
Location : 36° 42’ N, 33° 22’ E
Cultures: Late Antique, Armenian, Byzantine
Description:

Alahan is a late antique / Byzantine complex on a rock shelf above the Calycadnus valley.  Among the principal structures are a Cave Church, a three-aisled West Basilica, and a Baptistery, all from the 5th c., as well as a beautifully preserved East Basilica completed in the early 6th c.  Alahan is located in the Isaurian portion of the Taurus Mts. northwest of Mut near the route connecting Silifke to Cappadocia.  There is no evidence that it was a pilgrimage center, but it perhaps served as a monastery.  The recent discovery of 13th and 14th c. Armenian coins indicates that the site was occupied in the medieval period.

Ref: Alahan, passim; Eerdmans, Hugh Elton, “Alahan,” vol. 1, pp. 28-30.

Plan is in the reference cited above.

Additional photos are in the reference above.

Alternate Site Names and Spellings: none known