Map of the Roman Empire - Mazaca

Mazaca
Q-6 on the Map

Mazaca (Caesarea): Kayseri former name of Caesarea (in Cappadocia), q.v.

Caesarea ad Argaeum, the capital of Cappadocia, called by this name in the reign of Tiberius, previously Mazaca. It was situate at the foot of Mount Argaeus, as its name indicates, and was a place of great antiquity, its foundation having even been ascribed by some writers to Mesech, the son of Japhet (Ioseph. Ant. Iud. i. 6). The modern name is Kaisarieh. - Harry Thurston Peck. Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. New York. Harper and Brothers. 1898.

Mazaca Kayseri has been a continuous settlement since 3000 BCE[citation needed]. The city has always been a vital trade center since it is located on major trade routes, particularly along what was called the Great Silk Road. K�ltepe, one of the oldest cities in Asia Minor, lies nearby. As Mazaca, the city served as the residence of the kings of Cappadocia. In ancient times, it was on the crossroads of the trade routes from Sinope to the Euphrates and from the Persian Royal Road that extended from Sardis to Susa. In Roman times, a similar route from Ephesus to the East also crossed the city. The city's name was changed to Eusebia in honor of the Cappadocian king Ariathes V (163�130 BC). The name was changed again to Caesarea by the last Cappadocian King Archelaus[2] or perhaps by Tiberius.[6] Caesarea stood on a low spur on the north side of Mount Erciyes (Mons Argaeus in ancient times). The site, now called the old town, diplays only a few traces from the old town. It was destroyed by the Sassanid king Shapur I of Persia after his victory over the Emperor Valerian I in 260 CE. At the time it was recorded to have around 400,000 inhabitants. In the 4th century, bishop Basil established an ecclesiastical centre on the plain, about one mile to the northeast, which gradually supplanted the old town. A portion of Basil's new city was surrounded with strong walls and turned into a fortress by Justinian. - Wikipedia

Mazaca CAESAREIA
CAESAREIA (Ka�sariyeh), a city of the district Cilicia in Cappadocia, at the base of the mountain Argaeus. It was originally called Mazaca, afterwards Eusebeia. (Steph. s. v. ?a?s??e?a, quoting Strab. p. 537.) The site in the volcanic country at the foot of Argaeus exposed the people to many inconveniences. It was, however, the residence of the kings of Cappadocia. Tigranes, the ally of Mithridates the Great, took the town (Strab. p. 539; Appian, App. Mith. ch. 67), and carried off the people with other Cappadocians to his new town Tigranocerta; but some of them returned after the Romans took Tigranocerta. Strabo has a story that the people of Mazaca used the code of Charondas and kept a law-man (??�?d??) to explain the law; his functions corresponded to those of a Roman jurisconsultus (??�????). The Roman emperor Tiberius, after the death of Archelaus, made Cappadocia a Roman province, and changed the name of Mazaca to Caesareia (Eutrop. 7.11; Suidas, s. v. ??�?????). The change of name was made after Strabo wrote his description of Cappadocia. The first writer who mentions Mazaca under the name of Caesareia is Pliny (6.3): the name Caesareia also occurs in Ptolemy. It was an important place under the later empire. In the reign of Valerian it was taken by Sapor, who put to death many thousands of the citizens; at this time it was said to have a population of 400,000 (Zonar. xii. p. 630). Justinian afterwards repaired the walls of Caesareia (Procop. Aed. 5.4). Caesareia was the metropolis of Cappadocia from the time of Tiberius; and in the later division of Cappadocia into Prima and Secunda, it was the metropolis of Cappadocia Prima. It was the birth-place of Basilius the Great, who became bishop of Caesareia, A.D. 370.

There are many ruins, and much rubbish of ancient constructions about Kaisaryeh. No coins with the epigraph Mazaca are known, but there are numerous medals with the epigraph.

Strabo, who is very particular in his description of the position of Mazaca, places it about 800 stadia from the Pontus, which must mean the province Pontus; somewhat less than twice this distance from the Euphrates, and six days' journey from the Pylae Ciliciae. He mentions a river Melas, about 40 stadia from the city, which flows into the Euphrates, which is manifestly a mistake [MELAS].  - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) William Smith, LLD, Ed.