Livius Picture Archive: Cilician Gate (Gülek Bogazi)

Livius Picture Archive: Cilician Gate (Gülek Bogazi): "e Cilician Gate is a pass through the Taurus mountains. It connects Cappadocia and Cilicia and was of great strategical importance. Xenophon tells that only one cart could pass through the narrow pass. It is often said that the the Gülek Bogazi (picture) is identical to the Cilician Gate, but this is only partially true.
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The valley of the Tarsus. Photo Jona Lendering. Any army moving from the north to the south (e.g., that of the Persian rebel Cyrus in 401, Alexander the Great in 333 BCE, or that of Septimius Severus in 194), was first forced to take the Gate, but then had to move through the narrow canyon of the river Tarsus. Even today, this part of the journey is more difficult than the Gate itself.
The valley of the Tarsus. Photo Marco Prins. The valley of the Tarsus. The Crusaders called it 'Gate of Judas'. When Pescennius Niger fought against Septimius Severus, he did not attack at the Cilician gate, but in the river valley.

An indication of the difficulty of forcing the Cilician Gate comes from the twentieth century: on the 28th of May 1920, five hundred French soldiers were prevented from passing through the mountain pass by forty Turks."