Kızkalesi (Maiden's Castle) and Korykos

Korykos was a port town on the Mediterranean coast, in what is now the village of Kızkalesi, roughly 60 km south-west of Mersin. Herodotus says a Cypriot prince named Korykos founded it. It came under Roman rule in the 1st century BC and later, under Rome and Byzantium, grew into a major harbour city.

Its story is one of many hands. Isaurians controlled it in 479. In the 6th century it became a bishopric under Tarsus. It passed to Persians and Arabs. About 1099 the emperor Alexios ordered the land castle built by the architect Eustathios, who also built Silifke Castle, and both served as stopovers for sea travellers from Istanbul to the Holy Land. The site later changed hands between Byzantines and Armenians, and around 1275 it was a notable saffron-producing place under the Mamluk sultan Baybars.

Later the Lusignans of Cyprus were tied to Korykos. Karamanid ruler İbrahim II took it in 1448 and the Ottomans held it by 1473-74, after which it faded. Today the ruins stretch along the coast, taking in the necropolis valley, the castle on the shore and the beach.