Located at the mouth of the Pyramus River, the area of Karataș was a key hub for trade routes into Plain Cilicia from at least the 4th c. BCE. The strategically important area was occupied by a number of cities and towns before the Roman period, but Magarsos (Antiochia ad Pyramum) was the major settlement until the Byzantine times (Hild and Hellenkemper 1990: 335, “Magarsos”).
Empereur, J. Y., and Picon, M. "Les régions de production d'amphores impériales en Méditerranée orientale" in Amphores romaines et histoire économique, Dix ans de recherche223–248, ed(s). Actes du colloque de Sienne Rome, 22–24 May, 1986. Publications de l'École française de Rome, 114. Rome: École Française de Rome, 1989
Hild, F., and Hellenkemper, H.. Tabula Imperii Byantini 5, Kilikien und Isaurien. Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften. Philosophisch-Historische Klasse. Denkschriften 215. Wien/Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1990
, Page 335.
