River
Fl. Melas
Manavgat Çay
Listen to the story
The river Melas, now the Manavgat Çay in Turkey, flows across the map as an unnamed line; scholars supplied its name. The line bends on its way to the sea, a vague echo of the river's real, almost right-angled turn, and it reaches the coast just east of Side, as it does in reality. The Roman writer Pliny called it the ancient border of Cilicia, and it was navigable, with a harbour. The historian Ammianus describes it as deep and full of whirlpools, guarding its people like a wall. In AD 354, legions wintering at Side drove back raiding Isaurians on its banks.