Ancient Adada.......The earliest evidence in ancient literature about the city is from the geographer Artemidorus of Ephesus, quoted by Strabo, who lists Adada among the ancient cities of Pisidia, confirmed by geographer Ptolemy. The name Adada is probably Pisidian. In ancient sources it is also mentioned as Adadate and Odada, probably corruptions of the main name. Archaeological evidence of the name of the city is attested in an inscription of the second century BCE recording a treaty of friendship and alliance with Termessos.Another important implication of this agreement is that people of Termessos and Adada had blood ties. When one examines the evidence closely, it can be seen that there are many names from the Termessos and Adada people in this text. The Kingdom of Bergama, through a testament, left its land to Rome in 133 B.C., thus beginning the era of the Roman dominion in Anatolia. In this age, unlike western Anatolian cities, most of the Pisidia cities managed to stay independent. The independent city of Adada printed its first coins during this time. Again in the Pisidia region, especially during the time of Augustus, the Coloni cities which were a symbol of the Roman sovereignty were established. The most important of these cities were Antioch (Antakya), Kremna and Komama. In the days of the Roman Empire, the rules of the Emperor Trajan, Hadrian and Antoninus Pius (114-161 A.D) were the best times for Pisidia and for all of Anatolia. In this peaceful era which was called “Pax Romana,” the cities of Pisidia developed and new buildings were constructed in line with the increasing wealth. In 212 A.D. a law was passed granting a Roman citizenship to everyone living on the empire’s land, and this further increased the prosperity and wealth of people. However, these developments slowed down by the end of the third century A.D. According to the Greek historian Strabo, “The Pisidians, who lived in the mountains used to live as tribes ruled by the Tirans, just like their neighbours the Kilikians (Kilikyali) and they used to be pirates” (Strabo VII-3). The strongest characteristic of the Pisidians was they loved their independence, and they were warriors. The best example of this was the people of Sagalossos who put up a valiant fight against Alexander the Great. This shows that military ventures made up one of the main sources of income for the Pisidians. Like other Pisidians, some citizens of Adada left their homes and served in the armies of the Hellenistic kings as mercenaries after the time of Alexander the Great. Tombstones of these mercenaries in Cyprus and Fenike (the city of Sidon) bear witness to this. When the Roman Empire was divided into two in 395 A.D., the region continued to exist under the Eastern Roman Empire, later the Byzantine Empire, for many years. Starting from the early years of Christianity, there was a growing interest in this new religion. St. Paul and Antioch (Antakya) visited this area. St. Paul and his friends came to Perge in Pamphylia for the first time around 45 A.D. After staying in Perge for one day, they went to the Kestros (Aksu) River. They crossed the Taurus mountain range with great difficulty and reached Antioch through Eğridir. Researcher G. Ercenk wrote that the apostolic route followed by St. Paul on his first mission should be the road that passes through Perge, the Kestros Valley, Adada and Antioch. The duration of his reported journey is quite similar to information provided by other sources, which tends to support Ercenk’s thesis. Moreover, the similarity between the names of Baulo, Karabaulo and Paul (Paulus) also support this thesis, despite the competing theory of researcher D. Frech. Frech accepts the existence of the Perge-Adada road but he claims that this road was built during a later era. Some documents show that the first official church organization was built in the fourth century AD in this region and a number of cities in Sagalassos, namely Kremna, Selge, and Adada, became centres of the episcopacy. Again, documents show that Adada housed the assistant bishop of Antioch in Pisidia. Adada sent representatives to religious councils that convened in a number of cities in 325, 381,451, 692, and 787 AD. This shows that Adada was an active city until the ninth century.
