KASAI
(Asar Tepe) Turkey.
City in Cilicia
Aspera or Pamphylia, near Gündoğmuş, 30 km N of
Alânya. The ethnic of Kasai seems to occur in an inscription of Alexandria in the 3d c. B.C., and the city is listed
by Ptolemy, Hierokles, and the
Notitiae. Georgios Kyprios records a klima of Kasai (
Not. Dig. 1.854), and the
city appears to have been among the most important of
the region. Its coinage is of the 3d c. A.D.
The site is on a steep hill, the end of a ridge of the
Taurus, with deep gorges on either side. It is approached
by a saddle on the N. The remains are ruined and hardly
impressive; no public building can be identified apart
from a large church, parts of the walls of which, including two arched doorways, are still standing. On the outer
face of the church, at the SE corner, covering the apse
and the adjoining wall, is a long inscription; it apparently dates from the late 5th c. and comprises a letter
from the Emperor, a prostagma of the magister officiorum, and an edict of the provincial governor, all concerning a point of law. It shows that Kasai was in full
vigor at that time, and had city status.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
L. Robert,
RevPhil 32 (1958) 36, n.3
(Alexandrian inscription); G. E. Bean & T. B. Mitford,
Journeys in Rough Cilicia 1964-1968 (1970) 48-59.
G. E. BEAN
