Around 300 BC Seleucus I founded, on the current southeast coast of Turkey, the city of Seleucia Pieria. Located north of the mouth of the Orontes River and at the foot of the Amanus Mountains, he gave it the name of Pieria, because the place reminded him of the Macedonian region of the same name.

Seleucia Pieria soon became the seaport for the main city in the area, Antioquia del Orontes, and was a strategic enclave for the control of the Syrian region. For this reason, in 64 BC it was conquered by Pompey's troops, incorporating it into the Roman Empire.

The Vespasianus Titus Tunnel near the modern village of Çevlik, about 100 km west of Aleppo. Photo: f9project/Shutterstock.com