ABSTRACT
Cilicia was surrounded by the Taurus and Amanus Mountains and access was confined to a few passes.2 Interestingly, mountain passes were not good military barriers since the constricted space made deployment and maneuver difficult. Thus fighting in the pass itself was usually only carried out by heavily outnumbered forces who also ran the risk of being trapped by outflanking forces. 3 The classic example of this is the outflanking of the Spartan Leonidas at Thermopylae in 480 BC, but it is worth noting that Gauls broke through here against the Phocians in 289 BC, and that Cato turned Antiochus Ill's flank at the same pass in 191 BC.4 Even knowledge that a pass could be outflanked did not stop it happening. Other routes existed across the Taurus Mountains besides those discussed here, but these were tracks unsuitable for the passage of large armies, though often passable for raiders and flanking forces.
