It is the administrative seat of the Adana Province and has a population of 1. Home to six million people, [2] Cilicia is one of the largest population concentrations in Turkey, as well as the most agriculturally productive area, owing to its large stretch of flat, fertile land. The region includes the provinces of Mersin , Adana , Osmaniye and Hatay. According to numerous sources, the name Adana is derived from the Hittite URU Adaniya of Kizzuwatna , [3] while others assert that it is related to the legendary character Danaus , or to the Danaoi , a mythological Greek tribe from the Greek city Argos.
Maybe they are both related. It is also possible that the name is connected with the PIE da-nu river as in river Danu-be Da-na-vo people living by the river , Scythian nomad people, water demons in Rigveda Danavas.
The Denyen are also believed to have settled in Cyprus. Furthermore, a Hittite report [7] speaks of a Muksus , who also appears in an eighth-century bilingual inscription from Karatepe stele in Cilicia. The kings of Adana are traced from the Greek "house of Mopsos ," given in hieroglyphic Luwian as Moxos and in Phoenician as Mopsos, in the form mps.
They were called the Dananiyim. In addition to all that, a lot of Mycenaean bronzes and pottery have been found in the area. The name also appears as Coa and may be the place referred to in the Bible , where King Solomon obtained horses. I Kings ; II Chron. According to an ancient Greco-Roman legend , the name has its origins in Adanus and Sarus, the two sons of Uranus , who came to a place near the Seyhan Sarus River, where they built Adana. The theory goes that since the Thunder God brought so much rain and this rain in turn brought such great abundance in this particular region, this god was loved and respected by its inhabitants and, in his honor, the region was called the "Uru Adaniyya"; in other words "the Region of Ada".
This large stretch of flat, fertile land lies southeast of the Taurus Mountains. It goes through the famous Cilician Gates , the rocky pass through which armies have coursed since the dawn of history, and continues to the Anatolian plain. The north of the city is surrounded by the Seyhan reservoir. Two irrigation channels in the city flow to the plain, passing through the city center from east to west. The 37th parallel north passes through the city. Winters are mild and wet.
