Isauria

Isauria, ancient inland district of south-central Anatolia. Its inhabitants, a mountain people described by Greco-Roman authors as warlike and uncivilized, were conquered by the Roman general Publius Servilius Vatia “Isauricus” in a three-year campaign, 76–74 bc. Their country with its capital, Isaura Palaia, was joined with Cilicia by Pompey; and under the emperor Augustus (reigned 27 bc–ad 14) it became part of the Roman province of Galatia. Isauria was later prominent as the birthplace of the East Roman (Byzantine) emperor Zeno, whose reign (474–491) is sometimes known as the “Isaurian Ascendancy.” The Byzantine emperor Leo III (reigned 717–741) was once called the Isaurian, but on the mistaken belief that he had been born in Isauria.