Nurhak Mountains
| Taurus Mountains | |
|---|---|
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Toros Dağları
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Demirkazık in Niğde Province
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| Highest point | |
| Peak | 3,756 m |
| Elevation | 3,756 metres (12,323 ft) |
| Geography | |
| Country | Turkey |
| Range coordinates | 37°N 33°E / 37°N 33°ECoordinates: 37°N 33°E / 37°N 33°E |
The Taurus Mountains (Turkish: Toros Dağları, Armenian: Թորոս լեռներ, Ancient Greek: Ὄρη Ταύρου) are a mountain complex in southern Turkey, separating the Mediterranean coastal region of southern Turkey from the central Anatolian Plateau. The system extends along a curve from Lake Eğirdir in the west to the upper reaches of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers in the east. It is a part of the Alpide belt in Eurasia.
The Taurus mountains are divided into three chains from west to east as follows;
The bull was commonly the symbol and depiction of ancient Near Eastern storm gods, hence Taurus the bull, and hence the name of the mountains. The mountains are a place of many ancient storm-god temples. Torrential thunderstorms in these mountains were deemed by the ancient Syrians to be the work of the storm-god Adad to make the Tigris and Euphrates rivers rise and flood and thereby fertilise their land. The Hurrians, probably originators of the various storm-gods of the ancient Near East, were a people whom modern scholars place in the Taurus Mountains at their probable earliest origins.
A Bronze Age archaeological site, where early evidence of tin mining was found, is at Kestel. The pass known in antiquity as the Cilician Gates crosses the range north of Tarsus.
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Wikipedia