Kemerhisar (formerly Kilisehisar) lies 25 km/16 miles South of Niğde and is scattered over three hills on the site  of the ancient town of Tyana. Semiramis, the legendary queen of Assyria  and founder of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, is thought to have been instrumental in establishing Tyana, which dates from 1200 B.C. as a late Hittite principality, named Tuhana after the decline of the Hittite Empire. In the second half of the 8th century B.C. one of the rulers was Varpalavas whose stele can be seen in the İstanbul Arkeolojical Muzeum. Ancient remains  on the site include a Doric marble pillar on the “Hill of semiramis” and fifteen linked marble arches (“kemer”, arches) of a Roman aquaduct. A path leads from the South of the site to the Baths of Kemerhisar which is mentioned in ancient writings. The warm water (15 oC/60 oF) containing sodium hydrogen carbonate, magnesium carbonate and salt was drunk for its healing powers. The site also comprises a bthing pool.

Ancient Tyana, or what remains of it today, is located about ten minutes away from downtown Bor. Driving south, on the highway back to Ulukışla, almost on the outskirt of Bor, one enters the town of Kemerhisar, a small town that stretches in an east-west direction. The ruins of Tyana are located on the northern edge of Kemerhisar anda are nothing more than an ancient aqueduct said to have been constructed by the Hittites and subsequently operated by the Greeks and Romans.

There is a legend about Tyana. It seems that at one point in its history, an eastern king named “Nimrud” paid a visit to Cappadocia to consult with a Tyanaean prophet and holy man. Whwn this Nimrud expressed doubt about this holy man’s ağabeylities, the holy man performed several miracles to convince King Nimrud. When this holy man caused the water on the aqueduct to flow backwards, uphill, Nimrud doubted him no longer. Today there are two mountains in Turkey named after this King Nimrud, one near Lake Van and the another in southeastern Turkey.

  * From “Holiday News From Turkey” . No: 12 Winter 2001, page, 24 

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	Apollonius of Tyana
	The charismatic teacher and miracle worker Apollonius lived in the first century AD. He was born in Tyana (Bor in the south of modern Turkey) and may have belonged to a branch of ancient philosophy called neo-Pythagoreanism. He received divine honors in the third century. Although the Athenian sophist (professional orator) Philostratus wrote a lengthy Life of Apollonius, hardly anything about the sage is certain. However, there are several bits and pieces of information that may help us reconstruct something of the life of this man, who was and is frequently compared to the Jewish sage and miracle worker Jesus of Nazareth. This is the first part of an article in nine pieces.	Philostratus' Life of Apollonius Local traditions Apollonius' Letters Apollonius' books Maximus of Aegae Moeragenes Damis of Nineveh Evaluation of the sources Contemporaries 'Divine men' Magic in what sense? Literature
	Philostratus' Life of Apollonius The longest and most important source on the life of Apollonius is a vie romancée by the Athenian author Philostratus (c.170-c.245 CE). It describes the sage of Tyana as a superhuman, neo-Pythagorean philosopher who tried to reform cultic practices in modern Greece, Turkey and Syria. We learn that he had several disciples, traveled extensively, met important Roman officials (a.o. the emperors Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian), and discussed with several other philosophers. The author of the Life of Apollonius (LoA) takes a special stand against the accusation that the man from Tyana had been a magician and stresses that the miracles that Apollonius performed were the result of his superior knowledge, not of wizardry. (Click here for a long summary.)
The plain of Tyana	The LoA is not a biography in our sense. It is written by a professional orator who wanted to show that the divine Apollonius was above all a champion of the Greek culture and a wise philosopher. Unfortunately, Philostratus had little affinity with philosophy; when the sage of Tyana speaks his words of wisdom, they are very hackneyed (e.g., an emperor must act as emperor as far as his imperial duties require, but as a private citizen as far as his own person is concerned) or even silly (e.g., although the soul wants to ascend to heaven, mountaineering does not bring it closer to God). Philostratus' lack of interest in philosophy and his own preoccupation with rhetoric, make the LoA a very unreliable source. However, it is possible -but difficult- to study the sources of Philostratus' book and try to see a little bit more of the true Apollonius. Philostratus mentions several sources: local traditions from towns like Ephesus, Tyana, Aegae, and Antioch; Apollonius' own letters and books; a book about Apollonius' infancy by Maximus of Aegae; the memoirs of his disciple Damis of Nineveh. Finally, he refers to the Memorabilia of Apollonius of Tyana, magician and philosopher, written by one Moeragenes. According to Philostratus, this book is utterly unreliable because its author does not know enough about the man from Tyana. In this article, we will try to analyze the pre-Philostratean traditions and try to find out which parts of the LoA antedate Philostratus. When these older accounts are independent from each other and in agreement, we may assume that they contain some element of historical truth. The result will be a portrait of Apollonius rather different from the one offered by Philostratus.