1. Geographical position

Ariaramneia, a town of Cappadocia, was situated approximately in the area of the modern-Greek village of Pharasa (today’s Çamlica), which is located in the left bank of the river Zamanti-Su (ancient Karmala, Byzantine Onopnichtes), south of Caesarea.

2. History

Ariaramneia does not appear in ancient sources. It is known to us only through a bilingual (Greek and Aramaic) inscription, engraved on a rock within a short distance north of Pharasa. The inscription mentions a certain Sangarios, who is identified as general of Ariaramneia. Ariaramneia does not appear to have been one of the ten generalships of the Cappadocian kingdom, so as to be mentioned as a general’s seat. This fact led Magie to assume that Ariaramneia was one of the fortresses of Cataonia, as Strabo reports, just like Dastarcum and Azamora.¹ This is clearly an assumption, since the aforementioned ancient writer is explicitly confined to only these two names.

Ariaramneia’s name seems to be connected with Ariaramnes, the Cappadocian king (around 280-230 BC), who is supposedly the town’s founder. The aforementioned inscription, from which the town is known to us, is dated probably to the 3rd century BC.²

In Byzantine times the town was renamed to Rhodandos, as a second inscription testifies, also engraved on a rock, on the south of Pharasa. It assigns the strengthening of its castle to the Spatharius Symeon. Rhodandos (other writings: Rhodandós, Ródantos or Rodantós, or Rodentós) is also cited by certain Byzantine writers.³ The Byzantine name could well resound the most ancient name of this large village, which was renamed by the Hellenistic king who turned it into a town, Ariaramnes in this case, as it has been ascertained in other cases of Cappadocian towns.⁴ The word ‘Rhodandos’ appears to be a hybrid, from the Greek ‘rodon’ (rose) and the Luvian ending ‘-ant’. Besides, the endings ‘-andos' and '-antos’ are common in Asia Minor, particularly in the area of Cappadocia.

3. Byzantine Rhodandos – modern Pharasa

Rhodandos was situated on the Byzantine road from Caesaria to Adana, which is probably identified with the so-called ‘road of Maurianos’. It seems like it was initially a border pass in the east of Little Cappadocia (the later theme of Cappadocia), which protected the border of Taurus from potential Arab invasions which would arrive from Adana and Tarsus through the valley of Zamanti-Su. Later on, perhaps Rhodandos itself might have become an autonomous administrative unit (theme?).⁵ In 1021/1022 it is mentioned that Cappadocia and Rhodandos (as a theme?) allied with Nikephoros Phokas and Nikephoros Xiphias in their revolt against Basil II.⁶

In modern times, under the name Pharasa is known not only the large village Varassos, but also the five Greek villages (Afsari, Garsantes, Kiska, Sates, Tzouchouri) that surrounded it. Varassos gradually extended to embrace the regional villages, and an influx of refugees from Cilicia and Cappadocia during the 7th and 8th centuries – after the Arabs seized Syria and Cilicia – was added to its expected population rise. Another addition to its population took place during the 11th, 13th and 15th centuries, when the Seltzuks, the Mongols and the Turks conquered Cappadocia. According to a speculation, the name Varassos/Pharasa derives from Parsa or Partsa or Persis (Little Persia), or even from Fars/Farsistan (=Persia), whence it has been mentioned that the first inhabitants of Varassos descended and the saints of Pharasa Jonah and Barachesios came from.⁷

One of the main activities of the inhabitants of Varassos was iron mining from the nearby deposits of Taurus and its processing. Local oral tradition dates Varassos’ iron metallurgy to “ancient times” (“…and the nails on Jesus’ cross were made out of iron from Varassos”). Its “antiquity” cannot be made certain nor for the Byzantine period, but if this was the case, its economic significance would be strengthened by the passage of the great Byzantine road through Rhodandos.

Above Pharasa, a few ruins of a Byzantine castle with a double circular wall are still preserved. The wall is almost entirely wrecked. Some traces of its foundation, however, remain; the foundation seems to have been Byzantine. A kind of a rampart, a gross structure made of unprocessed stones with a binding mortar among them still survives. From the riverside a round tower is traceable, with a low gate and a marble lintel. The place is regarded as holy. The Pharasians narrate how in this spot the patron saints of the village, Barachesios and Jonah, were imprisoned and tortured, and their bodies were later thrown in the river Zamanti-Su. A small church on the base of the rock was devoted to those saints. Later narrations and traditions of the locals testify the existence of a large number of monasteries, churches, chapels and agiasmata of unspecified date in the neighbouring and wider area of Pharasa.