Mallus

Mallus, also spelled Mallos in some sources, is the name of an ancient city in Asia Minor mentioned in Greco-Roman geography. It lay in the region known in antiquity as Cilicia Trachea along the southern coast of what is now Türkiye, near the corridor between interior Anatolia and the Mediterranean. The precise site is uncertain; several nearby settlements have been proposed as candidates for Mallus, but no definitive identification has been established.

In classical times, Mallus functioned as a local center of trade and administration within the broader Cilician littoral. It is referenced by geographers such as Ptolemy and Strabo, who note its existence and its connections to surrounding towns. The city is also associated with coinage in some periods, indicating economic activity and autonomy within Hellenistic and later Roman governance.

From Late Antiquity onward, the city declined, and by the medieval era there is little evidence of continuous occupation. Its material remains are sparse, reflecting a pattern shared by many small inland-to-coastal settlements of the region.

Present scholarly interest in Mallus centers on ancient geography and numismatics, aiming to clarify its location, urban layout, and historical role within Cilicia. Ongoing archaeological surveys and debates about site identifications illustrate the complexities of reconstructing lesser-known cities from fragmentary ancient sources.