Cicero was the greatest orator of ancient Rome — a brilliant lawyer, statesman, and writer whose speeches and ideas shaped Western thought for two thousand years. And though we remember him as the very voice of Rome, his story has a surprising connection to this corner of Turkey.
Marcus Tullius Cicero lived from 106 to 43 BC, through the dramatic final decades of the Roman Republic. He rose by sheer talent rather than noble birth, became consul, and defended the Republic with his unmatched gift for words — first against the conspirator Catiline, and later, fatally, against Mark Antony. His courage cost him his life: he was killed in 43 BC as the Republic he loved collapsed into civil war.
What many travellers do not realise is that Cicero spent time governing here in Asia Minor. In 51 BC he was sent out as the Roman governor of Cilicia, a province in the south of what is now Turkey, and by the standards of his greedy age he governed with remarkable honesty and fairness — refusing to plunder the people in his charge, as so many Roman governors did. He grumbled in his letters about being so far from the politics of Rome, but he did his duty well.
Cicero Lands at Ephesus in July 51 BC
Cicero came to Ephesus on July 22, 51 BC, on his way to his province. We know the exact day because he wrote it to his friend Atticus from Ephesus a few days later. He had sailed from Athens by Delos and Samos in slow open Rhodian boats, and he was glad to report that the crossing passed without fear and without seasickness.
What met Cicero in Ephesus surprised him. Delegations from the Greek cities of Asia, Roman tax men and crowds of private people came out to meet him, first at Samos and then, as he put it, in an amazing way at Ephesus. The tax farmers greeted him as if he were their own governor, and the Greeks as if he were the praetor of Ephesus. Ephesus was the seat of the governor of Asia, not of Cilicia, but a famous former consul on his way east was great event for the city.
Cicero stayed four days. He wrote that all his talk of clean government over so many years was now put to the test, and he promised Atticus to pass it. On July 26 he left for Tralles, today’s Aydın, on a hot and dusty road, and on July 31 he entered his own province at Laodicea, where he later held court. I tell this story to my guests in the ruins of Laodicea near Pamukkale too.
The letters show Ephesus as the front door of Roman Asia. A governor landed here, met the cities here and took the road inland from here. On his way home Cicero did the same in reverse. He was back in Ephesus on October 1, 50 BC, and a traveler called Batonius came straight from his ship to Cicero’s door with alarming news about Caesar and his army. A few days later Cicero sailed from Ephesus to Athens, and the next year the civil war began.
Cicero’s true monument, though, is his writing. His speeches, his letters, and his works on philosophy, justice, and the duties of citizens were treasured throughout antiquity, rediscovered with delight in the Renaissance, and studied by the founders of modern democracies. When people speak of the Roman ideals of law, liberty, and the republic, they are very often speaking, knowingly or not, in the words of Cicero.
Frequently Asked Questions
Did Cicero visit Ephesus?
Yes, twice. He landed at Ephesus on July 22, 51 BC on his way to govern Cilicia and stayed four days, and he passed through again on October 1, 50 BC on his way home, sailing from Ephesus to Athens. Both visits are in Cicero’s letters to Atticus.
When was Cicero governor of Cilicia?
From the summer of 51 BC to the summer of 50 BC, for one year, as proconsul. His province of Cilicia was larger than the Cilicia of today’s maps. It took in the south coast around Tarsus and also Laodicea and the Lycus valley near Pamukkale.
Why did Cicero go to Cilicia?
Because a law of 52 BC obliged former consuls to govern a province after a gap of five years, and few of them were left. Cicero went unwillingly, counted the days in his letters and asked his friends to make sure he was not kept there for a second year.
Although his world was the Republic of the first century BC, not the Christian centuries that followed, Cicero is part of the same Roman story that the ruins of Ephesus and the Aegean tell — the world of marble forums, law courts, and great public speeches whose stage you can still stand upon today. To explore that Roman world with a nationally licensed local guide, find me at toursaroundturkey.com’s contact page.
