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Meaning & History
Medieval name of a Byzantine fortress in Turkey (near the modern village of Hasangazi), known as لولوة (Lu'lu'a) in Arabic. The Scottish scholar W. M. Ramsay and other writers assumed that the name derived from Halala, the earlier name of the nearby town of Faustinopolis, but recent scholarship attributes its origin to Lolas, the Hittite name for the local mountain range.The site was of strategic importance as it controlled the northern exit of the Cilician Gates. In the 8th and 9th centuries it was located on the border between the Byzantine Empire and the Arab Caliphate and played a prominent role in the Arab–Byzantine wars of the period, changing hands several times.