Toprakkale Pass / Toprakkale

About 27km/17mi east of Ceyhan the road to Iskenderun branches off to the right over the Toprakkale Pass. Describing Darius' march along this route through the foothills of Mount Amanos and the Misis Hills, the second century historian Arrian refers to the 2km/1.25mi-long defile between sheer rock walls 40-50m/130-165ft high as the Amanian Gates (Amaniae Pylae). Just off the Osmaniye road to the north, on a steep-sided basaltic cone some 76m/250ft high, are the conspicuous remains of a medieval settlement, possibly built on the site of ancient Augusta.