Gulf of Alexandretta

The gulf is named for the nearby Turkish city of İskenderun, the classical Alexandretta.

It was also formerly known as the Sea or Gulf of Issus (Latin: Mare Issicum or Issicus Sinus)[1] (Ancient Greek: Ἰσσικὸς κόλπος).

[2][3] Herodotus and Stephanus of Byzantium[4] also records it as the Marandynian Bay (Ancient Greek: Μυριανδικὸς κόλπος), after the nearby town of Myriandus.

[7] The Gulf of Alexandretta forms the easternmost bay or inlet of the Mediterranean Sea.

In antiquity, the adjacent Nur Mountains were usually thought to separate the regions of Cilicia and Syria, although Herodotus at one point places the division further south at Ras al-Bassit (the classical Posidium).