Alanya

• Location: Turkey
• Variant names: Coracesium, Kalonoros, al-Alāiyyah

On a virtually impregnable site, the Greek Kalonoros means 'Beautiful Mountain' from kalon 'good' and oros 'mountain'. The Seljuk Sultan of Rûm, Alâeddin (or Ala al-Din) Keykûbad I, built a formidable new citadel in 1221 and renamed the city after himself to mean 'The Noble'. Kemal Atatürk^† changed the name to the more mellifluous Alanya in the 1920s.

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