This site which was known as Caesarea or Anazarbus during the times of the Roman Empire, is 28 km to the south of the Kozan District of the Adana province. The small village built just outside the antique city walls is Dilekkaya.

We have practically no knowledge of the history of the city before the Roman Empire era. It was named Caesarea by Emperor Augustus who visited the city in 19 B.C. and it started to be known as "Caesarea near Anazarbus". Anavarza did not show any significant presence during the first two centuries of the Roman Empire period and was shadowed by Tarsus, the capital of the Cilicia state. Tarsus managed to survive to the present times but lost the majority of its historical monuments. The city Isos, which the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus entered with Pescennius Niger and sided with Severus during the power struggle, was rewarded when the Emperor won his battle in 192 A.D. and became the sole ruler of the empire, started to enjoy its days of glory. In the period 204-205 AD Cilicia became the metropolis of the Isaura and Licaonia states. In 206 AD Anavarza, like other Cilician cities, was captured by the Sasani King Shapur. Anavarza which was destroyed by Balbinos of Isaura in the 4th century A.D became capital of Cilicia Secunda (Cilicia of the Plain) which was established during the reign of Theodosius II. The city was badly hit with an earthquake in 525, but was later restored by the Emperor Justinianus, and renamed Justiniopolis. In 561 it experienced a second earthquake disaster and in the 6th century was hit with a major plague epidemic.

During the chaotic centuries which followed the rise of the Islam, Anazarbus remained as a buffer zone between the Arabs and the Byzantines and frequently changed hands between the two sides. In 796, Harun el Reşid re-built the city and Caliph Mutacvakil (846-861) rebuilt the Sis castle and carried out active work at Anazarbus. His name is mentioned in an inscription piece in Kufi language found at the ruins of tower located outside the west gate. In the 10th century, when Aynı Zarba was once more on the brink of ruin, Hamdanid al-Dawla turned it into a fortified settlement by spending the tremendous sum of three million dirham. The city then became the focus of interest of the Byzantines again and during the 964 campaign which ended in victory, Nicephorus Phocas took over Anazarbus along with several important fortifications including Tarsus and Mopsuhestia. In the 11th century, the Armenians whose capital was conquered by Alpaslan were driven towards the southwest under the pressure of theSeljuk Turks and established a kingdom in the Taurus region. Later on, they slowly progressed towards the Cilician plain, and there chose Anazarbus as their capital until the year 1100. Except for a gap of 7 years, when the Byzantines again gained control under the rule of John Commeneus between 1137-1144, the city remained as a capital for almost for a whole century. In 1184 Tarsus, and then Sis, became the capital. Despite the fact that Anazarbus remained as an important fortification, the city which was built lower down, on the flat plan eventually started to be destroyed. It was finally totally ruined when the Memlüks destroyed the Little Armenian Kingdom in 1375, and this antique settlement has never been used again since.

Adana has a great tourism potential with thousands of years of historical backround, immense works of art that have come from the past up to now, the natural beauty of Yumurtalik Karatas coast, the green plateaus of the Toros Mountains, healing water, the variety of the plant and animal species.

The Toros Mountains that cover the north and west part of our province have a convenient natural environment for mountain sports, trekking and hunting tourism. With countless plateaus it is too convenient for the plateau tourism development. The lagoons and the places overgrown with rushes which the Seyhan and Ceyhan create provide countless opportunities for the echo tourism.

As the summers are very hot it has soon become obligatory for the people of the region to spend the summers in the plateaus. In the plateaus there are alternative tourisms like camping, health tourism, river and canoe tourism, cave tourism and hunting tourism.