It was founded by Ariarathes IV of Cappadocia (r. 220–163 BCE). It was detached from Cappadocia and assigned to the province of Armenia Minor when that province was established.[2] The town had city rights.[3] The town belonged to the so-called Armenian Hexapolis and remained under Byzantine control in the seventh century.[4] In lack of archaeological findings, it seems that the city vanished during the eighth or ninth century when the Muslim onslaught rendered the area between Caeserea and Melitene a no man's land.[5]