KAISARIYEH or KAISARIAH (anciently Mazaca and Casarea), an important commercial city of Asia Minor, pashalic of Caramania, situate in a plain at the N. foot of the Erish Dagh (the ancient Argaeus), 150 miles E.N.E. of Konieh. It is the entrepôt for a large extent of country, and the resort of merchants from all parts of Asia Minor and Syria. Besides cotton, gums, fruit, wine, furs, skins, wool, goats' hair, and the other products of its own territory, it trades in numerous articles of British and colonial produce, hardware, silks, woollens, indigo, dye-woods, &c. The chief articles of industry are cotton-thread and cloth, and yellow Morocco leather. The vicinity is fertile, and
the climate salubrious, but Kaisariyeh itself is the filthiest town in all Turkey. The streets are narrow and irregular, and the houses, though solidly built of stone and brick, have a mean and dilapidated appearance. Mazaca was the capital of Cappadocia, and when that kingdom became a Roman province in the reign of Tiberius, the name of Mazaca was changed to Casarea. In the later times of the empire it became a city of great importance, and is said to have had a population of 400,000 persons. The present population is variously estimated at from 8000 to 25,000.