One day Cleopatra (Eygption ruler) who is celebrated for her beauty and love affairs became ally with Mark Anthony (the commander of the Roman army) and soon they fell in love with each other. After Anthony met with Cleopatra at Tarsus, Cleoparta became pregnant and she gave birth to twins, Alexander Helios (sun) and Cleopatra Selene (moon). 

  Tarsus sits on a major trade route which increased its prosperity over its 2000 years of known historical contribution.At one point it was the accepted capital of Cilicia in the Roman Empire and held fame for being the meeting place of Mark Anthony and Cleopatra as well as being the birthplace of Paul the Apostle.

In Christian tradition, he is known as Paul of Tarsus, as this is where Luke says he was born (Acts 9:11). At the time, Tarsus was located in the province of Cilicia, the ancient city located about 20 miles inland Anatolia now modern Turkey. 

 The tombs of Daniel of the Bible, and the caliph Al-Ma'mun (786-833), are both in Tarsus. Saint Paul was a resident of Tarsus. He was born and lived in Tarsus as a Jew named Saul and after converting, made a number of missionary journeys during which he was arrested and beheaded by emperor Nero of Roman Empire in AD 64 or 67 on the 29th of June.After Saint Paul's death, Tarsus continued as an important city of the area. It became a part of the Byzantine Empire, the Abbasid Empire, the Seljuk Empire, the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, the Ramadanids and the Ottoman Empire.

 There are 300 old mansions in Tarsus that were licensed architectures and also  further 600 of them were non-licensed. 

The Grand Mosque was built in 1579, in the times when Tarsus was already a part of the Ottoman Empire.