Kahramanmaras

In the early Iron Age (late 11th century BC to ca. 711 BC), Maraş was the capital city of the Syro-Hittite state Gurgum (Hieroglyphic Luwian Kurkuma). It was known as "the Kurkumaean city" to its Luwian inhabitants and as Marqas to the Assyrians. In 711 BC, the land of Gurgum was annexed as an Assyrian province and renamed Marqas after its capital. Maraş was called Germanicia Caesarea (Ancient Greek: Γερμανίκεια, Germanikeia) by the Romans, which is a phonetic spelling Kermanicaeia/Germanicaeia and Kermanicia/Germanicia, in the time of the Roman and Byzantine empires. Various and often inaccurate, wrong and incorrect spellings, misattributions and confusions of names, words or toponyms, during Roman period, were very common. According to a 2010 Cumhuriyet article, the first ruins of the Kurkumaean settlement have already been unearthed in the Dulkadiroğulları quarters of the city. …

The city center is 568 meters above sea level. Ceyhan River, which originates from the mountains surrounding Elbistan Plain is the most important hydrological feature in the city. Kahramanmaraş has a Mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csa, Trewartha: Cs) with continental influences from the surrounding northern areas. Summers are very hot and dry with a daytime average of 35 °C (95 °F) but temperatures can reach 40 °C (104 °F) quite easily. The highest recorded temperature is 47.2 °C (117.0 °F) on 14 August 2023. Winters are cool and wet with daytime temperatures typically in the 5–10 °C (41–50 °F) range. The coldest temperature recorded is −9.6 °C (14.7 °F) on 6 February 1997.

Several internationally known ice cream companies, like MADO, Yaşar Pastanesi, EDO and Ferah Pastanesi, started their business in Kahramanmaraş, and thousands of people visit the city because of its ice cream (dondurma in Turkish).