The story of the famous kiss bestowed by Margaret of Scotland on la precieuse bouche de laquelle sont issus et sortis taut de bons mots et vertueuses paroles is mythical, for Margaret did not come to France till 1436, after the poet's death; but the story, first told by Guillaume Bouchet in his Annales d'Aquitaine (1524), is interesting, if only as a proof of the high degree of estimation in which the ugliest man of his day was held.
Its eastern half is studded with isolated rocky crags, which are crowned with the ruins of ancient strongholds, and broken by the low hills that border the plain of Issus.
North of the road between the two last places were Sision-Flaviopolis (Sis), Anazarbus (Anazarba) and Hierapolis-Kastabala (Budrum); and on the coast were Soli-Pompeiopolis, Mallus (Kara-tash), Aegae (Ayash), Issus, Baiae (Piyas) and Alexandria ad Issum (Alexandretta).
After crossing the low hills east of the Pyramus it passed through a masonry (Cilician) gate, Demir Kapu, and entered the plain of Issus.
By the last pass, which was apparently unknown to Alexander, Darius crossed the mountains prior to the battle of Issus.