Termessos
Coordinates: 36 ° 59 ′ N , 30 ° 28 ′ E
Termessos ( Greek Τερμησσός ) was an ancient city in Asia Minor in the south of today's Turkey . It was located in the southwest of the Pisidia landscape about 30 km northwest of today's city of Antalya at an altitude of about 1000 m below the Solymos mountain (now Güllük Dağı ).
history
Termessos is mentioned for the first time by Homer : “But with the Solymers [that is, according to Strabo , 'Termessier'] he [= Bellerophon ] then fought the famous. This was the hardest fight with men in which he got involved. ”(Iliad VI, 183 f.) Around 500 BC. The Persian Empire had to grant the city autonomy rights because of Termessus' ability to defend itself. Alexander the Great besieged Termessus in 334/333 BC BC vain. "I will not let my army before an eagle's nest decimate." During the Diadochenkriege arrived there Alketas , brother of Perdiccas to. During the Hellenistic period, the city was at times under the influence of the Ptolemies and the Attalids of Pergamon , but thanks to the skillful combination of military strategy and diplomacy, it was able to keep identity and freedom back into Roman times. Termessos belonged to the province of Lycia et Pamphylia , in late antiquity to the province of Pamphylia. Zenodotos , Bishop of Termessus, attended the Council of Chalcedon in 451. The titular Termessus of the Roman Catholic Church goes back to the diocese .
Coinage
Termessos coined from 71 BC. Also own bronze coins. The obverse of the coins shows a laureate head of Zeus, Artemis or Heracles or a selenium bust with a crescent moon behind the shoulder. The backs show a horse, sometimes only as protome , a Zebustier or Nike with wreath and palm. The Greek letters TEP below horse or bull are the abbreviation of the city name.
ruins
Today you can see the remains of the defense rings, city walls, temples and other buildings. In particular, the well-preserved ancient theater and the Odeion are worth a walk to the mountain fortress (1050 m above sea level). The necropolis, which is very extensive compared to similarly large ancient cities, is remarkable .
photos
Theater and Mount Solymos
Rock tombs
View of Upper Town
Sarcophagus from the southern burial ground
Bouleuterion or Odeon
literature
- George Ewart Bean : Termessos, Turkey . In: Richard Stillwell et al. a. (Ed.): The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ 1976, ISBN 0-691-03542-3 .
- Hartwin Brandt : Termessos [1]. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 12/1, Metzler, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-476-01482-7 , Sp. 158.
- Rudolf Heberdey : Termessic Studies. Vienna 1929.
- Rudolf Heberdey: Tituli Pisidiae linguis Graeca et Latina conscripti. Fasc. 1. Tituli Termessi et agri Termessensis. Vienna 1941 ( Tituli Asiae Minoris, 3, 1).
- Bülent İplikçioğlu , Güler Çelgin, A. Vedat Çelgin: Epigraphic research in Termessos and its territory. 3 parts. Vienna 1991–1994.
- Anastasia Pekridou: The Alketas tomb in Termessos . (= Istanbul communications. Supplement 32). Tuebingen 1986.
Mentions of Termessus in ancient sources
- Homer: Iliad VI, 183 f.
- Strabo: Geographika XIV, 2,1 / XIV. 3,9 / XIII. 4.16.
- Arrian: Anabasis I.27.6-I, 28.2.
- Polybios: Historiai XXI.35,1-4.
- Titus Livius, Ab urbe condita, XXXVIII.15,4-6.
