TELMESSOS
Caria, Turkey.
One of the eight
Lelegian towns incorporated by Mausolos in Halikarnassos. It was noted especially for an oracle of Apollo and
a priestly family of diviners. These Telmessian soothsayers were consulted by the Lydian kings (
Hdt. 1.78.84）
and are frequently mentioned. The town was situated 60
stades from Halikarnassos (Suidas s.v.) in a particularly
fertile country (Cic.
Div. 1.42.94). It was formerly believed to be located at the Lelegian town site on the
Karadağ above the village of Belen, but a more probable
identification is with another Lelegian site near Gürice
some 3 km W of Müsgebi; both sites are at the required
distance from Halikarnassos, but the latter accords much
better with Cicero's description than the wild and bare
hillsides of the Karadağ. Apollo Telmisseus is figured on
an imperial coin of Halikarnassos and is mentioned in a local inscription (Michel 459) as “founder of the race”—that is, of the family of diviners. After the incorporation into Halikarnassos, Telmessos seems to have survived merely as a small community centering around the Temple of Apollo.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
W. M. Paton & J. Myres in
JHS 14 (1894) 373; G. E. Bean & J. M. Cook in
BSA 50 (1955) 151-55.
G. E. BEAN
