TMOLUS
TMOLUS (
Τμῶλος), a mountain range on the south of Sardes, forming the watershed between the basins of the Hermus in the north and the Cayster in the south, and being connected in the east with Mount Messogis.
It was said to have received its name from a Lydian king Timolus, whence Ovid (
Ov. Met. 6.16) gives this name to the mountain itself. Mount Tmolus was celebrated for the excellent wine growing on its slopes (
Verg. G. 2.97; Senec.
Phoen. 602;
Eur. Ba. 55,
64;
Strab. xiv. p.637;
Plin. Nat. 5.30).
It was equally rich in metals; and the river Pactolus, which had its source in Mount Tmolus, at one time carried from its interior a rich supply of gold. (Strab. xiii. pp. 591, 610, 625;
Plin. Nat. 33.43; comp. Hom.
Il. 2.373;
Aesch. Pers. 50;
Hdt. 1.84,
93,
5.101;
Ptol. 5.2.13; Dion. Per. 831.) On the highest summit of Mount Tmolus, the Persians erected a marble watch-tower commanding a view of the whole of the surrounding country (
Strab. xiii. p.625). The Turks now call the mountain
Bouz Dagh. (Richter,
Wallfahrten, pp. 512, 519.)
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