Listed 4 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for destination: "TELMISSOS Ancient city 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 Karadag above the village of Belen, but a more probable identification is with another Lelegian site near Gurice some 3 km W of Musgebi; 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 Karadag. 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.
G. E. Bean, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
Telmessus or Telmissus (Telmessos, Telmissos, or Telmisos: Eth. Telmisseus).
A small town of Caria, at a distance of 60 stadia from Halicarnassus, is likewise
sometimes called Telmessus, and sometimes Telmissus. (Suid. s. v.; Etym. Mag.
s. v.; Arrian, Anab. i. 25. § 8; Cic. de Div. i. 4. 1; Plin. v. 29, xxx. 2.) The
Carian Tehnessus has often been confounded with the Lycian, and it is even somewhat
doubtful whether the famous Telmessian soothsayers belonged to the Carian or the
Lycian town. But the former must at all events have been an obscure place; and
that it cannot have been the same as the latter is clear from the statement of
Polemo in Suidas, that it was only 60 stadia from Halicarnassus.
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