Numismata hellenica: a catalogue of Greek coins; with notes, a map ...

Metal Size I
Weiglit
M 6-5 151-85
M
M
AL
6i
H
6i
ASIA. 101
Telmessus belonged the prophetic priests of Apollo, of whose fame history has left evidence from the
time of Croesus to that of Clemens of Alexandria (Herodotus, i. 78; Cicero, De Divin. i. 40; Clem.
Alexand. i. pp. 40. 361. 400, Potter; Numismata Hellenica, Asia, p. 64). According to Polemo (ap.
Suid. Phot. Etym. Mag. in TeX/iifffffif) the Carian Telmessus was sixty stades distant from Halicainassus,
to which city it was annexed, together with five other towns, by Alexander the Great
(Plin. 5, 29), in whose time Aristandrus of Telemessus was the most celebrated of the oracular priests
of Apollo. After his death his tomb became an altar in the temple of the gnd. By some of these
data, or those in Numismata Hellenica, Asia, p. 64, which I forwarded to Mr. C. T. Newton at
Halicarnassus, where he is engaged in exploring the Mausoleum, that gentleman has ascertained that
Telemessus stood near a place named Ghiul, eight miles in direct distance to the NN.W. of Hali-
carnassus. Ghiul is a Turkish word, nearly synonymous with the Greek word riXfta,
from which
Telmessus was named. Probably a marsh has always existed in that place. Such a situation is not
inconsistent with the fertility which Cicero (De Divin. i. 42) attributes to the Carian Telmessus; on
the contrary, the vicinity of marshes, and places subject to temporary inundations, are among the
most fertile lands in Greece and Asia Minor; and hence we find Isseus (ap. Phot. Suid. Etym. M.)
describing rtX^ara as ytupyrjaina x'^P'"- The discovery of Telemessus at Ghiul completes the
ancient topography of the Halicarnassian peninsula. The northern side was occupied by the district
of Telemessus, the western by that of Myndus, and the southern by that of Termera. The Lycian
Telmessus, situated at the bottom of the Glaucus Sinus or Gulf of Makri at a distance of not less than
100 miles from the Carian Telmessus, has generally been mistaken for the prophetic city. It was,
indeed, much the more considerable place of the two, as its still existing theatre and its elegant ctcavated
sepulchral monuments sufficiently testify. It was doubtless one of the twenty-three cities of
the Lycian confederacy (Strabo, p. 664), and some of its coins are probably extant, though, as we do
not know the Lycian name of the city, the coins cannot be identified with certainty.
TELMESSUS LyciEe?
Scalp of lion's head adv. around, [M]EOCPPP[PTF] (in Greek letters,
MEXPAPATA) ; within one of the hooks, grain of barley ; all in quad. inc.
Note.—Two other coins of the same place have dolphins in one of the hooks (Fellows, Coins of
Ancient Lycia, PI. III.), from which Sir Charles Fellows infers that Mekhrapata was a maritime
city, and that as there was no other in Lycia so important as Telmessus, he concludes from these
facts, and the modern name Makri resembling the first half of the Lycian name, that Mekhrapata is
the Lycian name of Telmessus, the identity of which latter with Makri is proved by inscriptions
found on the spot.
TEMENOTHYE^ Lydia.
Note.—V. Numismata Hellenica, Asia, p. 131.
IGPA BOYAH. Female head with veil to r.
APX. A. THMeNO©YPeYCI.
Gallienus.
B. Diana ? to r. ; around, AONFAC
A. K. no. AIKIN. rAAAIIINOC. Radiated head of Gallienus to r. B. Emperor
on horse ton; on right shoulder, vexillum; around, [KA]GOBOYAOC THMG-
NO0YP6YCIN.
Saloninus.
AY. K. CAASiNTNOC OYAAePIANOC Head of Saloninus to r. B. TITIANOC
APXiePGYC THM6N0©YPeYCIN. Emperor? in long drapery adv. ; head to I ;
right hand extended in the same direction ;
in left hand, hasta held obliquely.
D d