Teos
Teos is an ancient city located in Ionia, on the western coast of Asia Minor, positioned strategically on a peninsula with harbors to the north and south. Legend attributes its founding to the god Dionysus or the Minyans, a prehistoric tribe from Boeotia, who were later joined by Ionians and Athenians. Teos became part of the Ionian League and began minting its own coins around the sixth century BC. Throughout its history, the city experienced various political shifts, including Persian occupation and membership in the Delian League under Athenian leadership.
Teos was notable for its cultural contributions, particularly as the home of the lyric poet Anacreon and as a center for the Artists of Dionysus. Major historical events included participation in the Ionian Revolt and later conflicts involving Roman and Seleucid powers. Despite experiencing decline, Teos was recognized for its worship of Dionysus, with significant architectural remains including the temple of Dionysus, a theater, and other public structures, reflecting its historical importance and cultural legacy. Today, visitors can explore these remnants, which offer insight into the city's rich heritage.
Subject Terms
Teos
(Siǧacık)
A city in Ionia (western Asia Minor), on the coast north of Ephesus and southwest of Smyrna (İzmir), situated on the isthmus of a peninsula, with harbors lying both to the north and to the south (the latter is now silted up).
According to tradition, Teos was founded by the god Dionysus (known as Setaneus), or alternatively by the prehistoric tribe of the Minyans, coming from Orchomenus in Boeotia (central Greece), who were subsequently joined by Ionians and Athenians, led by the sons of the Athenian King Codrus (attributed to the eleventh century BC). Teos became one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League, and began to issue its own coins in the sixth century, with the type of a seated griffin. After the Persian occupation of Ionia, its citizens, including the lyric poet Anacreon, emigrated to Thrace and founded Abdera (c 545); but many came back soon afterward. During the Ionian Revolt against the Persians, seventeen Teian ships took part in the disastrous battle of Lade (495). After the Persian Wars the city became a member of the Delian League under Athenian leadership, but revolted during the Peloponnesian War after the defeat of the Athenian expedition to Syracuse (413). Under the King's Peace (Peace of Antalcidas) in 387, Teos returned to Persian rule.
In 303 Antigonus I Monophthalmos proposed to strengthen the city, which had become poor, by incorporating the whole population of another Ionian town, Lebedus (Kimituria, Kısık), but the plan was not carried out, and in the following year Lysimachus captured both centers and transferred many of their inhabitants to his new foundation at Ephesus (Arsinoeia). Teos later belonged to Attalus I of Pergamum (241–197), becoming a major cultural center and headquarters of the Asian corporation of the Artists of Dionysus, but, after dissensions this organization was moved to Ephesus half a century later. In 204 Teos passed into the hands of the Seleucid monarch Antiochus III the Great (who remitted Attalus' taxes and received civic honors). Subsequently, however, it was the scene of a battle in which Antiochus was defeated by the Romans and Rhodians (189). The subsequent Treaty of Apamea returned the city to Pergamene control, and it later became part of the Roman province of Asia (133). A recently published inscription describes the synoecism (amalgamation) of Teos with the hitherto unknown community of Cyrbissus.
Teian coinage of imperial date depicts an early temple of Augustus (31 BC–AD 14), who was given the title of `Founder’—perhaps after an earthquake. But the issues concentrate mainly on representations relating to the cult of Dionysus Setaneus, to whom, from at least c 200 BC, the city and its territory were regarded as sacred; his temple of local blue limestone was designed by Hermogenes at that time and restored by Hadrian (AD 117–38). The remnants of a theater, Odeum, gymnasium and quays are also to be seen, beneath the walled acropolis.