Teos

Teos, the city of Dionysus, the god of fruitfulness, tolerance, wine, and ecstasy, vineyard and wine, as well as fertility and abundance, was founded on the coast of Western Anatolia, in the region called Ionia in Antiquity. The city, which flourished during the Golden Age of Ionia (6th century BC) and the Hellenistic period (3rd-2nd century BC), has distinguished itself on the stage of history many times in terms of production and trade with its natural resources, famous personalities in the history of science, culture and art.

The fact that the famous Nestor’s cup with one of the earliest inscriptions was made in Teos shows the importance of the town as a centre of pottery production since archaic period. The grey marble of Teos (bigio antico, bigio morato) and the unique Lucullus marble (africano), which has been extracted from the marble quarries in the area since archaic times, played an important role in the town’s fame. As an expression of the cultural and artistic activities that increased with wealth and prosperity, the city raised the famous lyric poet of antiquity, Anacreon (570 BC), and pioneered the founding of the Dionysian Artists’ Association (last quarter of the 3rd century BC). Further evidence of this wealth is the construction (last quarter of the 3rd century BC) of the largest known temple to Dionysus in Anatolia, designed by the famous Hellenistic architect Hermogenes and dedicated to the city’s patron god.

The first traces of life in the ancient city coincides with the period of Ionian Colonisation, when Aeolic, Ionian and Dorian tribes from mainland Greece settled along the coastal regions of Western Anatolia in the 11th/10th centuries BC. Athamas is named in various sources as the mythical founder of the city, and the poet Anacreon called the city Athamantis for this reason. The city was founded on the southern coast of the Urla-Çeşme Peninsula (ancient Mimas), a small peninsula in the Aegean Sea. The construction activities in the city began in the 7th century BC, lasted until the 12th century AD. In addition to their own city, the Teans also founded the colony cities of Abdera in the Thracia in 543 BC and Phanagoria on the Taman peninsula around 544 BC.