Termessus
Termessos
Interesting facts
- In 2026 researchers used digital modelling to read nearly erased inscriptions at the collapsed city gate, one proclaiming the lasting rights of the independent Termessians.
- Blocks by the same gate carried an oracle worked by throwing seven knucklebones, each combination matched to verse advice such as whether to travel or trade.
- More than 1,000 inscriptions have been recorded at Termessos, making it a rich archive of civic and private life in Pisidia.
- The city sits at about 1,000 metres on a mountain whose summit reaches roughly 1,665 metres, high above the Antalya plain.
- Termessos has a 1st-century AD gymnasium decorated in the Doric order, and a colonnaded street built in the 2nd century with contributions from citizens.
- One of the agora's stoas was paid for by a wealthy local citizen named Osbaras, alongside the one given by King Attalos II.
- Most of the sarcophagi in the city's cemeteries date from the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, when Termessos was at its most prosperous.
- During the imperial period the city lay in the Roman province of Lycia et Pamphylia, but it kept its treasured status as a free city.
- Final abandonment came in the 5th century, and systematic excavation of the lower city began only in 2025.
Why it is worth it
High on the flank of Güllük Dağı, the ancient Mount Solymos, the ruins of Termessos lie scattered among the trees at about a thousand metres above sea level, with the Pamphylian plain far below. Few ancient cities in Turkey survive in such good condition. Its theatre, perched on the edge of the slope, commands a view over the plain, and large cemeteries of rock-cut tombs and stone sarcophagi spread around the city.
Termessos was a city of the Pisidians, whose people called themselves Solymi, the name Homer gives to the mountain folk fought by Bellerophon. Its chief god was Zeus Solymeus, shown on the city's coins. The site guarded a pass between the plains of Pamphylia and the Anatolian interior, and the mountain made it almost impregnable: in 333 BC Alexander the Great surrounded the city, compared it to an eagle's nest and moved on without taking it, one of the few places that resisted him. In 319 BC the Macedonian general Alcetas took refuge here from his rival Antigonos; when the city elders agreed to hand him over, he killed himself, and the young men of Termessos later gave him an honourable burial. A rock-cut tomb with the relief of a mounted warrior is thought to be his. Rome recognised the city's independence in 71 BC, and around 200 AD it was a thriving provincial city. At some unknown date an earthquake broke its aqueduct, cutting off the water supply, and the city was abandoned.
The monumental centre stands on a natural terrace inside the walls. The agora, raised on stone blocks beside five large rock-cut cisterns, was framed on three sides by stoas, one of them a gift from Attalos II, king of Pergamon. The Hellenistic theatre, remodelled in Roman times, seated perhaps 4,000 to 5,000 people. Nearby, the 1st-century BC odeon stands almost to roof height in fine ashlar masonry, and six temples have been identified, among them two dedicated to Artemis. A street lined with porticoes still carries the inscribed bases of statues of well-known athletes, mostly wrestlers. The city lies within the Mount Güllük-Termessos National Park.
Getting there
Termessos lies in the Taurus Mountains north-west of Antalya, about 22 km from the city centre; a steep road climbs to the ruins from the main road below. Antalya Airport (AYT) is about 31 km away.
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
Termessos, also known as Termessos Major, was a Pisidian city built at an altitude of about 1000 metres at the south-west side of Solymos Mountain in the Taurus Mountains. It lies 17 kilometres to the north-west of Antalya. It lies on a natural platform on the slopes of Güllük Dağı, which itself rises to 1,665 metres.
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