Teos — Temple of Dionysus and Ancient City
Τέως · Teos · Teo · Gersiko Teos Harabesi
Archaic to Late Antiquity (1000 BCE – 600 CE)·Ionian Greek and Roman / Artists of Dionysus guild·🇹🇷 Izmir Province, Seferihisar, Sığacık, Turkey
About
About Teos — Temple of Dionysus and Ancient City
Ionian port on a peninsula 45 km southwest of Izmir, birthplace of the poet Anacreon and architect Hermogenes, famed for the largest temple of Dionysus in the Aegean world. Hermogenes' 6×11 Ionic peripteros (208 BCE) 58.8×44.3 m on a 5-step krepis was celebrated by Vitruvius as his canonical euthynteria model; frieze with Dionysiac thiasos (now in Louvre and Izmir) shows Maenads and Sileni. City also preserves a 6th-c. BCE archaic temple, Hellenistic city walls 6 km, theatre 3,000 seats, bouleuterion and the Artists of Dionysus headquarters that made Teos the guild capital of Hellenistic theatre. Port siltation and nearby Karagöl marsh preserved foundations.
Why it mattersVitruvian canon of Ionic proportion; only dedicated headquarters of the Hellenistic theatre artists' guild and largest Dionysus temple bridging Attalid to Roman Asia.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Original layout of Vitruvian euthynteria corrections at Teos crepis
- 02Whether Artists' guild theatre was built inside Dionysus temenos
Theories
- 01Attalid cultural policy using Dionysian guild to Hellenize Ionia
- 02Port sanctuary deliberately extramural for Bacchic processions
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- Archaic foundation 1000 BCE; Hermogenes temple c.208 BCE; theatre 2nd c. BCE
- Period
- Archaic to Late Antiquity (1000 BCE – 600 CE)
- Culture
- Ionian Greek and Roman / Artists of Dionysus guild
- Builders
- Teian Greeks under Attalid Pergamene patronage; architect Hermogenes of Priene
- Purpose
- Wine-god sanctuary and Pan-Ionian artists' guild headquarters and port city
- Abandoned
- 14th c. CE with harbour siltation
- Rediscovered
- 1764 R. Chandler; 1960s E. Akurgal excavations
- Excavation
- Excavation ongoing
1000 BCE
Ionian Teos founded on peninsula
208 BCE
Hermogenes builds Dionysus temple per Vitruvius
193 BCE
Artists of Dionysus synoikism makes Teos guild headquarters
1962
Akurgal uncovers temple krepis and thiasos frieze
On the ground
Structures & features
38.1750° N · 26.7860° E · 10 m · 3 mapped features
Temple of Dionysus Platform
templeHermogenes' 6×11 Ionic temple stylobate with Antae
38.1755° N · 26.7865° ETheatre and Artists' Quarter
theatreHellenistic theatre 3000 seats with guild inscriptions
38.1745° N · 26.7855° ECity Walls and Harbour Mole
fortification6-km Hellenistic wall and submerged southern harbour
38.1760° N · 26.7850° E
Gallery