TEOS, TURKEY—The University of Pennsylvania’s Omnia magazine reports on recent archaeological work in Teos, which UPenn archaeologist Mantha Zarmakoupi conducted in collaboration with Ankara University’s Teos Archaeological Project. Teos was an ancient Greek colony founded on Anatolia’s west coast in the early first millennium b.c. It was one of the twelve cities to join the Ionian League in the seventh century b.c., and during the Hellenistic and Roman periods was a center for art, culture, and trade. The team is mostly focused on excavating the remains of the city’s bouleuterion, a government council house or assembly hall. “This is the best-preserved building in the city of Teos, and it seems to preserve for us the early history of Teos underneath it,” Zarmakoupi said. The building was likely built in the third century b.c. and could have housed a few hundred people with its auditorium-like seats. During the Roman era, a stage was added and the structure held theatrical performances. Recently two mosaics were uncovered, one that features a pair of fighting cupids. They also identified a stone block with a faded inscription indicating that the building may have been dedicated by a group of Dionysian artists. Dionysus was the Greek god of wine and the patron deity of Teos, who also had a major temple dedicated to him within the city. To read about how Late Antique artisans in Turkey's city of Halicarnassus sourced mosaic tesserae, go to "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle."
