Abstract:

In this article a general overview of the road network connecting ancient Teos (Sığacık/Seferhisar) with the neighbouring cities (Klazomenai and Lebedos) is given on the basis of two milestones which were recently discovered in the vicinity of Teos and Lebedos; and a catalogue of all the milestones published to date is given in an appendix. The first milestone in the village of Turgut dates from the reign of Constantius I. and gives the same distance of 5 miles as another milestone which was found nearby at the beginning of the 20th century. The other milestone from near Lebedos (Ürkmez) is note­worthy, as it was inscribed in at least three different periods (i.e. during the reign of Cons­tan­tinus I., Justinian, and under Valens and Valentinianus). The position of the inscrip­tions on this stone indicates that it was used twice during the reign of Constantinus I. (324–326 A.D. and 333–337 A.D.) and was later turned upside down for reuse. The scratches or ambiguous letter traces, not least the mile distance, clearly visible on the lower part of the stone, but unrelated to any inscription, indicates tha it was also inscribed at some earlier date. The attempt is made in this article to establish the ancient route leading from Teos to Klazomenai and to Lebedos on the basis of both the already published and these two new milestones and from observations made, although it should be noted that the traces of the ancient roads in this region are somewhat difficult to discover, due to modern road construction and agricultural activity. The only visible trace of the Teos road today is by the ancient quarry in Karagöl. It was unearthed beneath an orange garden by a local constructing a house, and this solitary in situ trace of the Teos road is also briefly presented in this article.

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