Olbasa
OLBASA(Ὄλβασα).
1.A town in Cilicia Aspera. at the foot of Mount Taurus, on a tributary of the Calycadnus. (Ptol. 5.8.6.) Col. Leake (Asia Minor, p. 320) identifies the town of Olbasa with the Olbe mentioned by Strabo (14. p. 672); while in another passage (p. 117) he conjectures that Olbasa may at a later period have changed its name into Claudiupolis, with which accordingly he is inclined to identify it. The former supposition is possible, but not the latter, for Strabo places Olbe in the interior of Cilicia, between the rivers Lamus and Cydnus, that is, in the mountainous districts of the Taurus. According to tradition, Olbe had been built by Ajax, the son of Teucer; it contained a temple of Zeus, whose priest once ruled over all Cilicia Aspera. (Strab. l. c.) In later times it was regarded as belonging to Isauria, and was the seat of a bishop. (Hierocl. p. 709; Basil. Vit. Theclae, 2.8.) We still possess coins of two of those priestly princes, Polemon and Ajax. (Eckhel, Doctr. Num. vol. 3. p. 26, &c.) It should be observed that Stephanus Byz. (s. v. Ὀλβία) calls Olbasa or Olbe Olbia.
2.A town in the Lycaonian district Antiochiana, in the south-west of Cybistra. (Ptol. 5.6.17; Hierocl. p. 709.)
3.A town in the northern part of Pisidia, between Pednelissus and Selge. (Ptol. 5.5.8; Hierocl. p. 680.) [L.S]
Site in Pisidia. 54 km S-SW of Burdur. The form of the name implies an early date for the foundation, but the city does not appear in history before the settlement of a military colony by Augustus ca. 6 B.C. (Colonia Julia Augusta Olbasenorum). The coins are colonial of the 2d and 3d c.
The site is on a hill precipitous on the N, dominating the valley of the Lysis, with a stream on either flank. The summit of the hill carries a circuit wall which has been thought to be Hellenistic, and on the S slope are numerous foundations and statue bases, though nothing is standing. Many ancient stones may be seen in Belenli village.
BIBLIOGRAPHYL'Abbé Duchesne & M. Collignon, BCH 1 (1877) 370; B. Levick, Roman Colonies in Southern Asia Minor (1967) 48-50.
G. E. BEAN