Termera
TERMERA (τὰ Τέρμερα or Τερμερον: Eth. Τερμερεύς), a maritime town of Caria, on the south coast of the peninsula of Halicarnassus, near Cape Termerium. (Hdt. 5.37; Strab. 14. p. 657; Plin. Nat. 5.29; Steph. B. s. v., who erroneously assigns the town to Lycia.) Under the Romans this Dorian town was a free city. According to Suidas (s. v.) the place gave rise to the proverbial expression Τερμέρια κακά, it being used as a prison by the rulers of Caria; but his remark that it was situated between Melos and Halicarnassus is unintelligible. Cramer supposes its site to be marked by the modern Carbaglar or Gumishlu.
[L.S]Town in Caria, an early Lelegian foundation, in the hills above Aspat, 15 km SW of Bodrum. The name first appears on a silver drachma of the late 6th or early 5th c., inscribed on the obverse with the name of Tymnes and on the reverse Termerikon. Tymnes is probably identical with the Termeran tyrant mentioned by Herodotos (5.37; 7.98). In the Delian Confederacy Termera paid two and a half talents down to 447 B.C.; thereafter the tribute dropped to half a talent, but the same sum was paid by “the Carians whom Tymnes rules.” This is presumably the grandson of the earlier Tymnes, expelled from Termera but controlling territory elsewhere on the peninsula.
In Pliny's list of six Lelegian towns incorporated in Halikarnassos by Alexander (really by Mausolos) Termera is not included (HN 5.107); this however is generally agreed to be an error, as is certainly Pliny's later notice of Termera libera. Sherds on the site make it clear that the main occupation ceased during the 4th c., though the place continued in existence, probably as a guard-house. Suidas observes that it was used by the tyrants (presumably the Hekatomnids) as a prison. Both Suidas and Strabo (657) speak of it in the present tense.
Asarlik is a characteristic Lelegian site, with an inner citadel and an outer wall circuit. The citadel wall, of smallish squared blocks, is only partially preserved, with a gate on the NW; inside are some traces of buildings and a large double cistern. The outer circuit is preserved chiefly on the E side, where a wall of polygonal masonry, in places approximating ashlar, runs S from a rocky knoll for ca. 100 m; it is continued farther S by a 60 m stretch of massive wall, with a gate 2 m wide which tapers to form a corbeled arch now partly destroyed. From the style of the masonry and the sherds this wall appears to date from the 5th c.
There are at least three tombs of varying styles on the site itself, and many others to the E, W and especially S. They include chamber tombs, corbeled tombs, and tomb enclosures; particularly notable is an extensive cemetery at the head of the valley to the S, where the pottery goes back to the Bronze Age.
BIBLIOGRAPHYC. T. Newton, Halicarnassus, Cnidus and Branchidae II (1863) 580f; W. R. Paton & J. Myres, JHS 8 (1888) 64f, 245f; 16 (1896) 203f; B. V. Head, BMCatalogue of the Great Coins of Caria. . . (1897) 176 no. 2; G. E. Bean & J. M. Cook, BSA 50 (1955) 116-18, 147-49; W. Radt, IstMitt Beih. 3 (1970) 226-33.
G. E. BEAN- its despot captured by the Ionian rebels: Hdt. 5.37