---

Modern Description: Site in Lycia 3 km S of Kyaneai, 15 km W of Myra. The city is known only from its inscriptions and has no history. The name was at first read erroneously as Tybenissos; the true name is preserved in that of the village. The antiquity of the site is proved by two Lycian rock tombs with inscriptions in the epichoric script. Some rare coins of Lycian type inscribed tu are probably to be ascribed to Tyberissos; otherwise there is no coinage. The inscriptions indicate that the principal deity was Apollo Tyberisseus, with the epithet Patroos, and that Tybenissos was united in a deme with Teimiusa.
The hill, high and steep, has a summit in two parts. The higher N part formed the acropolis, and has remains of a fortification wall in solid ashlar, and some small buildings; on the lower S part is a church built largely from the stones of a Doric temple. Among the ruins are many sarcophagi with so-called Gothic lids of the familiar Lycian type. At the foot of the mountain, immediately above the E end of the plain of Tirmisin, is a glade containing a dozen more Gothic sarcophagi and a number of pigeon-hole tombs; at the lower end is an unusual tomb with the door and two sides cut from the rock, and the two other sides of masonry. In several cases the epitaphs make the fine for violation payable to Myra. (G. E. BEAN)
The settlement was a small castle complex in the 5th century BC with a tower-like core building surrounded by simple one-room residential buildings grouped on terraces around the walls. In the south of the settlement there is a small temenos on which there is a Lycian temple with a preserved altar. The Lycian temple, which was probably built of wood, was replaced by a Greek temple during the Hellenistic period. This temple in the Doric order was dedicated to Apollo and, like other Lycian temples, faced south. An agora was created around the 2nd century BC, and the wealth of the period was also reflected in residential developments, such as the increasing number of rooms in the houses and the use of embossed smooth cut stones on the walls. Various statue bases were found scattered throughout the area. An inscription on the outer walls of the Temple of Apollo testifies to a citizen who served on the council of the nearby city of Myra and was honored for his philanthropies to Tyberissos with a statue erected on the temenos of the temple of Apollo.
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyberissus
Wikidata ID: Q6011242

Info: Princeton Encyclopedia

(Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, from Perseus Project)

---