RESEARCH IN THE TMOLUS AND THE CULT OF KARIOS IN LYDIA: THE SURVEY AT KEL DAG AND OVACIK, AUGUST 1995

The Tmolus mountain range has long been associated with the early legends of ancient Lydia and was revered by the ancients to have been the sacred abode of the gods. In the year 1995, the first-ever major survey was conducted by the University of Maryland in this remote mountainous region to record and substantiate earlier finds. Written sources about the importance of this region by ancient scholars are abundant, however until now archaeological evidence to validate such claims has been scarce. Prof. Louis Robert confirmed the identification of Golcuk Lake as the ancient Torrhebia based on a prevalent coin type from Hierapolis and the important testimony by the Lydian historian, Xanthus, who states that in the region of Torrhebia, there was a mountain called Karios, and the sanctuary of Karios. The description by the geographer Strabo describes Mount Tmolus as a blest mountain, with an exedra on its summit, whereas early testimony by Eumelus the Corinthian specifically refers to Zeus birthplace west of the city of Sardis, on a mountain ridge of the Tmolus. In summation, the findings presented in this report provide substantial new evidence to confirm the combined earlier regional descriptions indicated by Xanthus, Strabo and Eumelus to be as reliable today as during antiquity and provides a strong basis for further inquiry into the vast historicity of the Tmolus region in antiquity.