The city is located in a sheltered cove connected to the sea by a narrow channel, on the northern side of Kekova Island. Today, the site is known as Üçağız (Tristomos). Teimiusa was established as a port city, like the nearby settlements of Simena and Aperlai in the Kekova region; however, it had the advantage of an unimpeded land route to the fertile agricultural hinterland.
Epigraphic evidence from the site indicates that Teimiusa functioned as a port for both the inland city of Kyaneai and the major regional center of Myra. Teimiusa and the neighboring Tyberissos may have formed a sympoliteia with Myra during the Roman Imperial period. The settlement is attested from at least the Dynastic period and expanded further during the Hellenistic period with the growth of maritime trade.
Six fish-sauce production workshops identified through survey work attest to the high level of commercial activity at the site. As in Simena and Aperlai, traces of submerged coastal structures are visible at Teimiusa, resulting from seismic activity. Despite this, maritime trade continued into the Roman and Byzantine periods.
The remains of the city are located within and around the modern village. Numerous tombs are among the most prominent monuments within the contemporary coastal landscape shaped by tourism. Well-preserved sarcophagi in the necropolis at the eastern edge of the village attract particular attention. Several Dynastic-period rock-cut tombs bear Lycian inscriptions.
The area adjacent to the modern harbor corresponds to the ancient harbor, which was gradually silted up by alluvial deposits carried by a small stream. The remains of a bath complex and a church belong to later periods.
References:
Aslan, E. 2011. Kekova Bölgesi Limanları, Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, Selçuk Üniversitesi, Konya.
Çevik, N. 2021. Lykia Kitabı: Arkeolojisi, Tarihi ve Kültürüyle Batı Antalya, Türk Tarih Kurumu, Ankara.
Mayer, L. 1803. Views in the Ottoman Empire, London.
Tietz, W. 2016. “Central Lycia: Kyaneai, Phellos, Kekova,” in From Lukka to Lycia: The Land of Sarpedon and St. Nicholas, eds. H. İşkan & E. Dündar, 362–373, İstanbul.
Zimmermann, M. 1992. Untersuchungen zur historischen Landeskunde Zentrallykiens, Bonn.
Images:
L. Mayer, 1803
W. Tietz, 2016
Bora Bilgin, 2022