The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites
Richard Stillwell, William L. MacDonald, Marian Holland McAllister, Stillwell, Richard, MacDonald, William L., McAlister, Marian Holland, Ed.

THEMISKYRA (Terme) Pontus, Turkey.

A minor city in Amisene territory, in the district also called Themiskyra, ca. 60 km E of Samsun (Amisos). The district, traditionally associated with the Amazons, comprised the delta of the Yeşil Irmak (Iris fl.), an alluvial plain projecting more than 15 km out into the Black Sea (Pontos Euxeinos). At the E margin of this delta is a second river, the Terme Çayi (Thermodon fl.), on which the city lay. Themiskyra was besieged (perhaps destroyed) by Lucullus (71 B.C.) and must have had walls of some strength. No trace of these is known, but the site is presumed to lie beneath modern Terme, some 5 km from the river mouth. The Thermodon was navigable in antiquity up to the city, which lay on both sides of the river.

D. R. WILSON