Termessos occupies a high valley and steep slopes within Güllük Mountain Termessos National Park northwest of Antalya. The city belonged to the Pisidian cultural world, and its formidable terrain shaped both history and the modern visit. In 333 BCE Alexander the Great attempted to take it but withdrew rather than commit to a costly mountain siege.
Termessos later negotiated with Hellenistic powers and Rome. A Roman Senate agreement of 71 BCE recognised friendship and alliance while confirming local laws. The surviving buildings are mainly Hellenistic and Roman, though the population’s identity cannot be reduced to imported Greek architecture.