Knidos

The remains of the ancient city lie to the western tip of the Datca Peninsula in the southwestern Anatolia. As the other western Anatolian cities, it was founded by the Carians, a branch of the Etruscans/ Luwis circa 3000 B.C. The name of the city is originally "Kindada", meaning "the Place with the Mother Goddess". As a matter of fact, the temple built in honour of the Mother Goddess when the foundations were laid, came to be identified with the Mother Goddess Aphrodite because of the evolving culture of faith during the Macedonian era and was transformed into the Temple of Aphrodite. The name of the city which was a major sacrarium of the Carian region changed into Knidos subsequently. As of 2000s B.C. its population increased with the influx of the Lelegians immigrating from the Aegean Islands and direction of the main urbanization was displaced from the southern tip of the peninsula towards the western side where the temple existed. Thus, they grew, in the western fertile part, valonia, almond, olive and fruit trees and engaged in agriculture and hence, obtained major products for export. Together with the other cities in the area a confederacy was established in the name of Hexapolis and subsequently, when Halicarnassus was expelled from this union, the confederacy was named Pentapolis. By exporting the timber and the agricultural products they raised to the various countries in the eastern Mediterranean they both prospered and became highly advanced in maritime trading. In the 5th century B.C. they intended to defend the Peninsula of Datca against the Persian occupation by opening a canal between the Gulf of Gbkova and Bozburun, but were unsuccessful. The Persians who came to the area in 546 B.C. under the command of Harpagos were impressed by the beauty of the city and did not damage it. The city which later fell under the hegemonies of the Macedonians, Rhodians, Romans and Byzantines was devastated by the Arab raids in the 7th century and abandoned after the earthquake in the 9th century.The Turks who came to the area in the 12th century established the settlement of Datga in the south of the peninsula, The ancient city of Knidos was built at the narrowest spanning site of the peninsula, upon terraces towards its acropolis. The remains of the breakwater and watchtowers as lying on the earth-filled harbour and the remains of the parallel colonnaded streets on a wide plan are those that first strike the eye. Situated behind the harbour are the sanctuary of the Goddess of Fertility, DemeterT and her daughter, Core, as well as the remains of a temple.
The excavations carried out here yielded the famed Statue of Aphrodite Praxiteles. Also found are the remains of the Agora Square and two Byzantine Churches and, to the north of the Temple of Apollon, the Cave of Nymphs siting the various depictions of dancing water nymphs. Lying behind this are the remains of the famed Temple of Aphrodite, with a diameter of 17,5 m, lined with 18 columns around its circular podium, and housing the Statue of Aphrodite. A small odeon and the Temple of Dionysus are the other remains.