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Aphrodite's temple at Knidos. (Turkey)
History Today, May, 1996, by Richard Hodges
Knidos is a mariner's city, situated at the end of a long spindly Turkish peninsula jutting out towards the Dodecanese
islands of Cos, Nicyros and Telos. It is renowned for its wine, vinegar and above all for Praxiteles' statue of
Aphrodite. The statue has long since disappeared, but the elegantly proportioned podium of the round temple in
which it stood was discovered twenty-five years ago. The temple was built in the fourth century BC to Aphrodite
Euploia, the Aphrodite of fair voyages. It was a merchants, temple. the cathedral of a city whose rationale was
The temple dates from the foundation of Knidos in about 360 BC, when its citizens moved their city from an inlet
surrounded by fertile lands at Datca, fifty miles to the east, to this barren, waterless, but dramatic headland
known as Cape Crio. The Knidians, then under Persian hegemony, understood the promise of this unlikely site. When
the meltem, the strong northwest wind, blows, ships sailing from the south are unable to round the cape. Obliged
to shelter for days at a time in the great commercial harbour constructed by the Knidians, wayfarers were compelled
to contribute substantially to the port's revenues.
Aphrodite's temple was the symbol of this new venture. It was circular with eighteen Doric columns which supported
a cupola. The altar, on which sacrifices were made to the goddess, faced the temple's main entrance, located on
the east side. Here stood the remarkable statue made by the Athenian sculptor Praxiteles (active c. 370-300 BC).
It is known that in about 360 he had made two versions of the goddess. The clothed version was purchased by the
Coans, while the other, portraying the goddess in naturalibus, was chosen by the Knidians as the principal ornament
of their new city. Why the great sculptor made these two works remains unknown, but it was the Knidian Aphrodite,
which over the subsequent millennium was the subject of profound appreciation as well as prurient voyeurism.
Pliny the Elder tells us that this marine Venus stood `in a shrine which allowed the image of the goddess to be
viewed from every side'. A fuller description exists in a dialogue known as the Erotes (love Affairs), ascribed
to the second-century AD satirist and philosopher, Lucian of Samosata. The account is almost certainly the work
of a later imitator of Lucian, but conveys why the Aphrodite, of Knidos became the standard against which all subsequent
representations of feminine beauty were measured:
In approaching the sacred enclosure we were fanned by the most delicious breezes; for within, no polished pavement
spreads its barren surface, but the area as suited to a sanctuary of venus, abounds with productive trees ... canopying
the air around ... In the centre (of the temple) stands the goddess, formed of Parian marble - a half-suppressed
smile is on her mouth. No drapery conceals her beauty, nor is any part hidden except that which is covered unconsciously
as it were by the left hand. Charicles [Lucian's companion] cried aloud ... and springing forward ... he repeatedly
kissed the statue.
During your vacation in Bodrum, take
some time to surrender to the tranquility of the ancient times in Knidos, famous for its statues of Praxiteles'
Aphrodite of Knidos and the Seated Demeter.
The ancient city of Knidos, located at Tekirburnu on Datça peninsula lying at the west end along the Mediterranean
coasts of Turkey, awaits today its guests coming by sea, as it did centuries ago, with its untouched natural splendors.
It is possible to reach the ancient city of Knidos by road as well, but after a long and tiresome trip, whereas
the sea offers the easiest and least?tiresome way of access.
One of the important stops of the Blue Voyages, Knidos is usually a much frequented spot by the passengers on schooners
navigating along Turkish coasts or by the tourists visiting the Turkish coasts on yachts chartered from Greek islands.
Located at Tekirburnu, 22 nautical miles from Bodrum city center, daily transportation to the ancient city of Knidos
is provided through a pleasant, comfortable voyage by schooners leaving from Bodrum, or by Bodrum, the training
sailboat performing scheduled journeys in the summertime.
Continued on page 13
Visit Knidos to experience the antiquity
Continues from page 1
The Bodrum boat operated
by the Bodrum Association of
Seamen (Tel: 0252 316 75 30
316 14 90) departs from Bodrum
at 9:00 a.m. every Monday and
Thursday, and after a sail of a
couple of hours, arrives at the
harbor of Knidos around noon.
After allowing time to visit the
ancient city and enjoy the sea,
the boat sails back to Bodrum in
the afternoon, leaving at 3:00
p.m. and arriving in Bodrum in
The ancient city of Knidos
Named as "Kap KriJ, based
on information derived from the
notes of 19th Century travelers,
and a one time island according
to the writings of Strabo the ge
ographer, idols from 3000 B.C.
have been found in the southern
part of the city. However there
are no evidences today regar
ding these idols. Archeologists
had come upon finds from Myce
nean civilization dating back to
1300 B.C. during the tomb digs
made in the 1960's in Cyprus,
the Rhodes island and Ortakent
banks, Bodrum. Pieces of cera
mic belonging to the same peri
od are also seen in Knidos.
Around 1100 B.C., Hellenis
tic colonies developed due to the
Trojan wars as a result of the
Dorian expansion that affected
Anatolia. Written documents
about Knidos have been found
in the 7th Century B.C. and the
city later strengthened and con
tinued to develop.
Between 6th and 4th Centu
ries B.C., Knidos was under
Persian sovereignty as were ot
her Anatolian cities. During the
time of the famous Mng Mauso
los who had the Mausoleum of
Halicarnassus built in Bodrum,
the city has become an impor
tant center. Influenced by Hip
pocrates, who lived in the Ascle
pion situated in the ancient city
of Kos in Kos Island and univer
sally commemorated by doctors,
and his teachings, Knidean me? Having continued its exis
dical scientists have developed tence also in the Byzantium era,
original treatment methods and the city loses its significance in
Knidean doctors have become the 7th Century during the Ara
private doctors of the Great Per? bic expansion. Lord Charle
sian king. Eudoxos, the Knide? mont, who visits the Aegean is
an mathematician and astrono? lands in the 18th Century, also
mer, has set up an observatory writes about his observations
date back to those years. Copies of the "Aphrodite of KnidoJ and the "Seated Demeter" have also
been made in the present time, which were originally sculpted by the Knideans who gifted the civilization with
highly important sculptures in the Hellenistic and Roman eras.
British Captain Beaufort sends the finds obtained in the digs made primarily in Bodrum. These include the finds
of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus regarded as one of the seven wonders of the antiquity. Newton anchors in Knidos
in the years 1858 and 1859, and performs digs there too, taking the finds to England on HMS Supply ship.
Following the digs made by the American archeologist I.C.Love between 1967?1977, the Turkish archeology team has
been pursuing the digs since 1987.
It takes pacing every inch of the ancient city and inhaling the atmosphere to feel the accounts of the tour guide
one can truly understand Knidos and experience the antiquity. Which means that you need to spend the night on schooners
or on Bodrum training boat in the southern harbor of the city, one of the two harbors of the city used for commerce,
The ancient city of Knidos, lo
cated at Tekirburnu on Dat~a pe
ninsula lying at the west end along
the Mediterranean coasts of Tur
key, awaits today its guests co
ming by sea, as it did before, with
its untouched natural splendors.
It is possible to reach the anci
ent city of Knidos by road as well,
but after a long and tiresome trip,
whereas the sea offers the easiest
and least?tiresome way of access.
One of the important. stons, f
the Blue Voyages, Knidos is usu
ally a much frequented spot by the
passengers on schooners naviga
ting along Turkish coasts or by
the tourists visiting the Turkish
coasts on yachts chartered from
Located at Tekirburnu, 22 na
utical miles from Bodrum city cen
ter, daily transportation to the an
cient city of Knidos is provided
through a pleasant, comfortable
voyage by schooners leaving from
Bodrum, or by Bodrum, the tra
ining sailboat performing schedu
led journeys in the summertime.
Continued on page 13
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