Aphrodisias ( grc, Ἀφροδισιάς), sometimes called Aphrodisias of Cilicia to distinguish it from the town of the same name in Caria, was a port city of

ancient Cilicia Cilicia (); el, Κιλικία, ''Kilikía''; Middle Persian: ''klkyʾy'' (''Klikiyā''); Parthian: ''kylkyʾ'' (''Kilikiyā''); tr, Kilikya). is a geographical region in southern Anatolia in Turkey, extending inland from the northeastern coa ...

whose ruins now lie near Cape Tisan in

Mersin Province Mersin Province ( tr, ), formerly İçel Province ( tr, ), is a province in southern Turkey, on the Mediterranean coast between Antalya and Adana. The provincial capital and the biggest city in the province is Mersin, which is composed of f ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

Geography

Aphrodisias is situated on Cape Tisan near the town of Yeşilovacık in the rural area of

Silifke Silifke ( grc-gre, Σελεύκεια, ''Seleukeia'', la, Seleucia ad Calycadnum) is a town and district in south-central Mersin Province, Turkey, west of the city of Mersin, on the west end of Çukurova. Silifke is near the Mediterranean co ...

ilçe The 81 provinces of Turkey are divided into 973 districts (''ilçeler''; sing. ''ilçe''). In the early Turkish Republic and in the Ottoman Empire, the corresponding unit was the ''kaza''. Most provinces bear the same name as their respectiv ...

(district) which itself is a part of Mersin Province. The ancient name of this region was Cilicia Trachea ("rugged Cilicia") So it is customary to call the ruins Aphrodisias of Cilicia to distinguish it from the better-known

Aphrodisias Aphrodisias (; grc, Ἀφροδισιάς, Aphrodisiás) was a small ancient Greek Hellenistic city in the historic Caria cultural region of western Anatolia, Turkey. It is located near the modern village of Geyre, about east/inland from t ...

in Aydin Province. The ruins are at the east side of the cape facing

Dana Island Dana Island ( tr, Dana Adası, also called ''Kargıncık Adası'', Greek Latin ''Pithyussa'') is a small Mediterranean island of Turkey. Geography Dana Adası lies parallel to south coast of Turkey at in the province of Mersin. The distance ...

and Tisan Island. The coordinates of the ruins are The highway distance to is Silifke and to

Mersin Mersin (), also known as İçel, is a large city and a port on the Mediterranean coast of southern Turkey. It is the provincial capital of Mersin (İçel) Province. It is made up of four municipalities and district governorates: Akdeniz, Mezitl ...

is .

History

The foundation date of the ancient settlement is unknown. But it was a port of Ptolemaic Egypt in the fourth century BC. The settlement was incorporated into the

Seleucid Empire The Seleucid Empire (; grc, Βασιλεία τῶν Σελευκιδῶν, ''Basileía tōn Seleukidōn'') was a Greek state in West Asia that existed during the Hellenistic period from 312 BC to 63 BC. The Seleucid Empire was founded by the ...

and later into the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...

. In the marine book ''Ps.Skylax'' written in 101 AD, the settlement was named ''Cap Aphrodisias ''. During the early Middle Ages when the port was a part of

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

, it was named ''Porto Cavaliere''. Then it faded away. The location of the long forgotten ruins was discovered by

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

Archaeologist

Rudolf Heberdey Rudolf Heberdey (10 March 1864. Ybbs an der Donau – 7 April 1936, Graz) was an Austrian classical philologist and archaeologist. Biography From 1882 he studied classical philology at the University of Vienna, where his influences were Wi ...

in 1891.History page
The famous Greek physician

Xenocrates Xenocrates (; el, Ξενοκράτης; c. 396/5314/3 BC) of Chalcedon was a Greek philosopher, mathematician, and leader ( scholarch) of the Platonic Academy from 339/8 to 314/3 BC. His teachings followed those of Plato, which he attempted t ...

was from Aphrodisias.

The ruins

There are ruins of a necropolis, a cistern, city walls and floor mosaics of a 4th-century church named ''St.Panteleon'' (The church was a temple prior to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...

). In 1987, Ludwig Budde from Germany published his book ''St.Pantaleon von Aphrodisias in Kılikien'' about the church. But most of the mosaics are not unearthed yet.Mersin Governorship: ''Mersin Ören Yerleri Kaleleri Müzeleri'' ("Mersin Ruins, castles and museums"), p.253

References

Archaeological sites in Mersin Province, Turkey Former populated places in Turkey Aphrodite Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Turkey Populated places in ancient Cilicia {{Mersin-geo-stub