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 Cape Tisan is a headland on the Mediterranean Sea coast of Mersin Province, Turkey. Τhe name is a distorted form of Ἀφροδισιᾶν (Aphrodisian; as many ancient names of places in Turkish from the accusative of the Greek name Ἀφροδί ...

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 fo ...

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

Geography

Aphrodisias is situated on

near the town of

Yeşilovacık Yeşilovacık (former Hacıisaklı) is a town in Mersin Province, Turkey. Geography Yeşilovacık is a Mediterranean coastal town at . It is a part of Silifke district which in turn is a part of Mersin Province. The town is on the state highw ...

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 coast ...

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

("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 Greece, ancient Greek Hellenistic_period, Hellenistic city in the historic Caria cultural region of western Anatolia, Turkey. It is located near the modern village of ...

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 Sea, Mediterranean coast of southern Turkey. It is the provincial capital of Mersin Province, Mersin (İçel) Province. It is made up of four municipalities and dis ...

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-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...

. 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 W ...

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 to d ...

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 pop ...

). In 1987,

Ludwig Budde Ludwig may refer to: People and fictional characters * Ludwig (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Ludwig (surname), including a list of people * Ludwig Ahgren, or simply Ludwig, American YouTube live streamer and ...

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