Marble statues, statue heads, figurines, ornaments, amphorae and daily use vessels excavated in the excavations of the ancient city of Knidos are exhibited. In addition to these, the Bronze Scabbard and the Sitting Priest Statue, which are thought to belong to a large statue, are among the important artifacts of the museum.
The ancient city of Knidos, located on Cape Tekir at the point where the Aegean and the Mediterranean Sea meet at the very tip of the Datça Peninsula, is one of the most important coastal cities of Western Anatolia.
It is within the boundaries of Mugla Province, Datça District, Yazi Village. It is connected to Datça by a 35 km. road, the last 8 km. of which is stabilized. Transportation by sea is made by excursion boats and yachts during the tourism season.
During the Persian domination of the region, approximately 360 BC, the Cnidians left their city and founded a new city of Cnidos in the plan of Hippadamos at the extreme point of the peninsula. The city, together with Lin-dos, Ialisos, Kamiros, Kos Island and Halicarnassos on the island of Rhodes, constituted the Ancient State of Rhodes. Strabo (XIV 656, 2, 15) wrote that Cnidos was built on terraces and rose from the coast to the acropolis like a theater, and that it had the appearance of a “double city” with both land and island settlements. The city of Cnidus, which exported wine with its developed trade, later had two harbors by combining Kap Krio Island and the mainland with embankment. The Trade Harbor is located in the south of the city. The entrance of the small harbor in the northeast of the city is in the form of a corridor. At its narrowest part, there are two opposite, circular control towers. Strabo says that 20 warships could be accommodated in this harbor, which he calls “Kadirga Harbor”.
1856 – 1857 by Sir Charles T. NEWTON, 1967 – 1977 by Prof. Dr. Iris Cornelia LOVE, the history of the city, which was excavated by Prof. Dr. Ramazan ÖZGAN, has been illuminated by archaeological excavations carried out under the presidency of Prof. Dr. Ramazan ÖZGAN since 1987.
The excavations are being carried out on the mainland where the city was founded and on the Camel’s Neck, Kap Krio Island.
No traces of fortifications were found on the deep cliff reaching 70-80 meters to the west of Kap Krio Island. To the northwest and north, a fortification wall supported by towers and adapted to the natural structure of the terrain descends to the west of the island. Buildings were constructed side by side on terraces built on the ridge of the island. The plan features, masonry techniques, sewerage system and other archaeological data found in this area indicate that the buildings were planned and constructed in the late III and early II centuries BC, and that the settlement on the island ended with a fire and was abandoned after this disaster.
On the mainland, there is a street running east-west on the axis, and below and above this road, public buildings, the upper and lower theaters, the Sanctuary of Demeter, a small odeon, the Temple of Aphrodite, the Temple of Corinth, the Roman Tomb, the Agora, the Monumental Building, the Hellenistic Stoa, the Sanctuary of Dionysus and the Byzantine Church, the Roman Bouleuterion, the Propylon, and the remains of buildings such as the stepped street.
Excavations in the sanctuary, where there are multiple cult buildings, revealed that the entrance to the sanctuary was provided by a gate structure. The gate of the propylon, which has a courtyard with four columns, is on the west side and the doorway is worn due to intensive use.
The most famous of the cult buildings in the ancient city of Knidos is the round-plan temple, which is assumed to have once protected Aphrodite of Knidos.
In the ancient Aegean, all artists were trying to depict Aphrodite. Sculptors and painters had the most difficulty. Because they had to embody the concept of divine beauty.
Pierre LOUYS tells the story of the construction of the Statue of Aphrodite in his work titled Sarkilari of Bilitis.
“It was the day of the feasts of Eleusis. Twenty thousand people from all over the Hellenic Country had gathered on the beach. Phryne moved heavily towards the waves. She untied her sash. She even took off her underwear. She shed all her hair and went into the sea.”
Among the crowd watching the ceremony were the famous sculptor Praxiteles and the famous painter Apelles of Colophon. Both artists had the same thought; this priestess was Aphro-dite herself, and her divine beauty could not be found in a human being. So the priestess Phryne modeled for two famous works of art that became famous in the ancient world and whose stories have survived to the present day. One of them was the painting Aphrodite Anadiyomen by the painter Apelles and the other was the sculptor Praxiteles’ Aphrodite of Knidos. The Aphrodite of Knidos, one of the most important artifacts of Anatolia from the IVth century BC, was described by Lucian of Samsat in the 2nd century AD;
“We came near the sacred garden. The fragrances intoxicated us. The courtyard was lush with fragrant trees worthy of Aphrodite. Myrtle trees, always in bloom, always bearing fruit, blessed the goddess. Laurels, cypresses… These trees do not grow old. They never stop growing new branches.
We entered the temple. In the center stood a beautiful statue of Aphrodite. She had a smile on her lips, a little shy, a little bashful. Nothing covered her beauty except a slight bend of her left hand. We were struck by her beauty.” The Aphrodite of Cnidus, which Lucianus speaks so highly of, has not yet been found.
The recent excavations in the ancient city of Knidos, under the direction of Prof. Dr. Ramazan ÖZGAN, have been concentrated in this region in order to understand the function of the Round Temple and the altar to the east, which are thought to be dedicated to this famous statue, which entered the archaeological literature as the Aphro-dite of Knidos.
The architectural features of the temple and the altar, built in the Corinthian architectural style, lead to the dating of this sacred structure to the 2nd century BC. The small artifacts found around the building are generally dated to the Late Hellenistic and Early Roman periods.
This shows that the round building was not built for Praxiteles’ Aphrodite. Moreover, an Omphalos of Apollo and an inscription fragment with the inscription of Dionysus, unearthed during the excavations in this area, show that this sanctuary did not belong to only one deity. No concrete information has yet been obtained to prove that this round structure was built for Praxiteles’ Aphrodite.