Kaunos
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Kaunos or Kaunus (Lycian: Khbide; also Peraea, Latin: Peræa Rhodiorum) is an ancient city of Caria, Anatolia, currently a few km west of the modern town of Dalyan, Muğla Province, Turkey. Kaunos was said to have been founded by Kaunos, son of Miletos and Kyane, on the southern coast of Caria, opposite Rhodes, and was known as Rhodian Peraea, at the foot of Mount Tarbelos. Its acropolis was called Imbros. It exported, chiefly to Rome, highly prized figs. It was the home of the painter Protogenes. As Peræa Rhodiorum, it was a member of the Chrysaorian League.
Kaunos was Christianized early, and bishops are known beginning from the fourth century. Four bishops are mentioned by Lequien (I, 981): Basil, who attended the Council of Seleucia in 359; Antipater, who attended the Council of Chalcedon in 451; Nicolaus, who subscribed the letter to Emperor Leo in 458; and Stephanus, who attended the Council of Nicaea in 787. The Synecdemus of Hierocles and most Notitiae Episcopatuum, as late as the twelfth or thirteenth century, place it in Lycia, as a suffragan of Myra.
The interesting ruins of the city are half an hour from the modern town of Dalyan (Dalian), on the right bank of a little brook, the ancient Kalbis. Among them are a theatre, a large rectangular building that was probably a temple, others of uncertain description, a Byzantine church, and very curious rock-hewn tombs.
Kaunos remains a titular see of the Roman Catholic Church, Cauniensis; the seat has been vacant since the death of the last bishop in 1972. [1]
[edit] Visiting
The easiest way to visit Kaunos is by boat from the resort town of Dalyan. A short boat trip will take you to one of the best sites in this part of Turkey. An entrance fee is payable and use of the toilets will require a further small payment. A walk around a the whole site may take in excess of 2 hours, so take plenty of water with you as this amounts to quite a trek on a hot day and there is little shade available. Another option is to simply get a lift across the river from behind the restaurants in Dalyan. Then follow the dirt track to Kaunos. This also provides you with the opportunity to visit the rock tombs on the way. As ever the most important advice is to take plenty of water. On your return from Kaunos before you get the boat across to Dalyan have a cold drink in the rudimentary bar/cafe sharing your table with chickens and sundry other farm animals!
[edit] Sources
- This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.
