Listed 6 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for destination: "KNIDOS Ancient city TURKEY".
On the SW coast opposite Nisiros and Telos. The three cities of Rhodes--Lindos,
Kamiros, and Ialysos--together with Kos, Halikarnassos and Knidos formed the Dorian
Hexapolis. Every four years the Dorian federation met at Knidos to celebrate the
Dorian Games. According to Herodotos, Knidos was colonized by Lakedaimonians,
but Diodoros mentions an earlier settlement by Triopas. The main objects and ruins
uncovered so far date from at least the 7th c. B.C. to the 7th c. A.D. when the
city was abandoned. Strabo describes Knidos as a double city consisting of an
island, the main residential section, which was joined to the mainland by moles.
Two harbors were thus created, a commercial one, and a smaller naval harbor capable
of berthing 20 triremes. The city was eventually laid out on a grid plan both
on the island and mainland sections. The latter was divided by seven main N-S
stepped streets which intersected four main E-W streets at right angles.
To the E of the street farthest E remains of a Hellenistic house have
been excavated. Fragments of handsome figured wall paintings and architectural
stuccos imitating Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders, which once decorated the
upper story, were recovered. To the N of the Hellenistic house are a number of
rooms of a large Roman house. To the SE of this complex a small structure, formerly
called an Odeion, has been re-excavated; this roofed building with a colonnade
probably served as a bouleuterion. A partially excavated, well-preserved theater,
originally constructed during the Hellenistic period with restorations, modifications,
and additions, such as the stage buildings during the Roman period, lies to the
E of stepped street 3. To the W of this street is a large 5th c. Byzantine church
built on top of and re-using materials of an Ionic temple. On a terrace above
this monument are the remains of a small tetrastyle prostyle distyle in antis
Hadrianic Corinthian temple. An imposing Doric stoa, perhaps the ambulatio pensilis
designed by Sostratos, lies to the S. South of this is a well-preserved monumental
Byzantine church. Its aisles and narthex were decorated with mosaics. To the W
of stepped street 1 and N of the trireme harbor is the agora and a small Byzantine
church. To the N is a Doric temple dedicated to Apollo Karneios. This may have
been the site where the ceremonies of the Dorian Games were celebrated. A stadium
lies outside the W city wall. A junction between stepped street 1 and the main
E-W street has been uncovered; here the E-W street terminated at an Ionic building,
which may have served as a propylon.
High on the terrace farthest W is the sanctuary of Aphrodite Euploia.
Her gardens, described by Pseudo-Lucian, probably lay to the E of the temenos.
The famous cult statue by Praxiteles stood in the center of a handsome marble
monopteros facing her altar to the E. To the W are a well-preserved treasury,
an altar to Athena, and a rectangular shrine. To the NW is a complex of rooms,
at least two-storied, of the Byzantine period, residential in character. To the
S on an intermediate terrace is a theatron which may be associated with a monumental
marble altar below and a large Roman building to the W. Perhaps this area was
used for the celebration of mystery rites in honor of Aphrodite and/or Adonis,
or even of Demeter. The Temenos of Demeter is located high on the terrace farthest
E of the city. Immediately to the E of the city walls is the necropolis extending
some 10 km. It has produced a variety of sarcophagi, altars and tombs (rock-cut,
temenos, and chamber). The astronomical observatory of Eudoxos and the medical
school have not yet been located. The objects excavated since 1967 are in the
museums of Izmir and Bodrum.
Iris Love, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains 2 image(s), bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
Total results on 10/5/2001: 63 for Knidos, 28 for Cnidos, 154 for Cnidus.
A town and promontory of Doris in Caria, at the extremity of a promontory called Triopium. The founder of the place is said to have been Triopas. From him it received at first the name of Triopium, which at a later period was confined merely to the promontory on which it stood. Aphrodite was the chief deity of the place, and had three temples erected to her, under the several surnames of Doritis, Acraea, and Euploea. In the last of these stood a celebrated statue of the goddess, the work of Praxiteles. Nicomedes of Bithynia wished to purchase this admirable production of the chisel, and actually offered to liquidate the debt of Cnidus, which was very considerable, if the citizens would cede it to him; but they refused to part with what they esteemed the glory of their city. Off Cnidus took place in B.C. 394 a famous sea-fight between the Athenians, under Conon, and the Spartans, under Pisander, in which the former were victorious. The shores of Cnidus furnished in ancient times, as they do now, a great abundance of fish. The wines were famous, and Theophrastus speaks of the Cnidian onions as of a particular species, being very mild and not occasioning tears. Cnidus was the birthplace of the famous mathematician and astronomer Eudoxus; of Agatharchidas, Theopompus, and Ctesias. Excavations made at Cnidus in 1857- 58 led to the discovery of many fine marbles, some of which may now be seen in the British Museum.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Cnidus (Knidos, Cnidus: Eth. Knidios), a city in Caria, at the western
extremity of a long peninsula, which forms the southern side of the bay called
Ceramicus. Strabo describes Cnidus accurately: it has two ports, one of which
can be closed, and is intended for triremes, and it has a station for twenty ships;
there lies in front of the city an island about seven stadia in circuit, lofty,
in the form of a theatre, joined by a causeway to the mainland, and making Cnidus
in a manner two cities, for a large part of Cnidus is on the island, which covers
both the harbours. This island, now called Cape Krio, is united to the main by
a sandy isthmus. The island is about 600 yards long, with an average width of
about 150 yards. Strabo's dimensions are pretty near the mark. On the west side
towards the sea the island is steep in some parts, and it slopes down eastward
towards the two harbours, which gives it the appearance that Strabo mentions.
On each side of the isthmus there is an artificial harbour; the smallest (on the
north side) has a narrow entrance between high piers, and was evidently the closed
basin for triremes which Strabo mentions. The southern and largest port is formed
by two transverse moles; these noble works were carried into the sea to the depth
of nearly a hundred feet; one of them is almost perfect; the other, which is more
exposed to the south-west swell, can only be seen under water. (Beaufort, Karamania,
p. 81.) A few yards from the end of the west pier there is very deep water at
the entrance of the southern harbour: it is marked 17 fathoms in Beaufort's plan.
The water shoals from the entrance of each harbour to the sandy isthmus which
connects Cape Krio with the mainland, and the Cnidians doubtless found no great
depth of water between the island and the main when they constructed their causeway.
Pausanias, who wrote after Strabo, in two different passages (viii. 30. § 2; v.
24. § 7), says that the island of Cnidus was separated from the mainland by a
narrow channel, which he calls Euripus; and in one of the passages he says that
there was a bridge over it. He adds that the chief part of the city is on the
mainland of Caria, as he calls it, and most of the chief buildings. There is perhaps
no inconsistency between Strabo and Pausanias, for if there was a bridge, there
was probably a causeway too.
The site of Cnidus is covered with ruins in every direction, particularly
on the NE. side of the harbour. To the SW. are the remains of an ancient quay,
supported by Cyclopian walls, and in some places cut out of the steep limestone
rocks, which rise abruptly from the water's edge. (Hamilton; Researches, &c. vol.
ii. p. 39.). Hamilton found the walls of Cnidus very perfect, and traced them
throughout their whole extent to the east of the harbour. The city is enclosed
by two walls, one running east and west, the other almost north and south, and
united at the summit of the hill to the NE. of the town; the former is partly
Cyclopian, and partly pseudisodomous, but the style improves as it ascends. The
northern part of the wall is very perfect, and contains two or three towers in
a state of great preservation; it is also the best constructed, being probably
of a later date and purely isodomous. The walls in the peninsula are also well
preserved, containing a round tower of great beauty at the extremity, near the
northern harbour. (Hamilton.) No ancient city has been more mercilessly plundered
than Cnidus; its proximity to the sea may account for its present condition. There
are two theatres, one of which had a diameter of 400 feet, both in a ruined condition,
a Doric stoa, and the basement of a large building which may have been a temple.
The two theatres were on the mainland side. On the site of the town there are
circular or pear-shaped holes in the ground covered with cement, which must have
been cisterns, as Hamilton supposes, for holding rain water; for there is neither
stream nor fountain anywhere near. Cnidus contains examples of Greek architecture
of different kinds, both Doric and Ionic. The drawings of the most important remains
are published in the Ionian Antiquities of the Dilettanti Society. (From Beaufort's
Karamania.)
About a mile or more from the eastern gate of Cnidus are numerous
tombs, some of which are buildings of considerable extent. One of the largest
is a square of 120 feet, with walls of beautiful polygonal construction and a
regular coping of flat slabs; within this space are two or three small buildings,
apparently tombs. (Hamilton.) The front wall of these tombs is in some few cases
built in horizontal courses, but the polygonal blocks are most frequent. In the
interior there are either arched vaults or narrow passages covered with flat stones;
the vaults are either formed of large Cyclopian blocks, or of small stones firmly
cemented together. (Hamilton.) The existence of Cyclopian masonry, Mr. Hamilton
observes, thus intimately connected with regular arches, seems to prove that the
polygonal style must have been in use at a much later period than is usually believed.
He further says, that this Cyclopian masonry, as it is called, is not decisive
evidence of the great antiquity of a building; and few good critics will dispute
the truth of this remark now. An inscription was found among these Cyclopian tombs
which belongs to the Roman period.
The extreme western point of the Cnidian peninsula was the Triopium
Promontorium, as Scylax calls it, now Cape Krio, and perhaps Herodotus (i. 174)
limits the name Triopium to this promontory. But the territory of Cnidus (he Knidia)
extended eastward to Bubassus at the head of the gulf of Syme, and here is the
narrow isthmus which the Cnidians attempted to cut through in the time of Cyrus
the Persian. This long narrow peninsula is about 40 miles in length, and its greatest
width about 10 miles. It does not seem to have been accurately examined by any
modern traveller, but we know its form now from the late British survey. Herodotus
certainly calls all this peninsula the Cnidia, and he describes it more clearly
than any other writer. Pliny (v. 28) is very brief and confused; perhaps he gives
the name Triopia to the small peninsula, or he may include in this term the western
part of the whole peninsula. His term Doris may perhaps include the whole peninsula.
Pausanias (i. 1. § 3) has no name for it, unless it be the Carian Chersonesus,
for he speaks of Cnidus as being in the Carian Chersonesus; but in another passage
(v. 24. § 7) he clearly gives the name Chersonesus only to the island,which is
now Cape Krio, and he says that the chief part of Cnidus is built on the Carian
mainland. As the narrow isthmus which the Cnidians attempted to cut through is
at the eastern extremity of the peninsula, it is a fair conclusion that all the
part west of the isthmus belonged to the Cnidii; and as there is no other city
to whose territory it could conveniently be attached, it seems a certain conclusion
that they had the whole of the peninsula. Cnidus is mentioned in one of the so-called
Homeric hymns, but we can conclude nothing from this. It was a Lacedaemonian colony,
and the leader of the colony according to tradition was Triopas. (Pans. x. 11.
§ 1.) It was one of the members of the Dorian Hexapolis, which was reduced to
five cities after the exclusion of Halicarnassus. (Herod. i. 144.) These Dorian
colonies, Cnidus, Cos, and Lindus, Ialysus and Camirus in Rhodes, formed a confederation.
Their place of meeting was at the temple of the Triopian Apollo, where they had
games, and bronze tripods for prizes. The site of the Triopian temple was on the
island, now Cape Krio. (Thucyd. viii. 35.) The Cnidians traded to Egypt at an
early period (Herod. ii. 178); and they had a treasury at Delphi (Paus. x. 11.
§ 5). The position of the place was favourable for trade, and. Cnidus acquired
wealth. They colonised Lipara, one of the Aeolian islands off the north coast
of Sicily. After their unsuccessful attempt to cut. across their isthmus, the
Cnidians surrendered to Harpagus, the general of Cyrus the Persian, and so far
as we know they remained quiet. At the commencement of the Peloponnesian War they
were dependents on Athens, for we must suppose that Thucydides (ii. 9) includes
them in the term Dorians dwelling close to the Carians. Cnidus deserted the Athenians
after their losses in Sicily, and the Athenians made an unsuccessful attempt to
seize the place. Thucydides (viii. 35), after speaking, of the Athenians surprising
some vessels at the Triopian promontory, says that they then sailed down upon
Cnidus, and attacking the city, which was unwalled, nearly took it. The city is
evidently the town on the mainland, and as this city was then unwalled, the walls
which Hamilton describes must be of later date than the Peloponnesian War. In
B.C. 394 Conon, who commanded a Persian and. Hellenic fleet, defeated the Lacedaemonians
under Pisander off Cnidus and destroyed the supremacy of Sparta. (Xen. Hell. iv.
3. 10; Isocrates, Panegyr. c. 39.)
In the war of the Romans with Antiochus the Cnidii readily obeyed
the orders of the Romans. (Liv. xxxvii. 16.) One of the very few occasions on
which anything is recorded of the military operations of the Cnidii is their sending
relief to Calynda, when it had revolted from Caunus (Polyb. xxxi. 17),. about
B.C. 163. On the settlement of the province of Asia they were included in it,
and in Pliny's time Cnidus was Libera, and probably at an earlier time. It was
taken by the pirates who infested these seas before they were cleared out by Cn.
Pompeius B.C. 67 (Cic. Pro Lege Manilia, c. 12), at the same time that Samos,
Colophon and other places on the coast were plundered.
Hamilton (Researches and Appendix, vol. ii.) copied several inscriptions
at Cnidus. None of them are ancient, and most of them belong to the Roman period.
The Doric form appears in damos and other words. The name of Apollo Carneius occurs
in one inscription; and Apollo was worshipped under this name at Corinth, and
by all the Dorians (Paus. iii. 13. § 4). This inscription is a memorial in honour
of Caius Julius Theopompus (Theupompus in the inscription) the son of Artemidorus
(as it stands in Hamilton's copy), and it was erected by his friend Marcus Aephicius
Apollonius, the son of Marcus. There was a Theopompus, a native of Cnidus, an
historical writer and friend of the dictator Caesar (Strab. p. 656); and Theopompus
had a son Artemidorus, but according to this inscription Theopompus, was the son
of Artemidorus. An Artemidorus informed Caesar of the conspiracy against him.
(Plut.. Caes. c. 65.) The inscription shows that Theopompus was a Greek who had
after Greek fashion taken the praenomen and nomen of his patron, and this Theopompus
may have been the man whom the dictator patronised. Hamilton conjectures that
Apollonius may be Molon, the rhetorician, the teacher of Caesar, and Cicero; but
if that is so, his father must have received the Roman citizenship, for he is
called: Marcus in the inscription.
Eudoxus the mathematician, as Strabo calls him, one of the friends
of Plato, was a native of Cnidus; but he is chiefly known as an astronomer. Strabo
(p. 119, 806) speaks of his observatory (skope) at Cnidus, from which he saw the
star Canopus: his observatory was not much higher than the houses. Ctesias, a
physician, and the author of a Persian history, was a native of Cnidus; and also
Agatharchides, who wrote a treatise on the Erythraean sea and other works. The
Cnidians were fond of art, though the city did not produce artists. They placed
a statue of Jupiter at Olympia, with a statue of Pelops on one side of it, and
the river Alpheius on the other. (Paus. v. 24. § 7.) They also set up at Delphi
a statue of Triopas, the so-called founder of their city, a figure of a man standing
by a horse; and a Leto, and Apollo and Artemis, shooting their arrows at Tityus.
(Paus. x. 11. § 1.) The painting of Polygnotus, at Delphi, called Lesche, was
an offering of the Cnidii. (Paus. x. 25. § 1.) Aphrodite was worshipped at Cnidus,
and the place was supposed to be one of her favourite abodes. (Hor. Od. i. 30;
iii. 28.) Pausanias mentions three temples of Aphrodite at Cnidus; in the oldest
she was worshipped as Doritis, in a second as Acraea, and in the third and most
recent as Cnidia, or, as the Cnidians called her, Euploea, the deity of mariners
(i. 1. § 3). Cnidus possessed the statue of the naked Aphrodite of Praxiteles,
of Parian marble, one of the great works of Grecian genius. The statue stood in
a chamber with two doors, so that the figure could be seen on both sides. People
used to visit Cnidus to see the beautiful goddess. (Plin. xxxvii. 5.) Nicomedes,
king of Bithynia, offered to buy this precious work from the Cnidians by paying
the whole of the public debt of Cnidus, which was large, but the Cnidians preferred
to keep their goddess and their debt. Lucian, (Amor. c. 11, &c.), or the author
of the little piece that is printed in Lucian's works, has described the statue
with the feeling of an artist. (Dict. of Biogr. art. Praxiteles, where the various
passages are referred to.)
The coins of Cnidus have the epigraph kni and knidian.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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