DALYAN (CAUNOS)

Founded around the 9th century BC, Caunos became an important Carian city in 400 B.C. Right on the border with the Kingdom of Lycia, its culture reflected aspects of both Kingdoms. The tombs, for instance, are in Lycian style. When Maussolos of Halicarnassus was ruler of Caria, his Hellenistic influence reached the Caunians, who eagerly adopted the culture. This mixture of cultures in Caunos may be seen amongst the ruins of its various archaeological remains: the Carian city wall built by Maussolos, the Lycian and Carian tombs, the medieval walls on the acropolis, a Roman fountain dedicated to Vespasianus, a theater from the 2nd century BC, remains of 4 temples, massive Roman baths and a Byzantine basilica of 5th/8th centuries.

One of the most beautiful features of the site are the rock tombs sculpted in the form of the porticoes of small Ionic temples. These are among the most splendid examples of Lycian type funerary architecture in Turkey, although the builders were Carians. The original occupants of the tombs are obscure but are assumed to have been Caunian noblemen and rulers; in most cases they were vacanted and reused in Roman times. The largest one is unfinished, providing a curious glimpse of the method of construction.

The prosperity of Caunos was threatened by the silting of the harbor after which the city was eventually abandoned. The Mediterranean, which once surrounded the hill on which the archaeological site stands, has now retreated 5 km. to the south, pushed back by silt from the Dalyan Cayi. The marsh which formed appears to have already been a problem for the harbor activities in Strabon times.

Caunos: The ancient city of Caunos stands midway along the channel facing Dalyan. Settlement here is believed to date from 3000 BC by Caunos, the son of Miletos and it later grew into a major port on the border between Lycia and Caria. Sprawling over a broad sloping site overlooking the sea and the delta, the principal monuments to be seen in Caunos are the Acropolis surrounded by city walls, a theatre, four temples, an agora, stoa, nymphain, baths, palestra, churches and a cistern.

The imposing Lycian rock tombs with their facades curved into the form of temples were the last resting place of the kings of Caunos. The city had two harbours, one for military use and the other for merchants. Inscriptions discovered on the nymphain have been found to cite customs regulations and have thrown valuable light on the economic life of the city.

In his Metamorphosis, Ovid immortalized Kaunos, who fled from the amorous advances of his sister Byblis and founded the city that now bears his name; nymphs turned Byblis, who wept inconsolably at the loss, into a fountain. The remains at Kaunos (which is about 15-30 minutes by boat from Dalyan, depending on weather conditions) include a crumbling Byzantine basilica, a massive Roman bath restored as a site museum, and a well-preserved semicircular 4th-century BC theater cut into the hillside in the Greek style. The rock tombs here, although evocative and beautiful, are not strictly Lycian, as they appear to be. Instead it was the Carians, whose kingdom bordered Lycia, who carved these tombs in the 4th century BC in the Lycian style.