Kaunos

Kaunos (Carian: Kbid;

Lycian: Xbide; Ancient Greek: Καῦνος; Latin: Caunus) was a city of ancient Caria in Anatolia, a few kilometres west of the modern town of Dalyan, Muğla Province, Turkey.

The Calbys river (now known as the Dalyan river) was the border between Caria and Lycia. Initially Kaunos was a separate state; then it became a part of Caria and later still of Lycia.

Kaunos was an important sea port, the history of which is supposed to date back to the 10th century BC. Because of the formation of İztuzu Beach and the silting of the former Bay of Dalyan (from approx. 200 BC onwards), Kaunos is now located about 8 km from the coast. The city had two ports, the southern port at the southeast of Küçük Kale and the inner port at its northwest (the present Sülüklü Göl, Lake of the Leeches). The southern port was used from the foundation of the city till roughly the end of the Hellenistic era, after which it became inaccessible due to its drying out. The inner or trade port could be closed by chains. The latter was used till the late days of Kaunos, but due to the silting of the delta and the ports, Kaunos had by then long lost its important function as a trade port. After the capture of Caria by Turkish tribes, and the serious malaria epidemic of the 15th century AD, Kaunos was completely abandoned.

In 1966, Prof. Baki Öğün started the excavations of ancient Kaunos. These have been continued up to the present day, and are now supervised by Prof. Cengiz Işık.

The archeological research is not limited to Kaunos itself, but is also carried out in locations nearby e.g. near the Sultaniye Spa where there used to be a sanctuary devoted to the goddess Leto.

Name

The city was commonly known by its Greek name, Kaunos (Καῦνος). The Romans called Kaunos by its name in Latin, Caunus.

Kaunos' Carian name was Kbid (𐊼𐊬𐊹𐊢 in the Carian alphabet). A citizen of Kaunos, a 'Kaunian', was called Kbdyn (plural Kbdynš, 𐊼𐊬𐊢Ε𐊵𐊯). These terms were used on silver coinage and in stone inscriptions. This term fell out of use in the Hellenistic Period.

In Lycian texts such as the Letoon trilingual, the city was called Xbide (𐊜𐊂𐊆𐊅𐊁 in the Lycian alphabet), and Kaunians were called Xbidẽñni (𐊜𐊂𐊆𐊅𐊚𐊑𐊏𐊆).

Mythology

According to mythology Kaunos was founded by King Kaunos, son of the Carian King Miletus and Kyane, and grandson of Apollo. Kaunos had a twin sister by the name of Byblis who developed a deep, unsisterly love for him. When she wrote her brother a love letter, telling him about her feelings, he decided to flee with some of his followers to settle elsewhere. His twin sister became mad with sorrow, started looking for him and tried to commit suicide. Mythology says that the Calbys river emerged from her tears.

Origins

Herodotus differentiates the Kaunians from both the Carians and the Lycians, considering them indigenous people, although the Kaunians themselves claimed to have originated from Crete. He notes that their language was similar to Carian but not the same, as evidenced by an inscription discovered at Kaunos that contains characters absent from inscriptions in other areas of Caria. The earliest Greek inscriptions at Kaunos are found on the bases of statues of Hecatomnus and Mausolus. The later inscriptions show that Kaunos had become a Greek city, with none of its citizens bearing Carian names.

History

The oldest find at the Kaunos archeological site is the neck of a Protogeometric amphora dating back to the 9th century BC, or even earlier. A statue found at the western gate of the city walls, pieces of imported Attic ceramics and the S-SE oriented city walls show habitation in the 6th century BC. However, none of the architectural finds at Kaunos itself dates back to earlier than the 4th century BC.

First Persian rule

Kaunos is first referred to by Herodotus in his book Histories. He narrates that the Persian general Harpagus marches against the Lycians, Carians and Kaunians during the Persian invasion of 546 BCE. Herodotus writes that the Kaunians fiercely countered Harpagus' attacks but were ultimately defeated. Despite the fact that the Kaunians themselves said they originated from Crete,. He thought it was far more likely that the Kaunians were the original inhabitants of the area because of the similarity between his own Carian language and that of the Kaunians. He added that there were, however, great differences between the lifestyles of the Kaunians and those of their neighbours, the Carians and Lycians. One of the most conspicuous differences being their social drinking behaviour. It was common practice that the villagers -men, women and children alike- had get-togethers over a good glass of wine.

Herodotus mentions that Kaunos participated in the Ionian Revolt (499–494 BCE).

Some important inscriptions in Carian language were found here, dating to c. 400 BC, including a bilingual inscription in Greek and Carian found in 1996. They helped to decipher the Carian alphabets.

Greek influences

After Xerxes I was beaten in the Second Persian War and the Persians were gradually withdrawn from the western Anatolian coast, Kaunos joined the Delian League. Initially they only had to pay 1 talent of tax, an amount that was raised by factor 10 in 425 BC. This indicates that by then the city had developed into a thriving port, possibly due to increased agriculture and the demand for Kaunian export articles, such as salt, salted fish, slaves, pine resin and black mastic – the raw materials for tar used in boat building and repair – and dried figs. During the 5th and 4th centuries BC the city started to use the name Kaunos as an alternative for its ancient name Kbid, because of the increased Hellenistic influence. The myth about the foundation of the city probably dates back to this period.

During the Peloponnesian War, both sides used Kaunos as a port.