Blue Cruise Zones, Knidos/Turkey

Knidos, City of the goddess of love and beauty Aphrodite, Knidos was a city to which all ancient sailors, who wished to see the naked sculpture of Aphrodite by Praksiteles, veered. In 7. century BC. Knidos was established on the place where today’s Datca lies. The folk wanted to escape from the invasion of the Persians by splitting the Bencik Strait, but then they found it wise not to destroy “the thing God had made” and that’s why they could not avoid Persian invasion.

The Dorians emigrated from islands to Anatolian shores and they either settled down in empty places or they merged with indigenous people, thus creating a new generation together. Knidos is one of the six cities founded at this period. These six cities founded a union and they gathered every four year to celebrate feasts. The feast was held in Triopion against Baba Ada just before Knidos.

First Halicarnassus withdrew from the union and the union fell apart. There is also an Apollo Temple here. In time core Anatolian elements inspired every civilization coming to Anatolia and Anatolia melted them in its own pot to give them a new shape. Those who came from these islands were able to maintain their Dorian tradition for a while, but then Knidos was captured by the Persians in 540 BC.

Knidos joined the Attika-Delos Sea Union in 486 BC. In 412 BC Knidos disassociated itself from the Athenians and supported Spartians and they witnessed Athens-Spartian wars. On their coins in this period they showed that they were seamen by pictures of Aphrodite together with a ship’s body and they were blessed by the sea goddess Aphrodite.
Knidos people were opposed to the Persians in the Aegean Region and they settled down the part which joined to the opposite island divided by the two harbors.

With its medical school, observatory and temples Knidos became one of the most famous cities of its time. In the observatory built by the most famous maths and astronomy scholar Eudoxsos of Knidos (400 – 347 BC) the unknown features of the sky was examined and stars important for navigation were discovered. Ktesiast also contributed to the development of the science and made a medical school built which let the town be the center for medical advancements.

In the 3rd century BC the architect Sostratos of Knidos built the Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the seven wonders of the world, thus leading himself and the town Knidos to be famous world wide. In addition to the Lighthouse he built a stoa ? with a terrace. Knidos owes its fame mostly to the naked sculpture of Aphrodite by Praksiteles in the middle of the town.

Until then there had been no naked sculpture of the Aphrodite and putting the naked sculpture in the middle of the town created such an effect that people from all over the world, according to ancient documents, set sails to see that sculpture. Knidos was conducting a kind of liberation war, but it did not last long.

The Persians extinguished their fire of victory in a fierce way, thus leading Knidos to come under the domain of the Persians again, as the whole Anatolia, until Alexander arrived. By the way we see that the people of Knidos treaded even on the shores of Egypt and Italy, which shows that they were really advanced in sea trade.

They used to sell their delicious wine with the amphora of Knidos all over the world and as they were extremely rich, town’s harbor became inadequate for this trade and they decided to move their current place in 360 BC, just before Alexander arrived in Anatolia and Alexander found them in their new town. As there were two harbors in this new place, they advanced their sea trade and became wealthier.

They decorated their town with magnificent monuments. In 133 BC the Romans established Asia federation and they connected Knidos directly to themselves. In the reign of Caesar Knidos lost its liveliness and it became nothing more than a plain country town of Rome. Knidos lost all its importance during the Byzantine period and became deserted in the middle ages. sea goddess Aphrodite

As you may see from the information above the history of Knidos is fairly colourful. Let alone historical information Knidos is a sine qua non of the blue cruise. After you visit the ruins you may enjoy swimming in the very clean sea of Knidos. However, as the weather is windy here, we do not recommend you to stay the night. We told you that Knidos is the starting point of the Gulf of Hisaronu.

The captain, weight anchor! Other bays of the Gulf of Hisaronu are as follows from north to south: Palamut Buku, Hayitli Buk, Ince Cape, Kargý Bay, Datça Harbor, Aktur, Bencik, Orhaniye, Selimiye, Kemeriye Island, Dirsek Buku, Atabol Bay, Bozburun-Ada Strait, Bozburun Harbor, Yesilova-Sogut Bay and Loryma.