Tonscherben, die in Kaunos gefunden wurden, deuten darauf hin, daß dort bereits 3000 Jahre vor Christus eine Art Siedlung existierte. In einem Schriftstück aus dem 4. Jahrtausend vor Christus, dem sogenannten 'Periplus' (Logbuch eines Segelschiffes), das auf die Pseudo-Scylax zurückzuführen ist, steht geschrieben, daß Kaunos in Karien und unter karischer Herrschaft stand. Es gibt keinerlei Beweise, daß Griechen dort je eine Siedlung erbaut hatten. Als Kaunos unter die Herrschaft der Hellener geriet, wurde es Mode, die Gründung Kaunos` einem Gott, Halbgott oder Helden zuzuschreiben. Möglicherweise um diesem Trend zu folgen und um den sehr ungriechischen Namen ihrer Stadt zu erklären, "entdeckten" die Bewohner von Kaunos einen Namensgeber.
Kanon war laut Theocritus, Ovid und einer Reihe anderer Schriftsteller, der Sohn von Miletus somit der Enkel von Apollo. Eine Quelle besagt, daß er nach Cana floh, um den inzestuösen Annäherungen seiner Zwillingsschwester Byblis zu entkommen. Eine andere Version der Geschichte geht davon aus, daß Kaunos derjenige war, der sich in seine Schwester verliebte und sich deshalb freiwillig ins Exil begab, da er nicht in der Lage war, seine unrechte Begierde zu zügeln. Diese Mythologien erklären vielleicht auch den Ausdruck 'eine kannianische Liebe", der in der Antike häufig gebraucht wurde, um eine unglückliche Liebe zu beschreiben.
Der Kult um Kanon blieb nicht auf seine eigene Stadt beschränkt. Eine dreisprachige Inschrift, die in Xanthus in Lyria gefunden wurde, weist auf die Entstehung eines weiteren Kults um 'fling'(Basileus), eine gottartige Version Kanons, hin. Es gibt einige Beweise, daß diese Vergötterungt bis ins römische Zeitalter andauerte.
Da - laut historischen Quellen - Miletus von Minos aus Griechenland vertrieben wurde, glaubten die Kannianer, daß ihre Vorfahren auch von dort kamen. Diese Version der frühen Stadtgeschichte wird allerdings von Herodotus, nicht akzeptiert. Er nahm an, daß die Bewohner von Kaunos anatolischen Ursprungs waren. Sowohl ihre Sitten und Gebräuche als auch ihre Sprache unterschieden sie jedoch von ihren nächsten Nachbarn, den Karianern. Bean fand heraus, daß sie die Schrift der Karianer übernommen hatten, sie aber durch den Zusatz einiger Zeichen an die Anforderungen ihrer eigenen Sprache angepasst haben. Weder die karianische noch die kaunische Version konnte von Sprachforschern bisher komplett entziffert werden.
Als 540 vor Christus der persische Harpagus in Caria und Lycia einmarschierte, waren Kaunos und Xanthus unter den wenigen Städten, die den Truppen standhielten. Laut Herodotus hatten die beiden Städte eine enge Freundschaft entwickelt, die auch die Existenz eines Schreins, der dem mythologischen Gründer von Kaunos gewidmet ist, in Xanthus erklärt.(Siehe oben.)
Vermutlich aus Angst vor Repressalien der Perser schlossen sich die Bewohner von Kaunos zuerst nicht der Revolte um 540 vor Christus gegen sie an. Nachdem die Revolte in der Schlacht von Lade 494 vor Christus niedergeschlagen wurde, regierten wieder die Perser die Stadt. Aber das währte nich lang. Der Vormarsch von Darius und Xerxes gegen Athen und seine Aliierten fand in Maratho (490 v. Chr.), Salamis und Plataea (479 v. Chr.) seinen Höhepunkt, so daß die Athener 477-478 v. Chr. ein Heer zur Verteidigung gründeten, um die Ausuferung des persischen Übergriffs einzudämmen oder sogar zu beenden. Kaunos wurde Mitglied der Verteidigungsorganisation. Anfänglich war ein Beitrag von einem halben Talent zu zahlen. Später wurde diese Gebühr auf 10 Talente erhöht. Es ist jedoch nicht ganz sicher, ob je etwas bezahlt wurde.
Der Sieg von General Cimon aus Athen bei der Schlacht am Fluß Burymedon in der Nähe der Stadt Aspendus 467 vor Christus war ein weiterer Meilenstein im Kampf gegen die Perser. Eine weitere Folge dieses Sieges war, daß einige Städte, darunter Pamphylia und Cllicia Mitglied in der Verteidigunsorganisation wurden. Nachdem die Athener 404 vor Christus am Ende des peloponesischen Kriegs geschlagen wurden, stellte sich jedoch heraus, daß die Sieger, die Spartanen, schlechte Herrscher waren. Sie verloren sehr schnell die Kontrolle über die Verteidigungsorganisation und ihre Mitglieder, so daß die persichen Gesetze bald wieder eingeführt wurden.
Kaunos wurde Teil von Caria, welches von Hecatomnos und seinen Nachfolgern regiert wurde. Die Dynastie Hecatomnids entwickelte erstaunlich schnell eine beachtliche Unabhängigkeit von Persien, insbesonder unter Mausolus, dem Sohn von Hecatomnos. Er war ein großer Bewunderer der Griechen und ihrer Kultur und fing deshalb an, seine Herrschaftsgebiete to hellenisieren.
Beweis für sein Interesse an Kaunos lieferte die Sockelinschrift einer Statue, die seinen und den Namen seines Vaters trägt. Sie wurde bei Ausgrabungen in der Stadt gefunden. Die langen Mauern, die Kaunos umgeben deuten darauf hin, daß er große Pläne für die Ausdehnung der Stadt hatte.
Die entscheidenden Siege von Alexander dem Großen über die Perserlexander the Great over the Persians at the battles of Granicus in 334 BC and Issus in the following year heralded a period of comparative freedom for Canons. As in the case of Caria, the city probably came under the rule of Ada, the last of Hecatomnids. This situation lasted until 323 BC, when Alexander's successors, the Diadochi, began a prolonged and unseemly struggle for possession of his empire. Canons, like its neighbours, was caught up in the imtiroglio. Antigonus, Ptolemy, Lysimachus and their descendants all ruled the city at different times.
Towards the beginning of the 2C BC Canons was purchased from the Ptolemies by Rhodes for 200 talents. However, in 167 BC the Caunians succeeded in conjunction with their neighbours in throwing off the Rhodian yoke. Despite protests from Rhodes, Rome gave the city its freedom. This it retained until 129 BC, when it was incorporated in the newly-formed Roman province of Asia.
In 88 BC Canons made a fateful choice. It supported Mittiridates against Rome. As in Ephesus and a numtier of other cities in the province, there was a ruthless and bloody massacre of Roman citizens in Canons. After the defeat of Mithridates, the Romans punished Caucus in 85 BC by returning it to Rhodian rule. With some interruptions this state of affairs continued well into the iC AD.
Although Canons appears to have heen a wealthy rity-it was famous for its exports of salt and slaves-it had few claims to fame and produced few citizens of note. Probably hecanse it was reputed to be an unhealthy place, not many foreigners chose to live there. In addition, the dour, unattractive character attributed to its people by many of the ancient commentators can hardly have helped immigration.
In ancient times the unhealthy appearance of the Cannians was attributed in part to their addiction to fruit, which was believed by many physicians, including Galen, to boa dangerous food. However, there seems little doubt that malaria was the real cause of the city's health problems. The marshes, which extended around Canons then, as now, provided an ideal breeding-ground for mosquitoes.
Among the many unkind jokes made about the health of Canons and of its ritizens, perhaps the best-known and most amusing is attributed to the 4C BC citharist and wit, Stratonicus. Noting the greenish cast of their complexions, he remarked that in Canons he understood for the first time in his life Homer's statement: 'as are the leaves of the trees, so are the generations of men'. When the Caunians protested at his gibe, he replied tartly, 'How could I possibly call your city unhealthy, when every day dead men may be seen walking its streets!'
Though the site of Canons was known from the middle of the 19C, it attracted few scholars until George flean made a series of exploratory visits there between 1946 and 3952. Since 1967 Turkish archaeologists, under the direction of Professor Baki Ogin and Associate Professor Omit Serdaroilo, have conducted surveys and excavations of the site. During the same period the rock-tombs at Dalyan have been studied by Paevo Roes of the University of Lund.
The rock-tombs at Dalyan are not always included in the excursion to Caunus, Travellers wishing to see them should check with the boatman before embarking. An additional payment may have to be made, Allow c 30 minutes for the visit, which requires a crossing of the swift waters of the Dalyan river, followed by a scramble up the slippery mud-bank and rocky slope that lie below the cliff-face.
There are two kinds of rock-tombs at Dalyan-simple chambers hollowed from the cliff in the lower row and more elaborate temple-tombs higher up. Most are believed to have been constructed towards the middle of the 4C BC, a time when the Hecatomnid dynasty was conducting a vigorous campaign to Hellenise the satrapy of Caria, Some authorities see the use of Creek architectural forms in the service of the ancient, indigenous tradition of rock-burial as an interesting example of this tendency.
Most of the tombs have two or more Ionic columns in anfis. Some are surrounded by a passageway, others have an empty space above
the roof, which may be flat or barrel-vaulted. Inside there are usually three benches on which the bodies of the deceased were laid. Finds in the tombs have shown that they were used and reused down to the Roman period. All those excavated had suffered at some time from the hands of tomb-robbers. Many have been damaged by earth-quakes or weathenng. Others have been destroyed deliberately by human action e.g. to make lime. A number have been partially demolished by ignorant treasure-hunters, who believed, mistakenly, that they contained hidden riches. Today some of the tombs are used to shelter arurnals by the local farmers.
Note the large unfinished tomb in the upper row. The roof, pediment and frieze were completed, as were the tops of four capitals. Below the rock-surface was smoothed, but no further work was undertaken.
A short distance to the W of the principal group of rock-tombs are a number of Carian-style burials: the graves are cavities cut from the rock and covered with stone lids. Nearby are niches in which the mourners left offerings for the deceased.
From Dalyan the river swings around in a wide arc to the S before it turns again towards the site of Caunus. The boat, having passed through the modem fish-trap, which has replaced an older installation located near the village, enters a narrow channel. This is fringed by swaymg banks of tall golden reeds, which reflect, distort and magaify the sound of the engine, turning it into a rhythmic, hypnotic beat.
From the landing-stage at Caunus a wooden causeway stretches across an area of marsh to firm ground. From there it is a short walk to the site. Today the city lies c 5km from the sea, separated from it by a vast expanse of fen, the result of centuries of activity by the Dalyan river.
The acropolis of Caunus was located to the SE of the city on a steep hill, which was once surrounded on three sides by the sea. The great harbour to the NE is now a marshy plain, while Sultiklu Gblu, the Lake of the Leeches, is believed to mark the site of the W harbour. According to Strabo, this could be closed in times of danger by a chain. The 152m-high acropolis-hill is crowned by the ruins of a Hellenisfic forfified area, which is surrounded by a fine ashlar wall measuring 39m by 20m, The lower fortifications are medieval or later.
To the NW and N of the city is one of the best preserved defensive walls in Anatolia. Around 8m high and strengthened with towers, it resembles the defences of lasus and Heracleia-under-Latmus. Enclosing a vast area, which never appears to have been used productively, it ends abruptly at a cliff overlooking the village of Dalyan. The N stretch is believed to have been constructed by Mausolus. The NW s~ction is later, probably dating from the Hellenistic era.
Near Silluklu G6lu are the remains of a 1 C AD Roman nymphaeum. Sometimes called the 'fountain of Vespasian' because an inscribed slab bearing that emperor's name was found in the street nearby, the nymphaeum has been restored by Turkish archaeologists. On its S wall there is the text of an interesting decree on customs dues. To encourage foreign traders to make greater use of the port of Caunus a number of citizens donated 60,000 denani to the city's treasury. Certain remissions of duty were offered, e.g. slaves, for which Caunus was famous, might be exported without the payment of tax.
To the N of the nymphaeum there was a two-storey, Hellenisilc sf00, 94m long and 6.30m wide, which faced the harbour. This was ornamented with a large number of statues and furnished with
exedrae. Among the statue-bases discovered there are two inscribed with the names of Mausolus and Hecatomnos.
On a raised terrace to the NE are the ruins of a mysterious building, which some authorities believe to have been a fountain, others a bathing pool. Dated to the late Hellenistic period, it was encircled-except on the E-by a colonnade of flat-fluted columns, which rested on a narrow stylohate. Entrance was on the E side by way of a three-stepped. semicircular exedra. Slots in the columns suggest that the space between them was closed by a grill. Inside the building a low plastered wall, surmounted by unfluted columns, surrounded a shallow pool, in the centre of which lay a circular, flat purple stone. The exact purpose of this structure continues to be the subject of speculation and discussion.
Behind the circular building are the remains of a small late Hellenistic Doric-style temple in anfis. Traces of stucco were found by the Turkish archaeologists on the sandstone triglyphs and metopes of this building.
Iligher up the slope are the substantial remains of a Roman bath with a large paloestro to the E. After the adoption of Christianity by the Caunians an imposing church with three aisles and an apse was erected in the centre of the palaestra. There are plans to restore the baths complex and use it to display finds from the site and house the archeaologists during the excavation season.
To the N are the ruins of a late structure. Sometimes described as a temple, Bean suggests that it may have been a library. The ridge near this building overlooks a large stretch of the Dalyan river and the marshy ground which today marks the site of the NE harbour,
Perhaps the most imposing ruin in Caunus is that of the theatre, Constructed in the Greek style, the cavea is substantially greater than a semicircle. It has a diameter of C 76m. Supported on the N side by substantial walls, on the S it rests against the hillside. The single diazoma. with 18 rows of seats below and 16 above, is divided by steps into nine cunei. Note the two arched entrances on the N side of the structure which, with two parodoi, provided access to the cavea. The stage-building measured c 38m by 8.5m. From the top row of seats there is a fine view W over the city towards Sultiklu Golu.
Energetic visitors may like to take the steep and difficult path which leads upwards from the rear of the theatre to the acropolis.