According to the Byzantine Stephanos, Aphrodisias was founded in the 13 th century B.C. and was called Ninoe.However,archaeological excavations started in 1904 revealed that the first settlement in Aphrodisias stretched far back to the Chalcolithic Age ,araund 4000 B.C. The clearest information about the city is from the 11 th century B.C. historian Appian ,who recorded that Aphrodisias minted silver and bronze coins together with the neighbouring city of plarasa (bingec).Aphrodisias reached its heyday under Roman rule. The city's artisans carved wonderful statues and construction elements from the marbel from the quarries at the foot of Babadag Mountain. They sent their beautiful works all around the Roman Empire and founded an art school famous for its "Aphrodisias style ". As a result of intensive settlement during the Roman period, which lasted for five hundered years, the city dotted with architectural feats of brilliance.During the Byzantine period, Aphrodisias gradually left its sparkling days behind due to religious and political reasons. Destroyed by fires,eartquakes and Sassanid and Arab raids,The city was eventually abandoned.
The ruins of interest in the city include the 2 nd century bath complex built during the reign of the Emperor Hadrian, agora which has a large pool, a temple erected in honour of the Goddess Aphrodite in the first century B.C. and a stadium for 30 000 people . The theatre – with a seating capacity of 10 000 people.
Aphrodisias was famous for the rituals in honour of Aphrodite, goddess of love and fertility. It became an important centre of architecture, art and workship in Antiquity. Scientific research confirmed that Aphrodisias also played host to major studies performed in the fields of medicine, mathematics and astronomy . Medical scientist XENOCRATES , novalist CHARTITON and philosopher ALEXANDER were all from Aphrodisias.
