Aphrodisias

Aphrodisias was a small ancient Greek Hellenistic city in the historic Caria cultural region of western Anatolia, Turkey. It is located near the modern village of Geyre, about 100 km east/inland from the coast of the Aegean Sea, and 230 km southeast of İzmir.

Aphrodisias was named after Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, who had here her unique cult image, the Aphrodite of Aphrodisias. According to the Suda, a Byzantine encyclopedic compilation, before the city became known as Aphrodisias it had three previous names: Lelégōn Pólis, Megálē Pólis, and Ninóē.Sometime before 640, in the Late Antique period when it was within the Byzantine Empire, the city was renamed Stauropolis.In 2017, it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list.