Aphrodisias

Aphrodisias (; Ancient Greek: Ἀφροδισιάς, romanized: Aphrodisiás) was a Hellenistic Greek city in the historic Caria cultural region of western Asia Minor, today’s Anatolia in Turkey. It is located near the modern village of Geyre, east/inland from the coast of the Aegean Sea, and 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 previous Greek names: Lelégōn Pólis (Λελέγων πόλις, “City of the Leleges”), Megálē Pólis (Μεγάλη Πόλις, “Great City”), and Ninóē (Νινόη). In the Late Antique period when it was within the Byzantine Empire, the city was renamed Stauropolis (Σταυρούπολις, “City of the Cross”). In 2009, it was included in the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List, and in 2017, it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list. It is located in Aydın, Türkiye.