If you are looking for a place of serenity, then you should come to Labraunda. The site is nestling in the heart of the Carian mountains in southwest Turkey, surrounded by a dense forest of pine trees, overlooking the valley of Milas (ancient Mylasa), the closest town some 16km away. There, you will be surrounded by archaeological remains which escaped from the rapid urbanization of the country and therefore still offer today an exceptional level of preservation.
Labraunda was famous in Antiquity, and not only because it was the seat of the sanctuary of Zeus Labraundos. Many ancient writers mention the place. Herodotus tells us about the Carian commanders holding a war council at Labraunda while fighting the Persian forces during the Ionian revolt in the early 5th century BC; and other writers like Strabo, Pliny the Elder and Aelian not only underlined its remote location but also the quality of the fresh water running from its many fountains.
Labraunda is an old site, probably one of the oldest in the region. It still bears traces of Chalcolithic (Copper Age) rock paintings dating from the 4th millennium BC and was probably settled as early as the very beginning of the Bronze Age. The origin of its name, rooted in the early history of the region, is very much debated among modern scholars. For some, it relates to the labyrinth built by Daedalus for King Minos, others also ascribe to the Cretan connection but plead for a name built on the Labrys (the double axe carried on its shoulder by Zeus Labraundos to which the sanctuary of Labraunda was dedicated).
The Cretan and Aegean Bronze Age connections were the reasons why scholars got interested in Labraunda. The beginning of the 20th century was a period of great discoveries and great mysteries. Among them, two new written scripts, Linear A and B, discovered in the ruins of Bronze Age Crete and a large collection of double axes carved on the walls and columns of the Knossos Minoan Palace. Axel W. Persson, a then famous archaeologist from the university of Uppsala in Sweden, was a specialist of the Bronze Age Aegean. He argued that the key to understanding the Minoan civilization probably resided in the only known ‘double axe’ sanctuary of the Aegean world, that is Labraunda.
In 1938, Persson made a first visit to the site and, convinced by his own theory, started planning an archaeological dig at Labraunda for 1939. The second world war brutally stopped his preparations but, never giving up, he resumed his plan and finally started the excavations in 1948. Although he never found any sign of Bronze Age occupation on the site (although they were found after his death), his excavations revealed one of the jewels of Carian archaeology and a key to understanding Aegean history.
Labraunda was indeed a site like no other in Antiquity, not a settlement, nor a town but a place of devotion. In Classical times, its sanctuary became one of the most important and one of the wealthiest of southwestern Asia Minor. It all started when the Great Persian King Artaxerxes II appointed a local dynast, Hekatomnos of Mylasa, as Satrap (governor) of Caria. At this time, and since the mid-6th century BC, the region together with all of Asia Minor was under the control of the Persian Empire. In the beginning of the 4th century BC, the Persian king, Artaxerxes II, reorganized his satrapies (the administrative districts composing the Empire), and created a new autonomous satrapy of Caria and placed it under the authority of a local noble, Hekatomnos. The decision was surprising since Satraps, who had full authority over the land they administered, were usually chosen among the inner circle of the Persian power.
A second surprising fact is that the title of Satrap was never hereditary, to avoid the entrenchment of local powers. However, in the case of Caria, Hekatomnos was succeeded by his 5 sons and daughters until the conquest of the region by Alexander the Great (in 334 BC). The local Hekatomnid dynasty, empowered by the Great King, proceeded to make profound transformations in the area and transformed it from a mosaic of tiny principalities into a major regional player in the Aegean world. We do not know much about Hekatomnos himself, but his heirs left many remains, both written and architectural, that allow us to retrace their actions in detail. Among them, two especially are noticeable: his first born, Maussollos (the very same that reached international fame through the construction of his monumental tomb, the Mausoleum in Halikarnassos, modern day Bodum) and his younger brother, Idrieus.
Now, before the Hekatomnid period (ca. 392 – late 330 BC), Labraunda was probably a tiny sanctuary in the territory of the nearest city, Mylasa. It housed a modest temple dedicated to Zeus Stratios (‘Zeus of the armies’), as well as a small place of worship dedicated to Kybele, the Anatolian mother goddess. In their agenda to unite all Carian settlements under one single banner (their own!), the Hekatomnids set their sights on Labraunda and made it a ‘national’ symbol of the unity of the Carian people. In order to promote the place, and its cult, the Hekatomnids not only decided to print the image of Zeus Labraundos on every single coin they ever minted, they also physically transformed the site into one of the most impressive architectural ensembles ever built.
After changing Zeus’ epithet to Labraundos, replacing the old Stratios for the Hekatomnids needed a new figure for a ‘new’ Caria, they started transforming the then modest site into a major centre. They first built a series of 4 larges terraces over 19.000 square metres and then covered them with lavish buildings of never-seen-before dimensions and decoration. The entrance was a masterpiece by itself. Two marble monumental gates (Propylons) were preceded by a 55m-long and 13m-high complex of a two-storey complex housing not less than 14 banqueting halls. It also comprised a large fountain adorned by a colonnaded façade.
Once the pilgrims passed the entrance, they would climb a 13 m-wide and 4 m-high staircase (it feels epic to this day) to reach the second terrace which was faced by a 50 m long colonnaded portico behind which stood 7 banqueting halls. The third terrace was bordered to the east by an identical combination associating a 45m-long portico and 6 banqueting halls, while its western end received a monumental banqueting hall, called the Andron B. The fourth terrace, accessed by a third monumental gate, was the heart of the sanctuary, the place were stood the temple of Zeus and its altar. Behind the temple two major buildings completed the Hekatomnid planning: a second monumental banqueting hall, now known as Andron A, and a double room structure, the so-called Oikoi building, probably dedicated to the administration of the sanctuary. Finally, the entire site was crowned by a monumental dynastic tomb, built on the model of the Halikarnassos Mausoleum. Set back in the context of the 4th century BC in rural Caria, one can only imagine the aesthetic shock that such a collection of architectural wonders must have had on the locals.
Sites with major ancient architectural remains are not scarce in this region of the world, but Labraunda offers many unique peculiarities. Chronologically, most of the remains seen today at Labraunda date from this 4th century BC Hekatomnid period, so you literally walk among Late Classical ruins, ca 2,400 years ago, while other sites mainly present an architectural landscape dating from their last occupation date. Due to its location, high up in the mountains, and the number of buildings erected by the Hekatomnids on long and narrow terraces, there wasn’t much space left for other buildings to be added during the following centuries. Labraunda was abandoned in the 13th AD, with the Ottoman Turkish conquest of the region, and although a few buildings were added to the site after its original construction (a monumental fountain in the Hellenistic times, two baths in the Roman period, a couple of Churches in the Byzantine era), they are all located at the periphery of the site.
The second peculiarity of Labraunda is in the architecture itself. The Hekatomnid Satraps could be considered today as ‘enlightened’ dynasts. We already knew from written sources that Maussollos had gathered at his newly founded capital, Halikarnassos, and for his monumental tomb the very best architects of the time. Looking at the architectural landscape of Labraunda, there is no doubt that he did the same here, although a certain local pragmatism was factored in.
Since they wanted to make Labraunda the most beautiful and wealthiest sanctuary of all, marble was considered mandatory. The only problem is that the closest marble quarries were located on the other side of the mountains, down at sea level, more than 50 km away. The cost of transporting the marble blocks needed for a building would have been several times the cost of the building itself! So, they found a clever solution to this rather expensive equation. All of the Hekatomnid buildings except the monumental entrance gates, which were completely built out of marble, have only their façades composed of marble blocks. The rest of the buildings were made of local gneiss (akin to granite) covered with stucco, a decorative coating mainly made of ground up marble powder.
Beside this rather surprising feature, the architectural decorations and styles themselves were unique. Remember, the Hekatomnids, ruling on behalf of the Persians, were trying to build a new Carian nation, one that would be different from the old Carian way-of-life and political organisation. They couldn’t really adopt a completely foreign Persian architectural style. Neither could they adopt a completely Greek architectural tradition. So, they decided to use elements of both and combine them. They shaped their buildings as well as the organization of the site in a Persian way, but used Greek architectural features to erect them, mixing elements of the classical Greek orders but amalgamating them in their own special way. Many scholars speak today of the architectural experimentations at Hekatomnid Labraunda, but more than an experimentation it was rather a creolization: an invention of a new culture using and reinterpreting old foreign traditions.
Two specific buildings particularly highlight this: the two monumental banqueting halls, the so-called Andron A and Andron B. The buildings are almost perfectly identical in plan, dimensions and architectural decorations. They are so large that the first travelers to identify the site of Labraunda in the 19th century thought that they had (re)discovered the (two?) temples of Zeus! But quickly after the first excavations started, archaeologists brought to light the dedications inscribed on these buildings. These texts tell us that Maussollos (on andron B) and Idrieus (on andron A) “dedicated these banqueting halls to Zeus Labraundos”. So, instead of temples, these were banqueting halls where the meat from the holy sacrifices to Zeus Labraundos was shared out and eaten by the leading men.
A more detailed analysis has since demonstrated that far from being built according to the traditional ancient Greek models of ‘androns’ (a kind of a living room, where the master of the house invited his favored guests and friends) the many banqueting halls found at Labraunda, were arranged according to the Persian ‘Apadana’, like the one found in Persepolis, now in southern Iran, thousands of kilometers away in the heart of the Persian empire. This was the place where the Great King received delegations submitting to his supreme authority. At Labraunda, the excavations have furthermore demonstrated that the façade of these buildings were a subtle combination of ancient Greek architectural features and Persian decorations (but arranged in a way that would have provoked a heart attack in any Greek at the time). It’s still possible to see the beautiful and unique marble Persian Sphinx, with the head of a bearded man, that once decorated the corner of Mausolus’ banqueting hall roof, now exhibited in the gardens of the crusader castle in Bodrum (ancient Halikarnassos).
The specificities of Labraunda, its planning and location, its buildings and their architecture and the role it played in the demonstration of Hekatomnid power continues to inspire new theories in modern scholarship concerning the interpretation of Labraunda’s role in ancient Caria. It seems that Labraunda was not just a sanctuary dedicated to Zeus Labraundos, although it has the look and feel of it. It was also a place where the dynasts displayed their importance and power, through the complex’s every single aspect and where they held the central role. The dynasts claimed to have a personal link to Zeus Labraundos, and all of this was underlined and organised during lavish festivals held in the god’s, but also their honour.
If not a city, nor just a sanctuary, what then is Labraunda? A palatial sanctuary or sacred palace, like Persepolis at the heart of the Persian empire? A Dynastic palace for a dynastic cult associated to the local pantheon of gods, like the palace at Vergina in Greece? Or something in between? Watch this space! A large team of archaeologists working under the direction of one of our expert tour guides, Professor Olivier Henry, is continuing to work at the site and every year brings new discoveries and information about this most intriguing of archaeological sites!
To visit Labraunda with one of our expert tour leaders, why not join one of our Cruising to Ephesus trips.
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