Labraunda is the home of the Sanctuary of Zeus Labraundos and is located in the mountains overlooking the plain of Milas. It was one of the most important sanctuaries in Caria, especially in the 4th century BC when King Mausolus, the satrap of Caria, made Labraunda his family sanctuary.
Coordinates: 37° 25′ 8″ N, 27° 49′ 13″ E
The cult of Zeus Labraundos, whose attribute was the double-headed axe, may have originated in the 7th century BC at a spring just above the temple terrace. It is quite possible that Labraunda was first seen as a sacred place because of the remarkable rock above the sanctuary. It has the appearance of having been split in two by a thunderbolt. Moreover, the sacred spring is located just below the split rock.
The site was situated on a rather steep slope so the buildings were constructed on a series of five artificial terraces. It was linked to the city of Mylasa (modern Milas) by a 7.5 m wide, paved Sacred Way. A 5-day long sacrificial feast was celebrated here every year.
The remains, dating to the 5th century BC and 1st century AD, include the Temple of Zeus, two large Andrones (ceremonial dining halls), two stoas, two Roman baths, several priests’ residences, and a nymphaeum.
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Thank you deeply.
You took me home, where my father, and my father’s father was born, for hundreds of years, till our family was driven out by the Turks, who took over our homelands after the fall of the Eastern Roman empire, 1450’s C.E.
I am a Greek, and came by accident to your photograph with the ruins left and right of a stone walk. I froze on my tracks. “I know this place”, I said to my self. So I visited you.
I was both elated and sad, seeing and remembering…
Elated of my past, proud of what the Greeks were once, and sad of what has become to most of them after they were brutally made into christian sheep.
So much destruction, so much death.
Thank you for the joy you brought to my heart through your travel, your efforts, and your breath-taking photographs.
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