Λάβρανδα(in Ancient Greek) | |
 Labraunda was built on artificial terraces | |
  Labraunda Shown within Turkey | |
| Alternative name | Labranda |
|---|---|
| Location | Ortaköy,Muğla Province,Turkey |
| Region | Caria |
| Coordinates | 37°25′8″N27°49′13″E / 37.41889°N 27.82028°E /37.41889; 27.82028 |
| Type | Sanctuary |
| Satellite of | Mylasa |
Labraunda (Ancient Greek:ΛάβρανδαLabranda or ΛάβραυνδαLabraunda) is an ancient archaeological site five kilometers west of Ortaköy,Muğla Province,Turkey, in the mountains near the coast ofCaria. In ancient times, it was held sacred byCarians andMysians alike. The site amid its sacred plane trees[1] was enriched in theHellenistic style by theHecatomnid dynasty ofMausolus,satrap (and virtual king) ofPersian Caria (c. 377 – 352 BCE), and also later by his successor and brotherIdrieus; Labranda was the dynasty's ancestral sacred shrine. The prosperity of a rapidly hellenised Caria occurred during the 4th century BCE.[2] Remains of Hellenistic houses and streets can still be traced, and there are numerous inscriptions.
Thecult icon here was a localZeus Labrandeus (Ζεὺς Λαβρανδεύς), a standing Zeus with the tall lotus-tipped scepter upright in his left hand and the double-headed axe, thelabrys, in his right hand. Thecult statue was the gift of the founder of the dynasty,Hecatomnus himself, recorded in a surviving inscription.[3]
In the 3rd century BCE, with the fall of the Hecatomnids, Labraunda passed into the control ofMylasa. The site was later occupied without discontinuity until the midByzantine period.
The first occurrence of "labrys" in English (1901) noted by theOED concerns this sanctuary:[4]
It seems natural to interpret names of Carian sanctuaries like Labranda in the most literal sense as the place of the sacred labrys, which was the Lydian (or Carian) name for the Greek πέλεκυς, or double-edged axe.
The same rootlabr- appears in thelabyrinth of Knossos, which is interpreted as the "place of the axe." The double-headed axe was a centraliconic motif at Labraunda. The axe cast of gold had been kept in the Lydian capitalSardes for centuries. The Lydian kingGyges awarded it to the Carians, to commemorate Carian support in a battle. This is the mythic anecdote: the social and political reality may have been more complicated, for such ritual objects are never lightly passed from hand to hand or moved from their fixed abode. Upon receiving this precious, purely ritual axe, the Carians kept it in the Temple of Zeus at Labraunda.
The figure of a double-sided axe is a feature of many coins ofHalicarnassus. Coins at the museum atBodrum bear the head of Apollo on the obverse and on the reverse the name of the reigning Carian ruler inscribed next to the figure of Zeus Labraunda carrying the double-bladed Carian axe.
TheSwedish Institute at Athens has been in charge of archeology at Labraunda, notably in a series of campaigns in 1948-53, initiated byAxel W. Persson and taken up, after the latter's sudden death, by Gösta Säflund, has published its findings in a long series, grouped as four volumes, from 1955 onwards. Reports documenting the archaeological fieldwork have been published in theOpuscula. Annual of the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome.[5][6][7][8][9][10][11]
The hieron, one of the best-preserved and most complete series of 4th century BCE structures, contained a series of buildings of unusual construction, ranged on several formal terraces. In its synthesis ofAchaemenid andIonian features it foreshadowedHellenistic style.[12]
The sacred precinct was entered through one of two marble Ionicpropylea at the southeast corner of the site. TheIonic temple ofZeus[13] bore a dedicatory inscription of the brother ofMausolus, Idrieus (351-44 BCE);[14] it had a simplified, two-partarchitrave, and a low ceiling to the smallcella.
As of 2018, the site was being excavated by an international team led by archaeologistsOlivier Henry andÖmür Dünya Çakmaklı.[15]
Media related toLabraunda at Wikimedia Commons| International | |
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