Labraunda Ancient City
Labraunda was a very important cult center for the Carians who lived in the southwest of Anatolia. It is possible that the origin of the cult of the double-axe God Zeus Labraundos was based on the large rock just above the water source and the temple terrace. The earliest finds are from the Early Bronze Age, but the first temple dates back to BC. It belongs to the 6th century. At that time, the sanctuary had a terrace with a small temple and a grove of plane trees. The Carians, who joined the Miletos, who rebelled against the Persians, BC. In 497, they participated in a war here and suffered a bad defeat. B.C. In the middle of the 4th century, the Carian Satrap King Maussollos (377-352 BC) made Labraunda a family sanctuary. He and his brother Idreieus (351-344 BC) built the Temple of Zeus, two large Androns (religious dining halls), the North Stoa, the Oikoi Structure, the South Propylon (passage structure), and the Doric Structure. The sanctuary was reached by an 8-meter-wide stone-paved road called the Sacred Way, which started from Mylasa (Milas).
