15 July 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Archaeologists find 4 Umayyad epigraphs in the ancient city Knidos

Archaeological excavations in the ancient city of Knidos connected to Datça District of Muğla province in western Turkey have unearthed four inscriptions made of marble and limestone from the Umayyad period.

Selçuk University is conducting the excavations on behalf of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Turkish Historical Society, and the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Museums.

Archaeologists date the city back to the first half of 2000 B.C. The city was home to a medical school and physicians famous in the ancient world. The Umayyads ruled the city between A.D. 685 and 711.

It has been determined that the names of tribes that would participate in the Umayyad expedition to Istanbul, as well as commanders and administrators, are written on the four inscriptions found during the excavations.

Excavation Director Professor Ertekin Doksanaltı said that excavations have been carried out since 2016 in the ancient city of Knidos within the framework of the 12-month excavation project of the Culture and Tourism Ministry.

This collage shows epigraphs belonging to the Umayyad period unearthed during excavations in the ancient city of Knidos, Muğla, Turkey. (DHA Photos edited by Büşra Öztürk)

“ Four new Umayyad inscriptions were unearthed during the archaeological excavations. These inscriptions, which are the largest remains of early Islam in Western Anatolia, contain names of tribes, commanders, and rulers who participated in two of the three expeditions organized by the Umayyads to Istanbul. Knidos, which offers many new data from the ancient period, showed how important it can be in terms of Islamic historiography with its data that will shed light on the early periods of Islam,” Doksanaltı said.

The inscriptions range in size from 15 centimeters (6 inches) to around 1 meter (3.2 feet).

Knidos was an important cultural and political center by the 5th century BC and, with its large natural harbors, the city was also an ancient trading hub. The city was famed for its association with Aphrodite and for its famous statue of the goddess, sculpted by the renowned classical sculptor Praxiteles of Athens.

Other ruins found at Knidos include temples to Apollo, Dionysus, and Aphrodite, ancient theatres, the agora, and the remains of Byzantine-era churches.

Related Articles

Famous Egyptologist Zahi Hawass Wants to See Hieroglyphs as an İntegral Part of The Curriculum

23 February 2021

23 February 2021

The Egyptian council of ministers is discussing the introduction of archaeological and tourist materials in the education curriculum to help...

A woman who had brain surgery 9500 years ago will be brought revived

12 September 2021

12 September 2021

A “revival” effort is underway on a woman’s skull unearthed in 1989 during archaeological digs at the Aşıklı Mound in...

Israeli researchers create AI to translate ancient cuneiform Akkadian texts

4 May 2023

4 May 2023

Israeli experts have created a program to translate an ancient language that is difficult to decipher, allowing automatic and accurate...

Polish archaeologists have uncovered nine crocodile heads within ancient Egyptian tombs of nobles

25 December 2022

25 December 2022

Polish archaeologists excavating the Theban Necropolis in Egypt discovered nine crocodile heads hidden inside two tombs belonging to high-ranking nobles....

1,500-year-old mosaic found near the Caliph’s palace at Khirbat al-Minya on the Sea of Galilee

30 September 2022

30 September 2022

Archaeologists from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz uncovered an ancient mosaic that once lay in the shadow of a caliph palace...

A Roman Votive Monument Discovered During Excavations at the Roman Open-Air Museum Hechingen-Stein

1 November 2024

1 November 2024

During recent excavations by the State Office for Monument Preservation (LAD) in the Stuttgart Regional Council and the Association for...

Slavic settlement and burial ground with two unusual graves discovered in Saxony-Anhalt

7 August 2024

7 August 2024

Archaeologists from the State Office for Monument Preservation and Archaeology (LDA) of Saxony-Anhalt have uncovered a wealth of medieval treasures,...

Roman Empire’s Emerald Mines May Have mined by Nomads as Early as the 4th Century

4 March 2022

4 March 2022

New research by archaeologists from the  Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the University of Warsaw suggests that Roman Empire emerald...

Artificial intelligence is Detecting New Archaeological Sites in the Arabian desert

5 October 2024

5 October 2024

A team of researchers at Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi has developed a machine-learning algorithm to help them trawl vast...

Archaeologists have discovered the ruins of what may be one of the four lost Ancient Egyptian “Sun Temples”

31 July 2022

31 July 2022

A Polish and Italian archaeological mission, while conducting an excavation in the Abusir necropolis near Saqqara in Egypt, unearthed the...

1000-year-old Cats and Babies mummies of Turkey’s

30 March 2022

30 March 2022

Cat, baby, and adult mummies in Aksaray, which took its place in history as Cappadocia’s gateway to the west on...

A Roman copper-alloy tiny tortoise figurine found in Suffolk

3 December 2023

3 December 2023

In July last year, a small Roman copper alloy tortoise or turtle figurine was discovered by metal detectors near the...

Archaeologists may have found Lyobaa, the Zapotec Land of the Dead

1 July 2023

1 July 2023

An archaeological team from the Lyobaa project has confirmed the existence of a vast Zapotec underground complex in their study...

Ancient Roman Road with Porticoes and Rare Artifacts Discovered in Switzerland

6 May 2025

6 May 2025

A major rescue excavation in Kaiseraugst, northern Switzerland, has revealed a substantial Roman road complete with porticoes, alongside poignant infant...

2000-year-old dagger reveals the site of a long-forgotten battle between the Roman Empire and tribal warriors

16 December 2023

16 December 2023

In Switzerland, a volunteer archaeologist and dental student Lucas Schmid discovered in 2019 a 2000-year-old silver and brass dagger. It...