Editing Labraunda (section)

{{Short description|Ancient city in Turkey}}
<!--this article has used the BCE convention since 3 September 2006 -->
{{Infobox ancient site
  |name = Labraunda
  |native_name = Λάβρανδα {{in lang|grc}}
  |alternate_name = Labranda
  |image = Лабранда. Терраса.jpg
  |alt = 
  |caption = Labraunda was built on artificial terraces
  |map_type = Turkey
  |map_alt = 
  |map_size = 270
  |relief=yes
  |coordinates = {{coord|37|25|8|N|27|49|13|E|display=inline,title}}
  |location = Ortaköy, [[Muğla Province]], [[Turkey]]
  |region = [[Caria]]
  |type = Sanctuary
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  |dependency_of = [[Mylasa]]
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}}
[[File:MapaTopográficoDeAsiaMenor-Caria.png|thumb|Ancient cities of [[Caria]]|alt=Map of ancient cities of Caria]]
'''Labraunda''' ({{langx|grc|Λάβρανδα}} ''Labranda'' or Λάβραυνδα ''Labraunda'') is an ancient archaeological site five kilometers west of Ortaköy, [[Muğla Province]], [[Turkey]], in the mountains near the coast of [[Caria]]. In ancient times, it was held sacred by [[Caria]]ns and [[Mysia]]ns alike. The site amid its sacred plane trees <ref>[[Herodotus]], v.119</ref> was enriched in the [[Hellenistic period|Hellenistic]] style by the [[Hecatomnid]] dynasty of [[Mausolus]], [[satrap]] (and virtual king) of [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian]] Caria (c. 377 – 352 BCE), and also later by his successor and brother [[Idrieus]]; Labranda was the dynasty's ancestral sacred shrine. The prosperity of a rapidly hellenised Caria occurred during the 4th century BCE.<ref>The cultural background is presented in S. Hornblower, ''Mausolus'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press) 1982.</ref> Remains of Hellenistic houses and streets can still be traced, and there are numerous inscriptions. 

The [[cult (religion)|cult icon]] here was a local '''Zeus Labrandeus''' (Ζεὺς Λαβρανδεύς), a standing Zeus with the tall lotus-tipped scepter upright in his left hand and the double-headed axe, the ''[[labrys]]'', in his right hand. The [[Cult image|cult statue]] was the gift of the founder of the dynasty, [[Hecatomnus]] himself, recorded in a surviving inscription.<ref>Alfred Westholm, ''Labraunda I.2 The Architecture of the Hieron'', inscription no. 6 (1963).</ref>

[[File:Zeus Labraundos Temple on a Roman coin of Geta from Mylasa.jpg|thumb|400px|Zeus Labraundos Temple on a Roman coin of emperor [[Geta_(emperor)|Geta]] from Mylasa]]

In the 3rd century BCE, with the fall of the Hecatomnids, Labraunda passed into the control of [[Mylasa]]. The site was later occupied without discontinuity until the mid [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] period.