350-320 BCE
AR Drachm 3.07g, 16mm
Head of Aphrodite right
Forepart of a Lion right.
SNG Keckman 174-175
Pausanias describes Knidos as a sort of ‘double city’ because part of it was on the mainland and part on and island. A bridge or causeway connected the two. The island itself was describes as 7 stadia (4200 feet) in circumference and high and theater-shaped. The majority lived on the island, probably because it was more defensible.
The causeway allowed two ports, one of which Pausanias mentioned was for triremes and the other could be closed. Opposite it was the city of Nisyros.
A number of famous people came from Knidos. The mathematician and astronomer Eudoxos was born and lived much of his life in Knidos. He is widely considered the best of the classical mathematicians and perhaps second best in all of antiquity after Archimedes. He proved a number of geometric principles and was heavily borrowed from by Euclid.
Agatharchides was also from Knidos and was a historian famed for his information on Egypt and Arabia. Although his works have been lost, he was widely quoted by many other historians including Diodorus Siculus, Strabo, Pliny, and Josephus. Supposedly he was the one who deduced the true reason for the regular flooding of the Nile and learned the language of the Ethiopians.
Pausanias also mentions Theopomops and his son Artemidoros, who were allies of Caesar, and the physician Kresias as being from the city. Sostratos, who built the Pharos (one of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World) in Alexandria was also from Knidos.
The city contained a temple to Aphrodite, who is pictured on the obverse of this coin. In ancient times, the city also contained a large lion statue that resembles the one on this coin. That statue was removed to London and now stands in the British Museum. The Turkish town that now occupies the site has asked for it back.
circa 300-200 BCE
Kleitophon, magistrate
Æ 13mm, 2,00g
Head of Aphrodite to right, her hair bound in sphendone
Rev. KNIΔΙΩΝ / ΚΛΕΙΤΟΦΩΝ Prow right; below, club
BMC 57. HN online 2500
The name Kleitophon also pulls up in the Lexicon of Greek Personal Names, with an amulet dating from 220-188 BCE having been found at Knidos. Kleitophon also appears on a 2nd century BCE inscription from a monumental fountain that reads:
Voulakratis Kleitophon…aqueduct…puts on his helmet….
Approximate foundation of Knidos by Dorian settlers.
Lipara is colonized by settlers from Knidos.
August 27
The Spartan admiral Peisander is defeated and killed by a fleet headed by Pharnabazos and former Athenian admiral Konon at the Battle of Knidos.
Birth of philosopher Eudoxos at Knidos.
Kos commissions Praxiteles for a sculpture of Aphrodite. They reject a nude version, which is then taken by Knidos.