all over the Roman Empire and found back in the most popular temples such as in Didyma.
Aphrodisias was a Carian town named after the goddess of beauty and love, Aphrodite, whose origins date back from the Hittite and Phrygian cultures. Lots of Aphrodite's characteristics are similar to those of the Ephesus Artemis but cannot be compared with the Greek Aphrodite.
Aphrodisias knew her golden years during the Roman period as it was located alongside a main trade road. Even after the upcoming of Christians, Aphrodisias remained an important pagan center. Under the Byzantines, who renamed it "Stavropolis" (Town of the Cross), Aphrodisias became the residence of the bishop of Caria. When Aphrodisias had been conquered by the Turks, it received its current name "Geyre", most probably a deformation of "Caria".

Aphrodisias was changed to Stayropolis then to Caria which became Geyre years after. The ruins which are worth seein in Aphrodisias are listed below:
*The Tetrapylon which is a monumental gateway built in the 2nd century AD during the time of Hadrian, *The Stadium which could hold 30,000 people, *The Temple of Aphrodite which was originally designed as an Ionic temple but then changed into a church during the Byzantines, *The Bishop's Residence which is said to have been the residence of the bishops during the Byzantines, *The Odeon which had the seating capacity of 1700, *The Baths of Hadrian which were built in the 2nd century during the reign of Hadrian, *The building of the Portico of Tiberius which might have been a gymnasium with a training area, *The Theatre which has the seating capacity of 8000, *The Tetrastoon which used to be a meeting place surrounded by small shops,
*The Theatre Baths which have not been completely excavated and *The Sebasteion which used to be a shrine where the king was worshipped. In the museum of Aphrodisias one can see the busts, decorative and religious sculpture and ceramics.