Herakleia ad Latmos

In ancient times, this region was known by the name of the Great Goddess Lada. Later, the name Lada was changed to Latmus, and the city was named after this deity. In the early 3rd century BCE, the city was under the control of Pleistarchus from the Ptolemaic Dynasty for a decade and was known as Pleistarcheia. It was later renamed Alexandreia on the Latmus coast by Lysimachus, but these names did not become permanent. The exact date of the city's founding is unknown, though it was mentioned during the Miletus-Magnesia War in the 2nd century BCE. Its significance grew during the Roman period after gaining independence. When it became a bishopric center in the 7th-9th centuries, numerous churches and monasteries were built. Heracleia at Latmus experienced its golden age in the Hellenistic period. In 287 BCE, Lysimachus extended the city walls, reaching a length of 6.5 km. Following Heracleia’s abandonment, monasteries and churches were constructed in the first half of the 8th century CE. A total of 170 rock paintings symbolizing the transition from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic era have been found.