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Hotel Class: 
4 Stars - 1 Opinion
Kurucay Mevkii Atakent, Silifke, Turkey
of people enjoy staying here
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The Three Graces of Pompeii
The English Three Graces
Üç Güzeller
A place for rest
The benches in the parks along the river are marked with “Silifke Belediye”. Belediye means municipal council and you can see the word together with the city name on Town Halls and benches around Turkey. It can be a good help when you travel through a city by bus and want to know where you are.
10km N of silifke,river goksu valley...
the exact place (shingle beach on photo) where frederic barberousse emperor had the very bad idea to drown himself ,taking a bath after breakfast during a crusade in 1190...
Silifke is not a well known part of Turkey. But is a home of many historical and cultrural heritages. In Narlikuyu you may find very intersting remains of ancient culture. Narlikuyu is on the 20th km of Silifke-Mersin highway. It is famous for fish reataurants and a small bay with a nice beach. It was called Porto Calamie in the middle ages. Narlikuyu is famous with a bath ruin near sea shore. This bath was built by Poimenius in IV century during the Roman period. You may see the beautiful mosaics of bath even today. It is a must to see. In this mosaic it is shown three naked girls dancing with partridges and doves. Those three girls are doughters of Zeus.
In Grek mithology they are called Kharides or Tharits. Singular form is Kharit or Tharit which means charity. They are the daughters of Zeus and Eurynome. Eurynome was the daughter of Okeanos. Aglaia is the youngest daughter which means brightness. Euphrosyne means happiness and Thalia is blossom time. First they were presented in long dresses with flowers as crown on their heads. After IVth century they were presented naked.
The virtue of Charity is depicted in the character of a godess, seated in a chair of ivory, with a golden tire upon her head, set with precious stones: her vesture like the light of heaven, represented universal benevolence; her throne was unpolluted and unspotted by passions and prejudices; and the gems of her filet represented the inestimable blessings which flowed variously from her bountry. They also represented the charities, otherwise called the Graces, under three personages: one of these was painted with her back towards us, and her her face towards, as proceeding from us; and the two with their faces towards us to denote, that for one benefit done, we should receive douple thanks: they were painted naked, to intimate that good offices should be done without dissembling and hypocrisy: they were presented young, to signify that the remembrance of benefits should never wax old: and also laughing to tell us that we should do good to others with cheerfullness and alacricy. They were presented linked together, arm in arm, to instruct us that one kindness should prompt another; so that the knot and band of love should be indissoluble. The poets tell us, they used to wash themselves in the fountain Acidalius, because benefits, gifts and good turns, ought to be sincere and pure, and not base and counterfeit.(William Hutchinson, "The Spirit of Masonry", New York 1982, originally published in 1775,p.180)
A English artist Edward Burne-Jones (1833-1898) painted also The Three Graces.
We have today original 3 naked Kharites staues in the Siena Fine Arts Academy. It is said that the statues was carved by a Grek called Kyrene. There are several copies of those statues in the Louvre Museum in Paris.
The Three Graces inspired also many artists such as Tintoretto, Raffaello, Zuccari, Rubens, Natoire, Leonard Kern, Falconetti, Thorvaldsen and Pradier. Borticelli painted in Florance “The Spring”.
I decided to make a stop in Silifke as I didn't want to travel from Antakya to Anamur in one day. It is a nice place for a break.
Silifke is a small town with a population of 85 000 inhabitants. It is situated a bit inland from the coast and is spread out on both sides of Göksu River, below a hill with a fortress on the top.
30km N from silifke....
on your way to the site, you'll discover a lot of well preserved lycean graves....
and on right side of the road,2km before main site,roman and byzantine vestiges (see photo)
in ancient greek times,OLBA,means "happy city"
became roman,1st century AC,under the name of DIOCAESAREA....
rather important city until 1000 and from then declining to a small village....
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