What is special about Halikarnassos? To Strabo, a learned geographer at the time of Augustus, the first assets that came to mind were The Tomb of Maussollos and the Salmakis Fountain (Geography 14.2.16).
Strabo’s choice of the former presents no surprise to a modern reader. The impressive tomb of the Karian dynast Maussollos built in the 4th century BC had already obtained a position in the canon of the Seven Wonders of the World. When the emperor Augustus died his sepulchral monument at Rome was referred to as his mausoleum.
Salmakis is perhaps more of a surprise. Salmakis is the name of a local water nymph and of her fountain. It was also the name of a district in ancient Halikarnassos.
The Inscription
Both the nymph Salmakis and her fountain were known to us not only from Strabo but first and foremost from his contemporaries, Ovid (Metamorphoses 4.285-388) and Vitruvius (On Architecture 2.7.11-12). Vitruvius even gave an idea of the location of the fountain. But it was not until 1995 that Vitruvius’ indications by chance were confirmed, when the Turkish authorities discovered a sixty lines long, partially damaged but mainly well preserved, inscription cut into an ancient wall still in situ at the promontory Kaplán Kalessí, also called Salmakis.
