Description : Alinda (Ancient Greek: Ἄλινδα) was an inland city and bishopric in ancient Caria, in Asia Minor (Anatolia). Modern scholars identify Alinda with the Hellenistic foundation of Alexandria ad Latmum (Ἀλεξάνδρεια πρὸς τῷ Λάτμῳ) noted by Stephanus of Byzantium. Alinda has perhaps been an important city since the second millennium BC and has been associated with Ialanti that appear in Hittite sources (J. Garstang, p. 179). It was a member of the Delian League. It was this fortress which was held by the exiled Carian Queen Ada. She greeted Alexander the Great here in 334 BC. When Alexander captured Caria, he granted Ada to be the ruler of the whole region. The city was apparently renamed "Alexandria by the Latmos" (Greek: Αλεξάνδρεια στη Λάτμο) shortly afterwards, and was recorded as thus by Stephanus of Byzantium, although sources disagree as to the exact location of the settlement of that name. The prior name of Alinda was restored by 81 BC at the latest. It appears as "Alinda" in Ptolemy's Geographia (Book V, ch. 2) of the 2nd century AD. Alinda remained an important commercial city, minting its own coins from the third century BC to the 3rd century AD. Stephanus records that the city had a temple of Apollo containing a statue of Aphrodite by Praxiteles. Alinda has a necropolis of Carian tombs and has been partially excavated. Alinda also had a major water system including a Roman aqueduct, a nearly-intact market place, a 5,000-seat Roman amphitheater in relatively good condition, and remains of numerous temples and sarcophagi.
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