According to the legend Apollo's son Karya King Miletos has twin children, one of them a boy, and the other one a girl. The boy is named Kaunos, and the girl Byblis. The twins love each other very much. Byblis' love for her twin brother is so great that she becomes anxious when she doesn't see him around even for one moment. This love of Byblis is something greater than the usual sisterly love in the times of antique. One day Byblis cannot contain herself,she writes a letter addressed to her brother, and confesses her love. Finding out about the situation, Kaunos feels very sad and ashamed, decides that the only solution would be leaving the town, and travels to the location where we see the ruins of Kaunos today with some of his followers. He establishes a city there, and names it after himself. Byblis on the other hand goes crazy about not being able to see her twin brother any more, runs into the mountains to search for him, crying her eyes out. Realizing that she won't be able to find her brother, Byblis wants to commit suicide, and throws herself down a high cliff. Nymphs (Water Spring Goddesses) take pity on her, and turn her into a spring. So according to the legend, the Calbis River (Dalaman Creek) is made of Byblis' tears.
The establishment of the antique city of Kaunos goes back to 10th Century B.C. Archeological excavations continue in the city leaded by Professor Cengiz Işık. Ruins belonging to Classic, Hellenistic, Rome, and Byzantine eras have been discovered in Kaunos as a result of the research.

Being an important port city during the antique era, the city has moved away from the shore due to the formation of Dalyan delta. Antique era's important geographer Strabon (Skylaks) said, "Kaunos is by the sea, and Calbis runs next to it." Considering the geographical position of Kaunos, it is located south of Karya across from the island of Rhodes. Its surroundings are separated from the rest of the Karya with the mountains that run into the Menderes valley in the north, the Rock graves facing the sea and the valleys in the west, and it faces east and Likya in the south.

Kaunos was supposedly established on the border of Karya-Likya. The antique city of Kaunos was established on the peninsula that stretches into the sea like a tongue, which was formed by the northwest skirts of the two hills, namely the Acropolis, which is152 meters high from the sea level, and the Little Castle that is approximately 50 meters high southwest of it. During the Archaic and Early Classical period Kaunos was located in the bowl between the city walls that run across the ridges of Acropolis and Little Castle, and the city walls that were excavated 30 meters southeast of the Vespasian Fountain in the Agora located in the center of the city. Due to the fact that the residential areas of the city haven't been sufficiently excavated, there isn't enough information gathered about the city plan. However it is obvious that it used to be a city of terraces, which was widened during the Hekatomnids Era. In the following periods, the terraces were fixed and their usage continued, then additional terraces were built.

POLITICAL HISTORY OF KAUNOS
"…Having Ionia obey his dominion, Harpagos attacked the Karya, Kaunos, and Likya people.."says Herodot. It's history going back to 10th Century B.C. The city of Kaunos is first mentioned in the history books of Herodot. Kaunos was ruled under the Persians following their first invasion of the Southeast Anatolia. The Persians didn't intervene in the inner affairs, or collect high taxes. This in turn helped city's speedy progress.

Following the King Peace Agreement signed with the Hellene people in 387 B.C., Kaunos was ruled under a local family of Hekatominds that introduced themselves as the Persian Satraps. The Persian dominion in the region ended after Alexander the Great invaded Asia. After the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C., Karya was handed over to Asandros in the new Satrap distribution, and Kaunos sided with the Rhodesians, and joined the Rhodes Perla that contained the cities on the Anatolian coast, and the ones near the coast. The city stayed under Ptolemaisoses dominion during the 3rd Century B.C. from time to time. The dominion of the Ptolemaisoses was confirmed by an agreement epitaph discovered in Lmyra, which has been dated 288-287 B.C. Following the uprising of Kaunos against Rhodes in 167 B.C., the city was freed from the Roman hegemony with the Roman Senate's decision, and gained its independence. After the Mithridates war in 88 B.C., the Romans gave over Kaunos to the dominion of Rhodes. Freed from the Rhodes dominion soon enough (84-81 B.C.), the city became one of the Roman cities under the dominion of the Asian province. The city has a long and important history during the Christian era. It stayed committed to East Roman and Likya church province, starting from Early Antique period well into the Middle Age. The city was represented through two Bishops (highest ranking religious figure in Christianity). The city was now mentioned along with the two names during this period: Kaunos-Hagia.

Gradually gaining a village identity, Kaunos was under the dominion of Uçturks that governed the region as of the third quarter of the 13th Century, and under Menteşoğulları dominion as of the beginning of 15th Century. During the Conqueror Sultan Mehmet the 2nd, Menteşe Dominion ended, and the entire West Anatolia was ruled over by the Ottomans.