The site, now occupied by the modern village of Kapıkırı, stands on the shore of Lake Bafa, which in antiquity was part of the Gulf of Latmus before it was silted up by deposits from the river Maeander.

[6][7] Stephanus of Byzantium records that it was also briefly known as Pleistarcheia, after Pleistarchos, the son of Antipater and brother of Cassander, who ruled Caria for several years following the battle of Ipsos in 301 BC.

The walls of the cella still stand to a height of over 7 m.[11] Near the southern end of the city is an unusual structure built into a rocky outcrop, facing southwest and not aligned with the urban grid.

It has been suggested that this was a shrine to Endymion, the shepherd or hunter loved by the goddess Selene, who in some versions of the myth lived on Mount Latmos and passed his perpetual sleep in a cave on the mountain.

[6][10] On the slopes of the peninsula at the southern end of the city (now occupied by a Byzantine fort) many rock-cut tombs are visible, some of them underwater because of the rise in the level of the lake.