Cnidus is noticed first in the Homeric hymns, and later as a Lacedæmonian colony, and as a member of the Dorian Hexapolis, or assembly of six cities, whose place of meeting was the temple of the Triopian Apollo, on Cape Krio.[40] As a population, the Cnidians were great traders, combining with this a love for, and a high sense of, art. Thus we find them at a remote period in Egypt (Herod. ii. 178), and possessing a treasury at Delphi, while Lipara, near Sicily, was one of their colonies. In the various wars of the fifth and fourth centuries B.C., we find the Cnidians sometimes on one side and sometimes on the other. Thus, they submitted to Harpagus, the general of Cyrus;[41] then supported Athens, then deserted her after her losses in Sicily,[42] and then, again, in Roman times, were, generally, on the side of Rome.[43] The Cnidians derived much fame from their patronage of art. Thus, the famous painting of Polygnotus in the Lesche at Delphi was their gift;[44] as were also a statue of Jupiter at Olympia, and one at Delphi, of their founder, Triopas; with other statues of Leto, of Apollo, and of Artemis shooting arrows at Tityus. The most famous art- possession of Cnidus was the naked statue by Praxiteles so well known as the Cnidian Venus,[45] of which abundant notices are extant, especially in Lucian. It stood in a chamber with two doors, so that it could be seen all round, and many people visited Cnidus solely for this purpose. So proud were the Cnidians of this statue that, when Nicomedes offered to pay the whole public debt of Cnidus in return for the statue, they preferred keeping their statue and their debts. This statue, justly considered the fittest representation of the “Regina Cnidi Paphique,” continued long uninjured, and is mentioned by Philostratus in his life of Apollonius of Tyana; but, in the reign of Theodosius, having been removed to Constantinople, it was totally destroyed by fire in the palace of Lausus, about A.D. 475. There were also preserved at Cnidus two statues by Bryaxis and Scopas, two of the sculptors of the Mausoleum. Cnidus was also famous for her pottery, well known in ancient times by the name of “Κεράμια Κνίδια.”[46] Footnote 40: Near this temple the Cnidians held their assemblies and the games (αγῶνες τοῦ Τριοπίου Ἀπόλλωνος, Herod. i. 144, or Ἀγὡν Δώριος, Arist. ap. Schol. Theocr. Idyll. xvii. 69). The officer in charge of these games was called δαμιουργὸς (Leake, p. 227). Footnote 41: The Cnidians wished to cut through the narrow neck of land between their two harbours; but the Delphic oracle replied that, had Jupiter intended Cape Krio should have been an island, he would have made it so:— Ζεὺς γὰρ κ’ ἔθηκε νῆσον εἴ κ’ ἐβούλετο—Herod. i. 174. Footnote 42: Cnidus paid dear for this desertion by loss of all her ships (Thucyd. viii. 35, 42). Footnote 43: Hamilton (ii. 42) shows that more than one of Julius Cæsar’s personal friends were connected with Cnidus.