The locals call the temple "Donuktaş > frozen stone" or "Dönükta > turned stone".

The impressive building in the Tekke district is 115 metres long and 45 metres wide. The outer walls are up to 6.60 meters thick and are made of Roman concrete, as tests at the Archaeological Faculty of the University of Istanbul have proven.
The name Donuktaş, "frozen stone" or donükta, "turned stone" originated from a tradition according to which Donuktaş was a castle in which a ruler lived with his daughter. One day the ruler got into a fight with a prophet. This kicked ragingly against the massive walls of the building, which then fell down the hill and remained upside down.

Other old sources saw in the building a huge tomb, again others a princely seat. The Dutch consul William Burckhardt wrote about Donuktaş after his long stay in Tarsus in 1835: "It is the family mausoleum of a king".

For centuries, the building was used as a quarry by the city's inhabitants until only the remains that are still visible today remained. To get inside, an entrance was broken through the concrete on the west side.

There are no exact dates of construction. Prof. Dr. Nezahat Baydur of the Museum Tarsus, who led excavations in the temple in the years 1985-1992, dates the beginning of construction of the temple to the time of the Antonine dynasty of Roman emperors, i.e. to the time of the emperors Nerva until Commodus. (96 - 192 A.D.)

Robert Koldewey, a German architect and building researcher had documented quite conclusively in 1890 after investigations at the ruin that it is a (probably) Roman temple building with 10 columns on the narrow sides, which the latest excavations basically confirm.