| HISTORY of BODRUM |
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 It is thought that the first civilization on the Bodrum Peninsula was established by the Argolis Tribe of Carians in 11 th century BC. The native inhabitants of the region were the Carians and the Lelegians. In the Iliad, Homeros ( Homer ) mentions the Carians as the inhabitants of Anatolia and allies of the the Trojans against the Greeks. Around 10 th century BC the Dorians migrated from Troezen on the eastern coast of Peloponessus and were forced to settle on the coast. According to the ancient geographer Strabo of Amasya, Bodrum ( Halicarnassus ) was founded by Anthes, son of Poseidon on the rocky little island where the Castle stands today. The island called Zephyria in those days, Zephyros meaning 'western wind', is joined with the mainland today. In 484 BC Herodotus "the father of written ancient history" was born here and much of what is known about the origins of Halicarnassus and Asia Minor in the 5 th century BC is owed to him. In 7th century BC, Halicarnassus was in the group of six cities which were set up by the Dorians, called 'The League of Hecsapolis' but expelled from the League shortly before the Persian invasion in 546 BC. The Lydian's ruled the area between 550 BC and 546 BC .The Persians ruled the area until the arrival of Alexander the Great in 344 BC. During the Persian rule, Satrap Mausollos made Halicarnassus the capital of Caria and after his death, his wife-sister Artemisia built 'Mausoleum' ( one of the Seven Wonders of the World ) in his name. The area was under Roman - Byzantine rule from 129 BC to 13 th century AD. In 60 BC Caesar's adopted son, Brutus, took refuge in Myndos ( Gumusluk ) with his partner Cassius after Caesar's murder. Ottoman Turks ruled the area until early 15 th century when the rule passed to the Knights of St.John .Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent captured the area in early 16 th century. During the First World War Italians occupied the area for a short time. Today, the area is a developing holiday region in Turkey. CARIA &CARIAS HISTORY.: Early history - Caria and the Carians are mentioned for the first time in the cuneiform texts of the Old Assyrian and Hittite Empires, i.e., between c.1800 and c.1200. The country was called Karkissa. They are absent from the Egyptian texts of this period. After a gap of some four centuries in which they are mentioned only once (below), the first to mention the Carians is the legendary Greek poet Homer. In the so-called Catalogue of ships, he tells that they lived in Miletus, on the Mycale peninsula, and along the river Meander. In the Trojan war, they had, according to the poet, sided with the Trojans (Homer, Iliad, 2.867ff). This is a remarkable piece of information, because in Homer's days, Miletus was considered a Greek town; the fact that it is called Carian indicates that the catalogue of ships contains some very old information. In the fifth century, the Greeks thought that the Carians had arrived in Caria from the islands of the Ionian Sea, whereas the Carians claimed to be indigenous. Homer confirms their story. It is also confirmed by modern linguistics: the Carian language belongs to the Hittite-Luwian subfamily of the Indo-European languages. It is related to Lycian and Lydian, the languages spoken to the southeast and north of Caria.166-100 BC. Head of Athena, Carian Coin Had the Carians arrived in their country from the west, their language would have been closer to Greek. It seems that the Greeks settled on the coast in the dark ages between c.1200 and c.800, where they and the Carians mixed. The Roman author Vitruvius mentions fights at Mycale (On architecture 4.1.3-5). According to the Greek researcher Herodotus of Halicarnassus (Bodrum) (fifth century BC), the inhabitants of Miletus spoke Greek with a Carian accent (Histories 1.142). Herodotus himself is also a good example of the close ties between the Carians and Greeks: his father is called Lyxes, which is the Greek rendering of a good Carian name, Lukhsu. Because of his descent and birth place, Herodotus is one of our most important sources. Caria is, like Greece, a country of mountains and valleys, poor in agricultural and other resources - in comparison with Egypt and Babylonia a backward country. Hilltops were fortified and there were several villages in the valleys, but there were hardly any cities. Because of their disparate country, the Carians were divided; when they learned to read and write, every village used its own version of the Phoenician alphabet. What united the Carians, however, was their religion. 173-170 BC, Head of Herakles, Carian CoinOne of their ritual centers was Mylasa, where they venerated a male supreme god, called 'the Carian Zeus' by Herodotus. Unlike his Greek colleague, this Zeus was an army god. One of the Carian goddesses was Hecate, who was responsible for road crossings and became notorious in Greece as the source of witchcraft. Herodotus calls her Athena and tells that her priestess got a beard when a disaster was appending (Histories 8.104). On mount Latmos near Miletus, the Carians venerated Endymion, who had been the lover of the Moon and had procreated as many children as there are days in the year. Endymion was sleeping eternally, a story that the Greeks told about Zeus' father Kronos. Pharaoh's mercenaries: Like the Swiss, the Gurkha's, and other mountain people, the Carians were forced to become mercenaries. Their country was too poor to maintain a large population, and younger sons went overseas to build a new future. They were military specialists and it is no coincidence that Herodotus writes that the Greeks had been indebted to the Carians for three military inventions: making shields with handles, putting devices on shields, and fitting crests on helmets (Histories 1.175). Because of this last invention, the Persians called the Carians 'cocks'. The first reference to Carian mercenaries can be found in the Bible: in 2 Kings 11.4, we read about Carians in Judah. (This may look strange, but it fits the picture: according to 2 Samuel 8.18, king David had a guard of Cretans.) The books of Kings were probably composed in the sixth century, but the information stems from older sources; this is the only mentioning of the Carians in the dark ages.  The Carians, however, were especially famous because they served the Egyptian pharaoh. Our main source is, again, Herodotus. He tells us that the first to employ these men was pharaoh Psammetichus I (664-610; Histories 2.152), probably at the beginning of his reign. Some circumstantial evidence supports Herodotus' words, because archaeologists have discovered several settlements in the western part of the delta of the Nile that were founded by people from the Aegean. These settlements can be dated in the seventh century. The Carians remained active in Egyptian service. They are known to have fought against the Nubians (in modern Sudan) in c.593; on their return, they visited Assuan and left inscriptions. According to an Egyptian stele now in Cairo, they played an important role during the coup d' état of Amasis (570), who gave the Carians a new base near the Egyptian capital Memphis. When the Persian king Cambyses invaded Egypt in 525 BC, the Carian contingents were still there, serving king Psammetichus III. According to Herodotus (Histories 3.11), they sacrificed children before they offered battle against the invaders. They managed to switch sides, however. (They were not the only ones: even the commander of Egyptian navy, Wedjahor-Resne, deserted his king.) In Egyptian sources from the Persian age, we still find Carians, now serving a new lord. One of the latest examples is an Aramaic papyrus dated to January 12, 411. Seven years later, the Egyptians became independent again; this time, the Carians were unable to switch sides. The collaborators must have been dismissed. The Persian period :Meanwhile, their homeland had been subjected to the Lydian king Alyattes, and, later, to the Persians. This happened in 544 or 543. In 547, the Persian king Cyrus the Great had defeated the powerful king of Lydia, Croesus, who had had some influence in Caria. Next year, the Lydians revolted, but Cyrus sent his general Harpagus, who subjected them again. This time, he also took the Greek cities on the coast and then moved to the south, where he subdued the Carians and the Lycians. The Carians offered their services to their new masters. They are mentioned in cuneiform documents from Borsippa in Babylonia and from the Persian capital Persepolis. When the Macedonian king Alexander the Great conquered the Achaemenid empire, he discovered a Carian settlement in the neighborhood of modern Baghdad. These Carians can not have been deported from their homeland, but must have formed a military colony, because it was a very strategic place, commanding the so-called Silk road. Initially, the Carians seem to have retained some kind of independence. In the Behistun inscription, which was made in 520 BC, they are not mentioned among the nations subject to king Darius I the Great, but an inscription that was made about five years later, known as DP, does mention them.After 499, they joined the revolt of the Ionians against the Persians. They were twice defeated by the Persians, but in a third battle they annihilated their enemies - not even their generals survived. Although Darius and his successors have claimed overlordship, it seems that the Carians were always able to keep a certain independence. The Persians knew that they were good soldiers, and after all, their country was poor, so there was no need to really conquer it. However, the Persians were present. In 1974, archaeologists have found a threelingual inscription from the time Artaxerxes IV Arses in Xanthus (in the southeast) and one of the languages was Aramaic, the language of the Persian bureaucracy. The center of the Persian administration in Caria was Halicarnassus. However, after 469/466, parts of Caria were conquered by the Athenians. They remained more or less loyal to these Greeks until 412, when they returned to Persia. Again, they retained some freedom. One of the most remarkable aspects of his reign is his strict adherence to the ancient cults of Caria. Although it was not unusual for the dynasts of what is now Turkey to sacrifice to the Persian supreme god Ahuramazda, or to venerate the Greek gods, none of these religious beliefs can be attested for Maussolus. In 357, he helped the Athenian allies, who had revolted against Athens. Some of these allies -Chios, Kos, Rhodes and Byzantium- became federates of Maussolus. This was his usual policy: he ruled Caria, had allies abroad, and left the towns in his territory more or less autonomous. This model was copied by later rulers.Between 370 and 365, Maussolus returned the Carian residence to Halicarnassus. (His father had resided in Mylasa.) The city was fortified with modern walls and received many new inhabitants. Its most famous building was the monument that the satrap built for himself, which has become known as the Mausoleum. It was considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Maussolus died in 353. He was succeeded by his sister (and wife) Artemisia -she invited Greek artists to finish he Mausoleum-, his brothers Idrieus and Pixodarus and finally his younger sister Ada. They were quarreling. When Alexander the Great approached Caria in 334, Ada opened negotiations and became the new queen of Caria. After Alexander's death, his successors contested the possession of Caria; first ruled by Antigonus Monophthalmus, it became part of the empire of Lysimachus in 301, and later became a province op the Ptolemaic empire, only to change into Seleucid hands before the mid-third century. In 188, the Romans defeated the Seleucids; the conquerors divided the country between the Pergamene kingdom in the north and Rhodes in the south. In 129, the Romans decided to annex the Pergamene part of Caria, which became part of their province Asia. The Rhodian part retained some of its independence, until it was, together with Rhodes, conquered by the Roman general Brutus in 42 BC. Hecatomnus 391-377 Maussolus 377-353 Artemisia 353-351 Idrieus 351-344 Ada (first reign) 344-340  Pixodarus340-334 Ada (second reign) 334-326 ? BODRUM CASTLE of St. PETER The Knights of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem (to give their full name) was originally established in 1085 as a community of monks responsible for looking after the sick at the Hospital of St. John in Jerusalem. They later became a military order, defending crusader territory  in the Holy Lands and safeguarding the perilous routes taken by medieval pilgrims. The Knights were drawn exclusively from noble families and the Order acquired vast wealth from those it recruited and later from the ill-gotten gains of their privateering.The Order of the Hospital was not only the first military-religious order of chivalry, but indeed the first order of knighthood of any kind. Previously, knights did not serve in corporate bodies other than the armies of particular sovereigns. The Order of the Temple, the Teutonic Order and the Order of Saint Lazarus were founded soon after the Order of the Hospital. Each of these orders had its own purposes, of which military defence was but one. Until this time, most knights had been minor feudatories obliged, as part of the feudal system, to undertake military service for a prescribed number of days each year; some were full time soldiers who served in garrisons.The Order was ruled by a Grand Master who was answerable only to the Pope. Knights were chosen from the aristocratic families of France, Italy, Spain, England and Portugal. On acceptance into the Order they were sworn to celibacy, poverty and obedience. Few lived up to these ideals; many were very wealthy and the Knights' standoffish attitude towards the locals does not always seem to have applied when it came to temptations of the flesh.After erecting a castle on the island of Cos, the Knights needed a stronghold on the mainland of Asia Minor. In 1374 they acquired Symrna (where the city of Izmir now stands), which a league of Christian powers had conquered earlier from the Seljuks and built a castle there. The Mongol leader Tamerlane had his hordes destroy this edifice in 1402, however, starting off a century-long struggle between the Knights and the Ottoman Turks. The search for a new site led the Knights to a small island set between two sheltered bays, (water once completely surrounded the Castle). Ruins showed evidence of an ancient castle, now known to have been erected during Doric Times (1110 BC), as well as a small Turkish castle from the 11th CAD. Just 1 km to the north stood one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Tomb of King Mausolus (now called The Mausoleum) reduced to ruins by an earthquake.In an area where successive groups of people have lived for thousands of years, each new group tends to use building materials left behind by previous inhabitants. The careful observer walking through the backstreets of Bodrum will see many old houses with ancient blocks and column pieces embedded in their walls. Not ones to waste useful building materials themselves, the Knights instructed their builders to remove any usable portions from the Tomb of King Mausolus when Castle construction began in 1402. Much of the Mausoleum was built with a green colored rock, pieces of which now adorn the Castle walls. Visitors can also see column bases in the sides of several towers. In 1846, Sir Stratford Canning, British Ambassador to Istanbul, took from the Castle 12 marble reliefs depicting the battle between the Greek and the Amazons (which the Knights took from the Mausoleum) and sent them to London. The Vatican attached great importance to the building of the Castle and send Christians to work there. In 1409 the Papal Office issued a decree that all those who assisted in the construction would receive a guaranteed reservation in Heaven. German Architect Heinrich Schlegelholt supervised construction of the Castle, seeing to it that it incorporated the latest in castle design. The French had developed the art of cannon foundry by this time, so gun embrasures were built along the top of the Castle's walls, especially those facing landward. The Crusaders had a powerful fleet of warships, so they had little fear of attack from the sea (the walls facing the mainland were also built much thicker than those facing the sea). Also, the Knights decided a second and third line of defense were necessary, resulting in a more complicated moat system than that of most castles.Castle construction continued throughout the 15th Century, with the first walls completed by 1437. The Chapel, (which still stands in its original place inside the Castle) was one of the first completed structures. The Knights also built a watchtower overlooking the bay from a hill opposite the Castle, the remains of which stand, sporting a Turkish flag, above the present-day Turkish military resort. In the inner Castle, wide areas were excavated in the natural rock to from cisterns for collecting rainwater (including the one under the chapel there are 14). These cisterns, some of which are still in use, supplied the Knights with water when the Castle was under siege. In 1409 the Papal Office issued a decree that all those who assisted in the construction would receive a guaranteed reservation in Heaven. The Knights began referring to the town as Mesy, unaware of its ancient name, and the new Castle of St. Peter soon became the Knights' most important position outside Rhodes. In conjunction with the castle of Antimahia on the island of Cos, it oversaw the most heavily used shipping route of the day. The fortress became known as the Castle of St. Peter The Liberator because it served as the sole place of refuge for all Christians on the west coast of Asia Minor. The Knights kept a special breed of dog in the Castle, who could track down refugees and bring them to safety, much like the famous St. Bernard. Life in the Castle was rather slow in between battles, so the Knights had plenty of time to adorn the walls with hundreds of coats of arms and carved reliefs. Coats of arms were first used by the Crusaders during their conquest of Jerusalem. The heat of the Middle East made it impossible to fight with their normal heavy armor, so the Knights, like their Muslim Foes, emblazoned their surcoats and shields with colorful symbols. The various coats of arms spread throughout the Castle have lost the brilliant colors they once wore, making it more difficult to identify who or what they once stood for. The arms in general show lions, dragons, crosses and horizontal and vertical bands. Each knight had his own design, and others signified certain countries, religious figures, Castle commandants and grand masters of the Order. A total of 249 separate designs remain. Other historical records have helped to identify most of these symbols. For example, above each of the seven gates in the Castle lie the arms of several known knights and grand masters, while the Royal Arms of France adorn the north wall of the inner moat. Religious motifs were also included, such as one on a high western wall depicting the Virgin Mary and the Apostle Peter holding the keys of Heaven to his breast. For over a century the Castle of St. Peter served as an integral stronghold in the Knights' community. The Ottoman Empire continued to grow, however, and in 1453 Mehmet II, Sultan of Turkey, conquered Constantinople and announced his aggressive intentions towards the Knights' holdings. The Knights resisted his attack, however, as well as another in 1480. By 1521, Turkish leader Süleyman the Magnificent was ready to challenge the Order's headquarters in Rhodes. After an exchange of letters with Grand Master Fabrico del Carretto war was declared. In June 1522, 200.000 Turkish soldiers gathered in the Bay of Marmaris. The Knights withstood the siege for six months, but were forced to surrender in January 1523. The Castle of St. Peter soon followed. Sultan Süleyman spared the Knights' lives and they sailed to the island of Crete. The Castle underwent several different uses under Turkish care. In the 17th Century villagers erected several houses within the Castle. In the Greek revolt of 1824 the Turks used it and the town as a military base. Later in the 19th Century Turkish builders installed a public bath and converted the chapel to a mosque by adding a minaret. And in 1895, the Castle was fortified and used as a prison. In the First World War a French warship fired on the Castle, damaging several towers and toppling the minaret. After the war the Italians, who occupied the Anatolian shore from Kusadasi to Antalya, put a garrison in the Castle. They also repaired the Italian and French towers and tried to establish good relations with Turkey. When it became obvious that the war of independence led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk would be won by the Turks, the Italians withdrew in 1921.The Castle stood empty for almost 40 years, until the Turkish government decided to use it as a storeroom for underwater findings from several recent shipwreck excavations. In 1962 the government decided these findings were worthy of a separate museum, and the castle changed into one of the biggest museums in Mediterranean. MAUSOLEUM of HALICARNASSUS (Bodrum) " I have lying, over me in Halicarnassus, a gigantic monument such as no other dead person has, adorned in the finest way with statues of horses and men carved most realistically from the best quality marble. " King Maussollos  in Lucian's "Dialogues of the Dead" Mausollos One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World is the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus (Bodrum ), built for the king Mausollos of Caria, that died 353 B.C. by his wife and sister Queen Artemisia. The description of the composition is preserved in Pliny's Natural History, where rough figures of the Mausoleum are described. When the Persians expanded their ancient kingdom to include Mesopotamia, Northern India, Syria, Egypt, and Asia Minor, the king could not control his vast empire without the help of local governors or rulers -- the Satraps. Like many other provinces, the kingdom of Caria in the western part of Asia Minor (Turkey) was so far from the Persian capital that it was practically autonomous. From 377 to 353 BC, king Mausollos of Caria reigned and moved his capital to Halicarnassus. Nothing is exciting about Maussollos life except the construction of his tomb. The project was conceived by his wife and sister Artemisia, and the construction might have started during the king's lifetime. The Mausoleum was completed around 350 BC, three years after Maussollos death, and one year after Artemisia's. She hired the architect Pythius to design the building. She also hired the four famous sculptors, Scopas, Bryaxis, Leochares, and Timotheus. Each sculptor was responsible for one side of the building. The statue on top was created by Pythius, according to Pliny the Elder. Scholars believe that the Mausoleum was started before Mausollos' death in 353 BC. Mausollum Plan The basic plan for the building was a large temple with a 24-step pyramid on top. The total height of the Mausoleum was 45m (140 ft). This was composed of the 32m (99 ft) base, 7m (22 ft) 24-step pyramid, and 6m (19 ft) statue of a chariot on top. Pliny the Elder said that the total periphery of the building was 440 feet. He also said that the North and South sides were 64 feet long. He also claimed that the other two sides were shorter, but if that was so then the sides would not add up to 440 feet. A Danish archaeological dig between 1966 and 1977 found that the Mausoleum was probably 100 feet by 120 feet. Pliny also wrote that there were 36 columns around the outside of the building.   Each side of the Mausoleum was decorated with friezes of battle scenes from the Greek war with theHorse from Mausollum at British Museum Amazons. There were also two other types of friezes. One showed a chariot race and the other showed a battle between Lapiths and centaurs. There also were free-standing sculptures around the outside of the building and on the top. Fragments of the statues and friezes can be seen in the British Museum !!!. There have been many excavations done at the site of the Mausoleum. Charles Guichard wrote about workers discovering the burial chamber in 1522. He said that the sarcophagus was made out of alabaster, he also described bits of gold cloth that were left over from the burial. Sir Charles Newton excavated the site in 1856 - 1858. He discovered an Ionic capital, part of the chariot, and two larger-than-life-size statues. He speculated that the statues were Amazon detail from Masollum at Britih Museumof Mausollos and Artemisia. In 1966 - 1977 there was a Danish excavation that discovered the remains of an offering of food for Mausollos. They found whole sheep, goats, oxen, some chickens, doves, a goose, and a large amount of eggs. The Mausoleum was destroyed between AD 1000 and AD 1400, probably by an earthquake. In 1494 the Knights of St. John of Malta built an immense castle during the crusades. This castle was built with blocks from the Mausoleum and the lime mortar was made out of burnt marble from some of the statues and columns. Today, that castle still exists and the parts from the Mausoleum are still visible. |