Historical places around Bodrum

The Mausoleum, Bodrum Turkey

Its most brilliant period was around 353BC, when Halikarnassos was the capital of the satrap of Caria. After the death of King Mausolos, Caria was ruled by his wife and sister Artemisia II and the Mausoleum, the monumental tomb, was built by Artemisia II in honour of her husband and brother King Mausolos.


This monument became one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, but was destroyed by an earthquake in the 14th century. In 192BC, Halikarnassos came under the rule of the Roman Empire and then in 395AD, under Byzantine rule. In 11th century AD, the city was conquered by the Turks but during the first crusade changed hands several times. The Knights of Rhodes captured Halikarnassos in 1402 when the city's name was changed to Petronium. Bodrum was finally taken by the Turks in 1523.

Bodrum Castle

Bodrum Castle was built by the Knights of Rhodes in honour of St.Peter between 1415-1437. The stones and marbles of the Mausoleum were used for the construction of the castle. There are five main towers, the English Tower, French Tower, Spanish Tower, Italian Tower and German Tower. These reflect the architectural styles of the nations by whom they were constructed. In 1895, the castle was used as a prison and then in 1961 converted into a museum. Underwater archeology has uncovered artifacts from the Mycenean, Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantium periods and these are displayed in the museum.

Mausoleum
The Mausoleum is Bodrums oldest antiquity and was built by Artemisia II in honour of her husband King Mausolos. It became one of the wonders of the ancient world, Mausoleum still is the general term for a large tomb. The entire structure stood at over 50 meters in height. The first reliefs from the Mausoleum reached the British Museum in London in 1846, these included frescos and other objects, including statues of Mausolos and Artemisia riding a chariot drawn by four horses from the crest of the monument.

Bodrums first remembered literary character, Cevat Sakir, known as the 'Halikarnassos Fisherman', asked for the return of the Mausoleum parts to Bodrum in a letter adressed to the Queen of England, saying that such exquisite works of art were not finding their true place under the foggy and grey sky of London. The letter he received in response stated: "Thank you for reminding us of the matter, we have painted the ceiling where the Mausoleum is located in blue."

Amphitheatre

Situated in the hillside overlooking Bodrum. The theatre which can hold around 13,000 people, was built during the Carians reign in Hellenistic age (330-30 BC). The theatre consists of three different sections: a place for the audience, a place for an orchestra and the stage. It became an open-air museum after the excavations in 1973.

Myndos Gate

Located on the west side of Bodrum at the far end of Turgutreis Caddesi, Myndos Gate is one of the two entrances of ancient Halicarnassus. This is the only surviving gate of the ancient town wall and is so called, as it faces the ancient place of Myndos now known as Gumusluk.

The walls were originally 7km long and probably built by King Mausolus in the 4th Century BC. Today only parts of the wall remain. In 333BC, the soldiers of Alexander the Great had difficulty trying to get through the gate to take the town of Halicarnassus, many of the soldiers drowning in the moat in front of the gate.

By 334BC, the soldiers had captured the city and destroyed all buildings apart from the Mausoleum. The gate originally had three towers described as "Tripollion", the middle part of the gate is totally destroyed, but ruins from the other two parts still exist and consist of huge and heavy square stones. Excavation work has been carried out and they expect to find more remains underneath 17 centuries of rubble. Regarding Gumbet Bodrum news Myndos gate visited by many tourist every year and get attention from every nation.

Article Source: ArticleBase