The world-famous Bodrum Peninsula is one of the paradise corners of Turkey with its 3,500 years of history, culture and art inherited from ancient civilisations, natural beauties, unique architecture, agricultural richness, gastronomy, climate, sea and magnificent bays, entertainment life that lasts until the morning, qualified and different concept accommodation facilities that meet every need of visitors.
Bodrum, which has fascinated mankind since ancient times, harbours traces of various cultures and civilisations such as Leleg, Carian, Persian, Dorian, Hellenic, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman.
Halicarnassos, called "The Paradise of Eternal Blue" by the famous historian Homer, was founded on the lands that were the intersection point of Greek and Anatolian civilisations. Archaeological finds belonging to various civilisations indicate that the region and its surroundings have a history of seven thousand years. Halicarnassus, one of the most important harbour cities of the Carian Region in ancient times, has raised many important people such as Herodotus, known as the father of history, and Artemisia I, the first female admiral of history.
It is said that the adventure of mankind in Bodrum has a history stretching back 3,000 years. Bodrum Historian Herodotus (484 BC) writes that the city was founded by the Dorians around 1,000 BC where the castle is located today. It was an island at that time.
The Carians came under the rule of the Lydians in the 6th century BC and then the Persians. Persians divided Anatolia into satrapies. The Carian region was ruled by the Hecatomnos dynasty. Mausolos brought the capital of the Carian Satrapy from Mylasa to Halicarnassos and rebuilt the city. Halicarnassos experienced its most brilliant period in these years. During his 24-year rule, Mausolos started to build the Mausoleion, one of the seven wonders of the world, and after his death, his wife and sister Artemisia II continued the construction of the monument.
In 334 BC, Alexander the Great, King of Macedonia, conquered the lands under Persian rule in Anatolia. The city could not recover after being destroyed by Alexander. After Alexander's death, the region was ruled by his generals for a while, then came under the rule of the Ptolemies and Rhodes, but Halicarnassus maintained its independence like other coastal cities. In 133 BC, when the Romans established the Province of Asia in Anatolia as the heir of the Kingdom of Pergamon, Caria was included in this province. After the division of Rome into two (324 AD), it became a bishopric under the Metropolis of Aphrodisias.
The city was captured by the Turks in the last quarter of the XIth century, and in the XIIIth century it joined the territory of the Menteşe Principality. With the conquest of Rhodes by Suleiman the Magnificent, Bodrum was annexed to the Ottoman Empire. It was occupied by the Italians at the end of World War I (11 May 1919) and the Italian occupation ended during the War of Independence (05.07.1921).
