Bodrum
Encyclopedia
Bodrum is a port city in Muğla Province
Mugla Province
Muğla Province is a province of Turkey, at the country's south-western corner, on the Aegean Sea. Its seat is Muğla, about inland, while some of Turkey's largest holiday resorts, such as Bodrum, Ölüdeniz, Marmaris and Fethiye, are on the coast in Muğla....

, in the southwestern Aegean Region of Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

. It is located on the southern coast of Bodrum Peninsula, at a point that checks the entry into the Gulf of Gökova
Gulf of Gökova
Gulf of Gökova or Gulf of Kerme , is a long , narrow gulf of the Aegean Sea between Bodrum Peninsula and Datça Peninsula in south-west Turkey.Administratively, Gulf of Gökova coastline includes portions of the districts of, clockwise, Bodrum, Milas,...

. The site was called Halicarnassus
Halicarnassus
Halicarnassus was an ancient Greek city at the site of modern Bodrum in Turkey. It was located in southwest Caria on a picturesque, advantageous site on the Ceramic Gulf. The city was famous for the tomb of Mausolus, the origin of the word mausoleum, built between 353 BC and 350 BC, and...

 of Caria
Caria
Caria was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid-Ionia south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Ionian and Dorian Greeks colonized the west of it and joined the Carian population in forming Greek-dominated states there...

 in ancient times and was famous for housing the Mausoleum of Mausolus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
The Seven Wonders of the World refers to remarkable constructions of classical antiquity listed by various authors in guidebooks popular among the ancient Hellenic tourists, particularly in the 1st and 2nd centuries BC...

. Bodrum Castle
Bodrum Castle
Bodrum Castle , located in southwest Turkey in the city of Bodrum , was built by the Knights Hospitaller starting in 1402 as the Castle of St. Peter or Petronium.-History:...

, built by the Crusaders in the 15th century, overlooks the harbour and the marina. The castle grounds include a Museum of Underwater Archeology and hosts several cultural festivals throughout the year.

The city had a population of 118,237 in 2009.

Geography

The region includes the municipalities of Bodrum, Turgutreis
Turgutreis
Turgutreis is a town in Turkey about a 60 minute drive from Bodrum International Airport. It is the second largest town on the Bodrum peninsula. The district, which comes under the City of Muğla and Bodrum Town, is in an area of 55,000 Hectare...

, Ortakent, Türkbükü
Türkbükü
Türkbükü is a coastal town in Muğla Province in southwestern Turkey, located on the Turkish Riviera on the opposite side of the Bodrum peninsula from the town of Bodrum. Türkbükü has a well protected harbor ringed with high hills containing a number of luxury hotels and holiday villas...

, Yalıkavak
Yalikavak
Yalıkavak is a town near Bodrum in Muğla province, on the Aegean coast of Turkey. It is 18 km from Bodrum and located at the north eastern tip of the Bodrum peninsula...

, Gümüşlük
Gümüslük
Gümüşlük, a seaside village and fishing port in Turkey, is situated on the remains of the ancient city of Myndos. The remains of the foundations of buildings can be clearly seen in the knee deep water that leads to Rabbit Island. This island is very successful because you can see all the boats...

, Bitez, Konacık, Yalı and Mumcular; with many tourist-oriented developments being constructed across the district area.

Etymology

The name Bodrum derives from Petronium, named from the Hospitaller
Knights Hospitaller
The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta , also known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta , Order of Malta or Knights of Malta, is a Roman Catholic lay religious order, traditionally of military, chivalrous, noble nature. It is the world's...

 Castle of St Peter
Bodrum Castle
Bodrum Castle , located in southwest Turkey in the city of Bodrum , was built by the Knights Hospitaller starting in 1402 as the Castle of St. Peter or Petronium.-History:...

 (see history). The site was formerly known as Halicarnassus
Halicarnassus
Halicarnassus was an ancient Greek city at the site of modern Bodrum in Turkey. It was located in southwest Caria on a picturesque, advantageous site on the Ceramic Gulf. The city was famous for the tomb of Mausolus, the origin of the word mausoleum, built between 353 BC and 350 BC, and...

 (Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...

: Ἁλικαρνασσός, ) In Turkish, bodrum katı or bodrum also refers to a basement
Basement
__FORCETOC__A basement is one or more floors of a building that are either completely or partially below the ground floor. Basements are typically used as a utility space for a building where such items as the furnace, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box, car park, and air-conditioning system...

, cellar or dungeon.

Climate

Bodrum has a Mediterranean climate
Mediterranean climate
A Mediterranean climate is the climate typical of most of the lands in the Mediterranean Basin, and is a particular variety of subtropical climate...

. A winter average high of 15 °C (59 °F) and in the summer 34 °C (93.2 °F), with very sunny spells. Summers are hot and humid and winters are mild and mostly sunny.

History

See also Halicarnassus
Halicarnassus
Halicarnassus was an ancient Greek city at the site of modern Bodrum in Turkey. It was located in southwest Caria on a picturesque, advantageous site on the Ceramic Gulf. The city was famous for the tomb of Mausolus, the origin of the word mausoleum, built between 353 BC and 350 BC, and...



The first recorded settlers in Bodrum region were the Carians
Carians
The Carians were the ancient inhabitants of Caria in southwest Anatolia.-Historical accounts:It is not clear when the Carians enter into history. The definition is dependent on corresponding Caria and the Carians to the "Karkiya" or "Karkisa" mentioned in the Hittite records...

 and the harbor area was colonized by Dorian Greeks as of the 7th century BC. The city later fell under Persian rule. Under the Persians, it was the capital city of the satrapy of Caria
Caria
Caria was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid-Ionia south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Ionian and Dorian Greeks colonized the west of it and joined the Carian population in forming Greek-dominated states there...

, the region that had since long constituted its hinterland and of which it was the principal port. Its strategic location ensured that the city enjoyed considerable autonomy. Archaeological evidence from the period such as the recently discovered Salmakis (Kaplankalesi) Inscription, now in Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology, attest to the particular pride its inhabitants had developed. A famous native was Herodotus
Herodotus
Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria and lived in the 5th century BC . He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...

, the Greek historian (484-420 BC).

Mausolus
Mausolus
Mausolus was ruler of Caria . He took part in the revolt against Artaxerxes Mnemon , conquered a great part of Lycia, Ionia and several Greek islands and cooperated with the Rhodians in the Social War against Athens...

 ruled Caria from here, nominally on behalf of the Persians and independent in practical terms for much of his reign between 377 to 353 BC. When he died in 353 BC, Artemisia II of Caria
Artemisia II of Caria
Artemisia II of Caria was a sister, the wife and the successor of the king Mausolus. She was a daughter of Hecatomnus, and after the death of her husband she reigned for two years, from 353 to 351 BC...

, who was both his sister and his widow, employed the ancient Greek
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...

 architects
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...

 Satyros
Satyros
Satyros or Satyrus was an Greek architect in the 4th century BC. Along with Pythius of Priene, he designed and oversaw the construction of the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus....

 and Pythis
Pythis
Pythius, also known as Pytheos or Pythis, was a Greek architect of the 4th century BCE. He built the Temple of Athena Polias cited by Vitruvius : "Pythius, the celebrated builder of the temple of Minerva at Priene"...

, and the four sculptors
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...

 Bryaxis
Bryaxis
Bryaxis was an ancient Greek sculptor. He created the sculptures on the north side of the mausoleum of Maussollos at Halicarnassus which was commissioned by the queen Artemisia II of Caria in memory of her brother and husband, Mausolus...

, Scopas
Scopas
Scopas or Skopas was an Ancient Greek sculptor and architect, born on the island of Paros. Scopas worked with Praxiteles, and he sculpted parts of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, especially the reliefs. He led the building of the new temple of Athena Alea at Tegea...

, Leochares
Leochares
Leochares was a Greek sculptor from Athens, who lived in the 4th century BC.-Works:Leochares worked at the construction of the Mausoleum of Maussollos at Halicarnassus, one of the "Seven Wonders of the Ancient World". The Diana of Versailles is a Roman copy of his original...

 and Timotheus
Timotheus
Timotheus may refer to:*Timotheus , Athenian statesman and general*Timotheus of Miletus, 5th century BCE Greek poet*Timotheus , a musician at the court of Alexander the Great...

 to build a monument, as well as a tomb, for him. The word "mausoleum
Mausoleum
A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or persons. A monument without the interment is a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type of tomb or the tomb may be considered to be within the...

" derives from the structure of this tomb. It was a temple-like structure decorated with reliefs and statuary on a massive base. It stood for 1700 years and was finally destroyed by earthquakes. Today only the foundations and a few pieces of sculpture remain.

Alexander the Great laid siege to the city after his arrival in Carian lands and, together with his ally, the queen Ada of Caria
Ada of Caria
Ada of Caria was satrap of Caria in the 4th century BC.Ada was the daughter of Hecatomnus, satrap of Caria, and sister of Mausolus, Artemisia, Idrieus, and Pixodarus. She was married to her brother Idrieus, who succeeded Artemisia in 351 BC and died in 344 BC...

, captured it after heavy fighting.

Crusader Knights arrived in 1402 and used the remains of the Mauseoleum as a quarry to build the still impressively standing Bodrum Castle (Castle of Saint Peter), has one of the last examples of Crusader architecture in the East.
The Knights Hospitaller
Knights Hospitaller
The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta , also known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta , Order of Malta or Knights of Malta, is a Roman Catholic lay religious order, traditionally of military, chivalrous, noble nature. It is the world's...

 of Rhodes were given the permission to build it by the Ottoman sultan Mehmed I
Mehmed I
Mehmed I Çelebi was a Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1413 to 1421. He was one of the sons of Bayezid I and Valide Sultan Devlet Hatun Mehmed I Çelebi (Ottoman: چلبی محمد, Mehmed I or Mehmed Çelebi) (1382, Bursa – May 26, 1421, Edirne, Ottoman Empire) was a Sultan of the Ottoman Empire...

, after Tamerlane had destroyed their previous fortress located in Izmir
Izmir
Izmir is a large metropolis in the western extremity of Anatolia. The metropolitan area in the entire Izmir Province had a population of 3.35 million as of 2010, making the city third most populous in Turkey...

's inner bay. The castle and its town became known as Petronium, whence the modern name Bodrum derives.

In 1522, Suleyman the Magnificent conquered the base of the Crusader knights on the island of Rhodes
Rhodes
Rhodes is an island in Greece, located in the eastern Aegean Sea. It is the largest of the Dodecanese islands in terms of both land area and population, with a population of 117,007, and also the island group's historical capital. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within...

, who then withdrew to Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...

, leaving the Castle of Saint Peter and Bodrum to the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

.

20th century

Bodrum was a quiet town of fishermen and sponge divers until the mid-20th century, although, as Mansur points out, the presence of a large community of bilingual Cretan Turks
Cretan Turks
The Cretan Turks, Turco-Cretans , or Cretan Muslims were the Muslim inhabitants of Crete and now their descendants, who settled principally in Turkey, the Levant, and Egypt as well as in the larger Turkish diaspora.After the Ottoman conquest of Crete...

, coupled with the conditions of free trade and access with the islands of the Southern Dodecanese
Dodecanese
The Dodecanese are a group of 12 larger plus 150 smaller Greek islands in the Aegean Sea, of which 26 are inhabited. Τhis island group generally defines the eastern limit of the Sea of Crete. They belong to the Southern Sporades island group...

 until 1935 saved it from utter provincialism. That traditional agriculture was not a very rewarding activity in the rather dry peninsula also prevented the formation of a class of large landowners. Bodrum has no notable history of political or religious extremism either. A first nucleus of intellectuals started to form after the 1950s around the writer Cevat Şakir Kabaağaçlı
Cevat Sakir Kabaagaçli
Cevat Şakir Kabaağaçlı was a Turkish writer of novels, short-stories and essays, as well as being a keen ethnographer and travelogue.-Biography:He is deeply associated with Bodrum where...

, who had first come here in exile two decades before and was charmed by the town to the point of adopting the pen name
Pen name
A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...

 Halikarnas Balıkçısı ('The Fisherman of Halicarnassus').

Demographics

The population for the town of Bodrum was 32,227 in the 2000 census. By 2009, this had grown to 118,237.

Economy

Bodrum has an active tourist economy. The sheltered anchorage contains yachts and locally-built gulet
Gulet
A gulet is a traditional design of a two-masted wooden sailing vessel from the south-west coast of Turkey, although similar vessels can be found all around the eastern Mediterranean. Today this type of vessel, varying in size from 14 to 35 metres, is popular for tourist charters...

s
used by seafaring tourists.
Investors have purchased real estate, specifically as second homes..

Notable people

  • Herodotus
    Herodotus
    Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria and lived in the 5th century BC . He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...

     – ancient Greek historian
  • Mausolus
    Mausolus
    Mausolus was ruler of Caria . He took part in the revolt against Artaxerxes Mnemon , conquered a great part of Lycia, Ionia and several Greek islands and cooperated with the Rhodians in the Social War against Athens...

     – Carian ruler
  • Artemisia II of Caria
    Artemisia II of Caria
    Artemisia II of Caria was a sister, the wife and the successor of the king Mausolus. She was a daughter of Hecatomnus, and after the death of her husband she reigned for two years, from 353 to 351 BC...

     – Carian ruler
  • Dionysius
    Dionysius of Halicarnassus
    Dionysius of Halicarnassus was a Greek historian and teacher of rhetoric, who flourished during the reign of Caesar Augustus. His literary style was Attistic — imitating Classical Attic Greek in its prime.-Life:...

     – ancient Greek historian and teacher of rhetoric in the Roman period
  • Turgut Reis
    Turgut Reis
    Turgut Reis was an Ottoman Admiral and privateer who also served as Bey of Algiers; Beylerbey of the Mediterranean; and first Bey, later Pasha, of Tripoli. Under his naval command the Ottoman Empire maritime was extended across North Africa...

     – Ottoman Turkish admiral
  • Halikarnas Balıkçısı
    Cevat Sakir Kabaagaçli
    Cevat Şakir Kabaağaçlı was a Turkish writer of novels, short-stories and essays, as well as being a keen ethnographer and travelogue.-Biography:He is deeply associated with Bodrum where...

    , literally 'The Fisherman of Halicarnassus' – Turkish writer born in Istanbul
    Istanbul
    Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...

    , resident of Bodrum for decades and a symbol for the town
  • Neyzen Tevfik
    Neyzen Tevfik
    Neyzen Tevfik was a Turkish poet, satirist, and neyzen . He was born in Bodrum on March 24, 1879, and died in Istanbul on January 28, 1953. His name is occasionally misspelled as Neyzen Teyfik.-Biography:Tevfik learned Persian as a young man, and became a Mevlevi in İzmir...

     – Turkish ney
    Ney
    The ney is an end-blown flute that figures prominently in Middle Eastern music. In some of these musical traditions, it is the only wind instrument used. It is a very ancient instrument, with depictions of ney players appearing in wall paintings in the Egyptian pyramids and actual neys being found...

     virtuoso and pundit
  • Zeki Müren
    Zeki Müren
    Zeki Müren was a prominent Turkish singer, composer and actor. He was famous for his compelling voice and precise articulation in his singing of both established Turkish classical music and contemporary songs.-Biography:Müren grew up in the provincial capital city of Bursa in western Turkey...

     – Turkish singer born in Bursa, resident of Bodrum for decades and a symbol for the town
  • Janet Akyüz Mattei
    Janet Akyüz Mattei
    Janet Akyüz Mattei was a Turkish American astronomer, educated in both Turkey and the United States and with a U.S. career, who was the director of the American Association of Variable Star Observers from 1973 to 2004....

     – director of the American Association of Variable Star Observers
    American Association of Variable Star Observers
    Since its founding in 1911, the American Association of Variable Star Observers has coordinated, collected, evaluated, analyzed, published, and archived variable star observations made largely by amateur astronomers and makes the records available to professional astronomers, researchers, and...

     (AAVSO) from 1973 to 2004

Twin towns — Sister cities

Bodrum is twinned
Town twinning
Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...

 with:
Aalborg
Aalborg
-Transport:On the north side of the Limfjord is Nørresundby, which is connected to Aalborg by a road bridge Limfjordsbroen, an iron railway bridge Jernbanebroen over Limfjorden, as well as a motorway tunnel running under the Limfjord Limfjordstunnelen....

, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 Pleven
Pleven
Pleven is the seventh most populous city in Bulgaria. Located in the northern part of the country, it is the administrative centre of Pleven Province, as well as of the subordinate Pleven municipality...

, Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

 Haskovo
Haskovo
Haskovo , is a city, an administrative centre of the homonymous Haskovo Province in southern Bulgaria, not far from the borders with Greece and Turkey. As of February 2011, it has a population of 74,843 inhabitants....

, Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

 Guidan Roumji
Guidan Roumji
Guidan Roumji is a city in Maradi Region in south central Niger....

, Niger
Niger
Niger , officially named the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east...

 Trindade
Trindade
-Transportation:Trindade are linked with São Tomé and Príncipe's only highways linking to the capital city of São Tomé, another linking Neves and Santana and another linking to Guadalupe as well....

, São Tomé and Príncipe
São Tomé and Príncipe
São Tomé and Príncipe, officially the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe, is a Portuguese-speaking island nation in the Gulf of Guinea, off the western equatorial coast of Central Africa. It consists of two islands: São Tomé and Príncipe, located about apart and about , respectively, off...


See also

  • Milas-Bodrum Airport
    Milas-Bodrum Airport
    Milas-Bodrum Airport is an international airport that serves the Turkish towns of Bodrum and Milas. The airport is situated 36km northeast of the town of Bodrum, and 16km south of Milas. A spacious new international terminal was completed in 2000....

  • Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology (within Bodrum Castle)
  • Turgutreis
    Turgutreis
    Turgutreis is a town in Turkey about a 60 minute drive from Bodrum International Airport. It is the second largest town on the Bodrum peninsula. The district, which comes under the City of Muğla and Bodrum Town, is in an area of 55,000 Hectare...

  • Blue Cruise
    Blue Cruise
    A Blue Cruise, also known as a Blue Voyage , is a term used for recreational voyages along the Turkish Riviera, on Turkey's southwestern coast...

  • Marinas in Turkey
    Marinas in Turkey
    Marinas in Turkey refer to Turkey's ports of call for international and local yachtsmen equipped with modern services routinely expected in recreational boating industry, and they are presently found either in or near Istanbul or İzmir, the two largest port cities of the country, or in or near...

  • Gulet
    Gulet
    A gulet is a traditional design of a two-masted wooden sailing vessel from the south-west coast of Turkey, although similar vessels can be found all around the eastern Mediterranean. Today this type of vessel, varying in size from 14 to 35 metres, is popular for tourist charters...

  • Foreign purchases of real estate in Turkey
    Foreign purchases of real estate in Turkey
    Purchasing property in Turkey has become more popular with holiday home owners and investors around the globe. Several factors have contributed to the popularity and the trend displayed by foreign purchases and have had important repercussions within Turkey. The issue is especially notable given...

  • Turkish Riviera
    Turkish Riviera
    The Turkish Riviera is a term used to define an area of southwest Turkey encompassing Antalya, Muğla and to a lesser extent the provinces of Aydın, southern İzmir and western Mersin...


External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK