Fethiye
Encyclopedia
Fethiye is a city
City
A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...
and district
Districts of Turkey
The 81 provinces of Turkey are divided into 957 districts . In the early Turkish Republic and in the Ottoman Empire, the corresponding unit was the kaza....
of 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 Aegean region
Regions of Turkey
The provinces of Turkey are organized into 7 census-defined regions , which were originally defined at the First Geography Congress in 1941. Regions as defined in this context is merely for statistical purposes and do not refer to an administrative division. Each region is listed below, with...
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...
with about 68,000 inhabitants (2008).
History
Modern Fethiye is located on the site of the ancient city of Telmessos, the ruins of which can be seen in the city, e.g. the Hellenistic theatreTheatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
by the main quay.
Telmessos was the most important city of Lycia
Lycia
Lycia Lycian: Trm̃mis; ) was a region in Anatolia in what are now the provinces of Antalya and Muğla on the southern coast of Turkey. It was a federation of ancient cities in the region and later a province of the Roman Empire...
, with a recorded history starting in the 5th century BC.
A Lycian legend explains the source of the name Telmessos as follows: The god Apollo
Apollo
Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology...
falls in love with the youngest daughter of the King of Phoenicia
Phoenicia
Phoenicia , was an ancient civilization in Canaan which covered most of the western, coastal part of the Fertile Crescent. Several major Phoenician cities were built on the coastline of the Mediterranean. It was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550...
, Agenor
Agenor
Agenor was in Greek mythology and history a Phoenician king of Tyre. Herodotus estimates that Agenor lived sometime before the year 2000 B.C..-Genealogy:...
. He disguises himself as a small dog and thus gains the love of the shy, withdrawn daughter. After he reappears as a handsome man, they have a son, whom they name 'Telmessos' (the land of lights). The city became part of the Persian Empire after the invasion of the Persian King Harpagos in 547 BC, along with other Lycian and 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...
n cities. Telmessos then joined the Attic-Delos Union established in mid-5th century BC. and, although it later left the union and became an independent city, continued its relations with the union until the 4th century BC.
The oracle
Oracle
In Classical Antiquity, an oracle was a person or agency considered to be a source of wise counsel or prophetic predictions or precognition of the future, inspired by the gods. As such it is a form of divination....
of Telmessos, devoted to Apollo, had great impact on the course of ancient history.
Legend says that Alexander the Great, on a mission to invade Anatolia in the winter of 334–333 BC, entered Telmessos harbour with his fleet. The commander of the fleet, Nearchus
Nearchus
Nearchus was one of the officers, a navarch, in the army of Alexander the Great. His celebrated voyage from India to Susa after Alexander's expedition in India is preserved in Arrian's account, the Indica....
, asks permission of King Antipatrides of Telmessos for his musicians and slaves to enter the city. On getting the permission, the warriors with weapons hidden in the flute boxes capture the acropolis during the feasts held at night.
By the 10th century, it came to be called Makri (< μακρή 'distant'), after the name of the island at the entrance to the harbor.
Telmessos was ruled by the Anatolian beylik of Menteşe starting in 1284, under the name Megri. It became part of 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...
in 1424.
Fethiye was formerly known as Makri (Μάκρη); while it received a considerable amount of Turkish population from the Greek Islands and mainland Greece under the terms of the 1923 exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey, the Greeks deported from the area founded the town of Nea Makri
Nea Makri
Nea Makri is a town located in the northeastern part of Attica, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Marathon, of which it is a municipal unit.- Town layout :...
(New Makri) in Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
.
In 1934, the city was renamed 'Fethiye' in honor of Fethi Bey, one of the first pilots of the Ottoman Air Force
Ottoman Air Force
The Aviation Squadrons of the Ottoman Empire were military aviation units of the Ottoman Army and Navy...
, killed on an early mission.
Fethiye has experienced many earthquakes. Last significant ones date to 1957 and 1961, with 67 casualties and 3200 damaged buildings after the 25.04.1957 earthquake. The town has been rebuilt since then and now has a modern harbor and a marina.
Tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
centres and is especially popular during the summer.
In the last ten years Fethiye has become a magnet for British citizens. Apart from its climate and natural beauty, the Britons are attracted by its less expensive lifestyle and the hospitality of the local people. The British population in Turkey
Britons in Turkey
There are at least 34,000 Britons in Turkey. They consist mainly of British citizens married to Turkish spouses, British Turks who have moved back into the country, students and families of long-term expatriates employed predominately in white-collar industry...
is between 34,000 and 38,000. As a result of the large British population and the high numbers of Britons going there for holiday, Fethiye-Öludeniz was chosen as the best tourism centre in the world by The Times and The Guardian newspapers in 2007. Over 7,000 British citizens permanently live in Fethiye, while approximately 600,000 British tourists visit the town every summer.
The Fethiye Museum, which is very rich in ancient and more recent artifacts
Artifact (archaeology)
An artifact or artefact is "something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest"...
, displays and testifies to the successive chain of civilization
Civilization
Civilization is a sometimes controversial term that has been used in several related ways. Primarily, the term has been used to refer to the material and instrumental side of human cultures that are complex in terms of technology, science, and division of labor. Such civilizations are generally...
s that existed in the area, starting with the ancient Lycia
Lycia
Lycia Lycian: Trm̃mis; ) was a region in Anatolia in what are now the provinces of Antalya and Muğla on the southern coast of Turkey. It was a federation of ancient cities in the region and later a province of the Roman Empire...
ns.
Fethiye is also home to the Tomb of Amyntas
Tomb of Amyntas
The Tomb of Amyntas, also known as the Fethiye Tomb is an ancient tomb built in the city and district of Fethiye in Muğla Province, located in the Aegean region of Turkey.-History:...
, a large and beautiful tomb built in 350 BC by the Lycians. What makes this tomb very unique is its massive size and beautiful carvings.
Climate
Fethiye has a Mediterranean climateMediterranean 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...
consisting of very hot, long and dry summers with an average of 34°C (93°F) in the daytime, winters are cool and rainy with a daytime average of 16°C (61°F).
See also
- Turkish RivieraTurkish RivieraThe 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...
- Marinas in TurkeyMarinas in TurkeyMarinas 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...
- Foreign purchases of real estate in TurkeyForeign purchases of real estate in TurkeyPurchasing 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...
- GöcekGöcekGöcek is a small town in Fethiye district in Muğla Province, Turkey.It was named “Kalimche” in ancient times, and is located between Fethiye – Telmessos in ancient times – and Dalyan – Caunos in ancient times. According to the legends, it is in the Göcek area that Icarus landed in the sea after his...
- ÖlüdenizÖlüdenizÖlüdeniz is a small resort village in the Fethiye district which is in the Muğla Province the South West coast of Turkey on the Aegean Sea to the south and the high, steep sided Babadağ Mountain, south of Fethiye. The town is a beach resort.Ölüdeniz remains one of the most photographed beaches on...
- LyciaLyciaLycia Lycian: Trm̃mis; ) was a region in Anatolia in what are now the provinces of Antalya and Muğla on the southern coast of Turkey. It was a federation of ancient cities in the region and later a province of the Roman Empire...
- Tomb of AmyntasTomb of AmyntasThe Tomb of Amyntas, also known as the Fethiye Tomb is an ancient tomb built in the city and district of Fethiye in Muğla Province, located in the Aegean region of Turkey.-History:...