The History of Bodrum
As a place where people have lived
continuously for thousands of years Bodrum has an incredibly rich past.
Its position in or near so many of the great civilization and events of
ancient history also makes Halicarnassus (Bodrum's ancient name) an
important site for historians. Finding one source of complete historical
information on Bodrum is apparently impossible, so the account that
follows is a distillation from several sources.
Herodotus, the "Father of
History", was born in Halicarnassus...
The first settlement in this
area which left structural evidence behind was on the rocky little
island where the Castle of St. Peter now stands (the castle was once
completely surrounded by water). When the Knights of St. John arrived to
build their fortress, they found the ruins of an older castle, now known
to have been built by the Dorians around 1100 BC.
Herodotus, the "Father of
History", who lived in the Fifth Century BC and was born in
Halicarnassus, wrote that the Dorians came from Troezen on the east
coast of the Peloponnese. They called their new island Zephyria and the
settlement Zephyrium.
Historians have little
evidence concerning the foundation of mainland Halicarnassus. The first
known mention of it comes form the Seventh Century BC. Halicarnassus was
one of six members in the Dorian Confederation of Hexapolis, along with
the mainland city of Cnidos, the island of Cos, and three cities on
Rhodes.
Establishing these cities was
no easy task, as the Dorians were not the first people to inhabit the
area. They had to fend off the continuous attacks of fierce natives
known as Carians. Homer mentioned the Carians in his Iliad, calling them
"barbarous of speech," (as coincidence linguists note that the dialect
of the region Bodrum is now part of has the harshest dialect in the West
of Turkey). Early historians credit the Carians with having taught the
Greeks the use of crests on helmets and handles on shields, which were
previously slung over the shoulder.
One small alliance between the
Dorians and the Carians came about when a Greek opened a tavern around
the spring at Salmacis (now submerged in the western end of Bodrum
harbor, in present day Bardakci). Both Dorians and Carians became
regular patrons, and the Carians eventually adopted a more orderly way
of life from the colonists. Trade relations were established, and for a
while the two races coexisted in peace.
The waters of the Salmacis
fountain were said to have relaxing properties. Rumor hat it that the
water, though excellent to drink, had the effect of making men soft and
effeminate, sometimes even impotent. These claims resulted in the legend
of Hermaphrodite.
The teenaged son of Aphrodite,
the Goddess of Beauty, was said to have spent a day swimming in a lake
formed by the fountain. Salmacis, the nymph of the lake, fell in love
with him and begged the gods to allow them to live together in a single
body. They granted her wish, creating the half-man half-woman figure of
Hermaphrodite.
Herodotus wrote that
Halicarnassus became increasingly aligned with a group of inland
inhabitants, the Ionians. This upset the other members of Hexapolis, and
the misconduct of a Halicarnassian is considered a pretext for the
city's expulsion from the league. All six cities competed in games
celebrated annually at Tropium in honor of Apollo. A. Halicarnassian
named Agasides won a bronze trophy one year and refused to follow the
custom of dedicating it on the spot to Apollo. He instead hung it on the
wall of his house, inciting the wrath of the other Dorian cities and
giving them an excuse to cut off ties with Halicarnassus.
By the Fifth Century BC
Halicarnassus appeared purely Ionian in character. Both Herodotus and
his uncle Panyasis the epic poet, wrote in Ionian, and no inscriptions
from this period show any trace of the Doric dialect.
In 546 BC the Persians overran
the Greek cities of the coast, and Halicarnassus fell with the rest. A
series of dynasties then ruled in the Persians' interest, the most
famous of these, that of Artemisia I, began in 480 BC.
Herodotus gave this remarkable
woman a lot of space in his writings. Of her unnecessary enlistment in
the fighting ranks of Xerxes navy when he was invading Greece, he wrote,
"..... her manly daring sent her forth to the war ........(her)
participation in the attack upon Greece, notwithstanding that she was a
woman, moves my special wonder." She commandeered a battleship with such
prowess that Xerxes was said to have remarked, "My men have shown
themselves women and my women, men."
Artemisia's son Psyndalis
succeeded her as ruler of Halicarnassus (as well as Cos and several
other islands). While historians have little to say about the reign of
Psyndalis, his son, Lydamis II, is remembered as a cruel and oppressive
ruler. Herodotus left his homeland for the island of Samos, unable to
tolerate the whims of this tyrant. In 1856 the archaeologist Sir Charles
Newton found an inscription of a law enforced by Lydamis II which
details his total intolerance of opposing political views.
We do not know who succeeded
Lydamis II or why the tyrant fell, but great changes are known to have
occurred by the Fourth Century BC. Sometime during the previous century
the harness of Persian control was thrown off, but soon the "King's
Peace" treaty between Athens and Persia again put the cities of Asia
under Persian control. Persia divided the region into 'satrapes' and by
377 BC King Mausolus ruled as Satrap or Governor of Caria and
Halicarnassus.
Until Mausolus' rule
Halicarnassus was a fairly small city but Mausolus had a flair for
ambitious projects and he recognized the area's natural advantages for
fortification and commerce. He transferred his capital there from Mylasa
(site of present-day Milas) and built long lines of massive walls around
Halicarnassus, parts of which still stand today. To populate the large
new area he forcibly transplanted the residents of six other nearby
cities. Mausolus taxed his subjects heavily to pay for these and other
grand scale projects, and even imposed a levy on hair longer than
shoulder length. One of his projects stands as the only surviving
structure from Classical Age Bodrum, the Antique Theater. Located on the
southern slope of Mt. Goktepe just above the middle of Bodrum, this
theater is one of the oldest in Anatolia. A Turkish team restored it in
the 1960's and today the people of Bodrum still use the theater for
festivals.
The visitor will find the
theater a comfortable place to sit and contemplate Bodrum while watching
boats leave and enter the harbor. Interesting features of the theater
include a stone altar once used before plays for sacrifices to Dionyus,
and several holes cut through some of the seats, probably used for sun
shades. Allowing 40 cm of space per person, the theater could seat
13.000. A short climb further up Goktepe brings one to several rock-cut
tombs. Dating from the Roman and Hellenistic period, these excavated
tombs once carried several sarcophagi, as well as mementos buried with
the dead (some which are on display in the Castle Museum).
One type of memento found in
several graves were small 'tearcups'. These thimble-sized cups were to
collect tears from mourners, then left in the tomb at burial. The more
cups a person had, the more popular he was. Mausolus died in 353 BC,
succeeded by his wife-sister, Artemisia II.
She ruled for only three
years, but she managed to accomplish two memorable feats. The first was
to continue construction of one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient
World, the Tomb of King Mausolus (from which we derived our word
'mausoleum'). The second was a brilliant battle success rivaling that of
Artemisia I.
Pliny and other ancient
writers agreed that the mausoleum was a true wonder to behold. Easily
visible from a good distance at sea, it stood about as high as a
20-story building. Visitors to the mausoleum site today will have to use
their imagination to recreate its splendor. Although it stood intact for
at least 1500 years, an earthquake finally reduced it to ruins. Then the
Knights of St. John arrived and used the remains to construct parts of
their castle.
The generally agreed upon
appearance of the mausoleum has it as oblong shaped and comprised of
four parts; first, a solid base, then above this a colonnade of 36
columns, then a pyramid with 24 steps on top of which rested an immense
chariot occupied by statues of Mausolus and Artemisia and drawn by four
horses. All four sides were full of sculptured friezes by the finest
artists of the day, and it was mostly the abundance and magnificence of
these works which made the mausoleum such a spectacular sight. Fragments
of them were shipped to the British Museum in the Castle's Museum, but
otherwise little more than a few blocks and column bases remain (many of
which are visible in the Castle's walls).
Artemisia's second memorable
feat was the capture of Rhodes. The Rhodians considered dealing with a
woman Carian ruler an indignity (as well as, perhaps, an opportunity),
so they sent a fleet out to overthrow her. Artemisia received word of
this plan and hid her own forces in a secret harbor near the main
harbor. When the Rhodians landed and went ashore, Artemisia had her own
men sail the Rhodian ships back out to sea. The Rhodian soldiers were
surrounded and slaughtered in the marketplace while the Carians used
their ships to sail to Rhodes. The Rhodians, thinking their men were
returning victorious, welcomed the enemy soldiers and soon their city
fell into Carian hands. Artemisia was followed by a series of less than
noteworthy successors.
Alexander the Great began
plundering Anatolia with remarkable speed and by the time he reached
Halicarnassus in 334 BC the Queen Orontabatis, Satrap of Caria, was
ready for him. This city was the last chance for the Persians to make a
stand against Alexander in the Aegean area, so Orontabatis had assembled
a large Persian force, bolstered by Greek mercenaries. Historians
Diodius and Arrian note that both sides fought fiercely, with the
Halicarnassians putting up an obstinate resistance much resented by
Alexander. His forces finally penetrated the city's walls and he ordered
it sacked and burned (though he spared the inhabitants) as punishment
for such bothersome resistance.
The imported citizens of the
six inland cities were sent back to their original homes, while
Orontabatis and her Persian partner, Memnon, held on in castles at
Salmacis and Zephysia on the east and west ends of the main harbor. They
maintained these positions for about a year, with the remainder of their
navy occupying Cos. When they fell Alexander restored power to Ada, a
former Satrap who had previously been overthrown.
Halicarnassus never regained
its stature after Alexander's conquest. The history becomes less
detailed for a while, but we know that in the Third Century BC it came
under control of Ptolemy II of Egypt, who had warships built there. When
Rome conquered it in 190 BC Halicarnassus became a free city. This
independence lasted until 129 BC when Rome included Caria in its
reorganization of Asia.
By 400 AD, with the fall of
Rome and the rise of Christianity, Halicarnassus had developed into a
Diocese connected to the Archbishopric of Aphrodisias. Meanwhile the
Byzantine Empire prospered with its capital, Constantinople, located
where Istanbul now stands. This sprawling empire soon included North
Africa, Italy and Spain, but the days of global prominence were over for
the Bodrum area. Historians make little note of it again until the 11th
Century, when the Turks took over the region. The Byzantines captured it
during the first Crusade in 1096, but the Turks retook it three years
later.
In 1523 the 'greatest of all
the Sultans', Suleyman the Magnificent, expelled the Knights from Bodrum
Towards the end of the 13th
Century the region known as Caria became the Province of Menteshe and
was annexed to the Ottoman Empire by Sultan Beyazit in 1392. Meanwhile
the Knights of St. John had their castle at Symira (present-day Izmir)
destroyed by the Mongol leader Tamerlane in 1402 and demanded land from
Turkish Sultan Mehmet Celebi as compensation. They were given
Halicarnassus, built a new castle there, and controlled the town (which
they called Mesy) for over a Century.
In 1523 the 'greatest of all
the Sultans', Suleyman the Magnificent, expelled the Knights. The
Ottoman Empire flourished during Suleyman's 40 year reign but a long
period of internal crisis and decline followed.
Bodrum itself suffered a
shelling by the Russian Navy in 1770 and it was used as a Turkish Naval
Base during the Greek revolt of 1824. During the First World War the
French battleship "Duplex" fired on Bodrum and tried to make a landing,
but the feisty inhabitants prevented this. The Ottoman Empire lost the
Bodrum area to Italy, however, and Italian forces occupied the town in
1919. The imminent success of the Turkish war of independence drove the
Italians out by 1922 and Bodrum finally became what its beautiful
surroundings seem meant for, a place to relax and enjoy life.
