BODRUM

Bodrum knowns with its 3,500 year history, culture, natural beauties, authentic architecture, agricultural riches, gastronomy, climate, sea and magnificent coves, entertainment life, accommodation facilities with various concepts. The world-renowned Bodrum Peninsula is among Turkey’s idyllic destinations.

Bodrum carries traces of various cultures and civilizations from ancient times to present including Lelegians, Carians, Persian, Dorians, Hellenic, Romans, Byzantine and Ottomans.

Being called the “The Land of Eternal Blues” by the famous historian Homer, Halicarnassus was established at the intersection of Greek and Anatolian civilizations. Archaeological finds belonging to various civilizations indicate that the region and its surroundings have a history of seven thousand years. Being one of the most important port cities of the Caria Region in ancient times, Halicarnassus raised many important figures such as Herodotos, known as the father of history, and Artemisia I., the first female admiral of history.

In 334 BC, the Macedonian King Alexander the Great conquered the lands in Anatolia under Persian rule. Being burned and destroyed by Alexander, the city could not recover. After the death of Alexander, the region was ruled by his generals for a period of time , then came under the rule of the Ptolemaic dynasty and Rhodes; but Halicarnassus preserved its independence like other coastal cities. In 133 BC, when the Romans as the heir of the Pergamon Kingdom established the Asian State in Anatolia, Caria was included in this state. After the division of Rome into two (324 AC), it became a bishopric under the Aphrodisias Metropolis.

The city was captured by the Turks in the last quarter of the 11th century, and became part of the Mentese Beylik in the 13th century. By the conquest of Rhodes by Suleiman the Magnificent, Bodrum became part of the territory of the Ottoman Empire. It was occupied by the Italians at the end of the First World War (May 11, 1919), and the Italian occupation ended in the War of Independence (05.07.1921).

The name Bodrum comes from the founders of St. Peter Castle, the knights of St. Petronium. It comes from the Petrium knights. At that time, this name, pronounced as ‘Bodrum’ by the Turks living here, remained as Bodrum with the establishment of the Republic.

Having a population of apr. 5000 in the first years of the Republic, Bodrum, was used to be known as a small port town making its living by fishing, sponge diving and agriculture before tourism. With the development of tourism since 1965, population growth and urban development started to make Bodrum a rapidly developing tourism center. Today, Bodrum is a tourism center in the most special and beautiful geography of the world, distinguished by its cultural and historical richness and increasing its attraction with these features of itself.