is a part of every day life. The city of Ouranium, of which the Sicilian historian Daidolos spoke of, was once established here. Some sources state that the roots of the town go back as much as 700 B.C. and some others agree that the Leleg people lived in this region before 700 B.C. However, history did not only leave its traces on land in Yalikavak... There are also some traces in the magic realm of the underwater. The roman ship wreck lying at a depth of 52 meters, off Çimentepe, is only one of them. The bustof the 'African Child', found in the vicinity of the Gemitaşı rock banks and being displayed at the Bodrum Underwater Museum; the goddess Fortuna statue found in the same waters and the wreck of Gelidonia (Stony Cape) are only some of the priceless discoveries.

 Bodrum, or to call it with its ancient name, Halikarnassus, is the birth place of Herodotus and is the home to many ancient civilizations. In addition to being the original location of the Halikarnassus Moseleum, one of the seven wonders of the world, its position in or near so many of the great civilizations and events of ancient history makes Bodrum an important site for historians.
Bodrum has been declared a historic preservation zone and has a special architecture (houses are generally white-washed and cannot exceed two stories to harmonize with the traditional environment). Today Bodrum has become an extremely fashionable holiday resort. It is a starting point for cruises in the Gökova Gulf , and to discover the numerous beautiful bays of the peninsula. A car ride helps visit the region, see the disused old windmills lining the ridge of hills, and enjoy the atmosphere of seaside and fishing villages: Gümüslük , Gündogan , Gölköy , Türkbükü with their friendly taverns and seafood restaurants, Yalikavak with its typical streets...

Our Bodrum town tour will take you to explore one of the oldest antique theaters in Anatolia and visit the Castle of St.Peter, one of the world's best preserved monuments from medieval times. You will marvel at the beauty of underwater archaeology exhibits in the best underwater archeology museum in the world, which promises to take you back into the worlds of ancient mariners

BODRUM HISTORY

This is a place that has been knocked about a bit. Halicarnassus was founded by the Dorians early in the first millenium BC. The Hexapolis, a league of six cities, originally included Halicarnassus but it was expelled for general uncoolness or something similar. The Persians managed the place with the help of native Carian dynasts including the the formidable Artemisia the elder who, while commanding a ship at the battle of Salamis in 480 BC, impressed Xerxes with her naval prowess.
The Persians dropped out of the picture for a while after their defeat but in 386 BC they were back. Their second satrap in Halicarnassus, Hecatomnus, founded a dynasty that held the reins for 50 years and imported Greek craftsmen and thinkers. The Hecatomids included in their number one Mausolos who did so well for himself, building palaces and things like that, that when he died his grateful poulace erected a monument in his name, a mausoleum.
After a bit of a struggle the city fell to Alexander (what didn't?) in about 334 and things were fairly calm for a few years but then the whole region went to hell in a handbasket when Alexander died.
The Roman Empire calmed things down again and under the Byzantines things were fairly relaxed until the 11th Century when the Turks arrived for the first of several periods of occupation that would mirror the decline of the fortunes of Byzantium. Suleyman the magnificent captured the city from the hands of the Knights Hospitalier who constructed the Castle of St. Peter, partly using stone ramsacked from the Mausoleum.
In the 18th Century Catherine the Great's fleet attacked from the sea in an attempt to support a Greek rebellion. The French tried to land an expeditionary force during the first World War and Italians ocpied the town in 1919. Ataturks Republican forces expelled them and things have been increasingly Turkish ever since.