Bodrum

Bodrum is the dreamland of those who answer as “yes” the question “Would you like to go on a holiday after work every day?” Bodrum is an inviting, colorful crowd full of surprises, sometimes a humble wiseacre and a loose wise man, sometimes it is an alone crazy, it is freedom, love; Bodrum is sun, sea and after all it is history… In short Bodrum is everything and everybody. Because everybody has it is own Bodrum here. Some live a modest, peaceful and quiet life, some live crazily madly. Bodrum is a White that bears all colors and also internalizes them. It rains different here and also the sun rise different and sets completely different. Wind blows different, sea smells else. Bodrum is the naughtiest, the haughtiest, the most inert, the most beautiful, the most honest and the most frank child of Nature Mother.
Today, Bodrum is one of the most important centers of trade, art and entertainment as it has been since centuries ago… This coastal town in which traditional and modern life go along hand in hand in an excellent harmony opens it arms for those who want to be acquainted with her and live her, Xanadu Island Bodrum.
Bodrum, The birthplace of the father of history Herodotus foundation dates back 5000 years based on the marks found in Cheese flower Cave. Traces were seen that resident folks Lelegs were living together with traces of Carians. The harbor area was colonized by Dorian Greeks (Carians) 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. City was later captured by Alexander the Great at the siege of Halicarnassus in 334 BC.
Bodrum is famous for the tomb of Mausolus, the origin of the word mausoleum, built between 353 BC and 350 BC, and one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The figures on its coins, such as the head of Medusa, Athena or Poseidon, or the trident, support the statement that the mother cities wereTroezen and Argos.[1] The inhabitants appear to have accepted Anthes, a son of Poseidon, as their legendary founder, as mentioned by Strabo, and were proud of the title of Antheadae. The Carian name for Halicarnassus has been tentatively identified with Alosδkarnosδ in inscriptions.
At an early period Halicarnassus was a member of the Doric Hexapolis, which included Kos, Cnidus, Lindos, Kameiros and Ialysus; but it was expelled from the league when one of its citizens, Agasicles, took home the prize tripod which he had won in the Triopian games, instead of dedicating it according to custom to the Triopian Apollo. In the early 5th century Halicarnassus was under the sway of Artemisia I of Caria (also known as Artemesia of Halicarnassus [2]), who made herself famous as a naval commander at the battle of Salamis. She is the first female naval commander in the World. Of Pisindalis, her son and successor, little is known; but Lygdamis, who next attained power, is notorious for having put to death the poet Panyasis and causing Herodotus, possibly the best known Halicarnassian, to leave his native city (c. 457 BC).
Hecatomnus became king of Caria, at that time part of the Persian Empire, ruling from 404 BC to 358 BC and establishing the Hekatomnid dynasty. He left three sons, Mausolus, Idrieus and Pixodarus – all of whom – in their turn, succeeded him in the sovereignty; and two daughters, Artemisia and Ada, who were married to their brothers Mausolus and Idrieus. Mausolus moved his capital from Mylasa to Halicarnassus. His workmen deepened the city's harbor and used the dragged sand to make protecting breakwaters in front of the channel. On land they paved streets and squares, and built houses for ordinary citizens. And on one side of the harbor they built a massive fortified palace for Mausolus, positioned to have clear views out to sea and inland to the hills — places from where enemies could attack. On land, the workmen also built walls and watchtowers, a Greek–style theatre and a temple to Ares — the Greek god of war. Artemisia and Mausolus spent huge amounts of tax money to embellish the city. They commissioned statues, temples and buildings of gleaming marble. When he died in 353 BC, his wife, sister and successor, Artemisia II of Caria, began construction of a magnificent tomb for him and herself on a hill overlooking the city. She died in 351 BC. According to Pliny the Elder the craftsmen continued to work on the tomb after the death of their patron, "considering that it was at once a memorial of his own fame and of the sculptor's art," finishing it in 350 BC. This tomb of Mausolus came to be known as the Mausoleum, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
Her brother Idrieus succeeded Artemisia, who was in turn in succeeded by his wife and sister Ada when he died in 344 BC. However, Ada was usurped by her brother Pixodarus in 340 BC. On the death of Pixodarus in 335 BC his son-in-law, a Persian named Orontobates, received the satrapy of Caria from Darius III of Persia. When Alexander the Great entered Caria in 334 BC, Ada, who was in possession of the fortress of Alinda, surrendered the fortress to him. After taking Halicarnassus, Alexander handed back the government of Caria to her; she, in turn, formally adopted Alexander as her son, ensuring that the rule of Caria passed unconditionally to him upon her eventual death. During the siege of Halicarnassus the city was fired by the retreating Persians. As he was not able to reduce the citadel, Alexander was forced to leave it blockaded. The ruins of this citadel and moat are now a tourist attraction in Bodrum. Not long afterwards we find the citizens receiving the present of a gymnasium from Ptolemy, and building in his honor a Stoa or portico. Halicarnassus never recovered altogether from the disasters of the siege, and Cicero describes it as almost deserted. Baroque artist Johann Elias Ridinger depicted the several stages of siege and taking of the place in a huge copper engraving as one of only two known today from his Alexander set. The Christian and later history of the site is continued at Bodrum.
Crusader Knights arrived in 1402 and used the remains of the Mausoleum 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 of Rhodes were given the permission to build it by the Ottoman sultan Mehmed I. In 1522, Suleiman the Magnificent conquered the base of the Crusader knights on the island of Rhodes, who then withdrew to Malta, leaving the Castle of Saint Peter and Bodrum to the Ottoman Empire. Bodrum holds a special place in the hearts of Turkish artists and intellectuals. The Fisherman of Halicarnassus" Cevat Kabaagaçli is as famous as King Mozolus. His writings pulled people to Bodrum and Bodrum romantics now enjoy bohemian atmosphere he have created.