Bodrum () is a town and

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

Muğla Province Muğla Province (, ) is a Provinces of Turkey, province and Metropolitan municipalities in Turkey, metropolitan municipality of Turkey, at the country's southwestern corner, on the Aegean Sea. Its area is 12,654 km2, and its population is 1 ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. About 200 thousand people live in the district, which covers 650 km² and includes the town. It is a port town at the entrance to the Gulf of Gökova. Known in ancient times as

Halicarnassus Halicarnassus ( ; Latin: ''Halicarnassus'' or ''Halicarnāsus''; ''Halikarnāssós''; ; Carian language, Carian: 𐊠𐊣𐊫𐊰 𐊴𐊠𐊥𐊵𐊫𐊰 ''alos k̂arnos'') was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek city in Caria, in Anatolia.

, the town was once home to the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, also known as the tomb of Mausolus, one of the

Seven Wonders of the Ancient World The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, also known as the Seven Wonders of the World or simply the Seven Wonders, is a list of seven notable structures present during classical antiquity, first established in the 1572 publication '' Octo Mundi M ...

. The town was founded by Dorian Greeks. It later fell under Persian rule and became the capital of the satrapy of

Caria Caria (; from Greek language, Greek: Καρία, ''Karia''; ) was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid-Ionia (Mycale) south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Carians were described by Herodotus as being Anatolian main ...

Mausolus Mausolus ( or , ''Mauśoλ'') was a ruler of Caria (377–353 Common Era, BCE) and a satrap of the Achaemenid Empire. He enjoyed the status of king or dynast by virtue of the powerful position created by his father Hecatomnus ( ), who was the fi ...

ruled Caria from here, and after his death in 353 BC, his wife Artemisia built a tomb, called the Mausoleum, for him. Macedonian forces laid siege to the city and captured it in 334 BC. After

Alexander Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here ar ...

's death, the city passed to successive

Hellenistic In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

rulers and was briefly an independent kingdom until 129 BC, when it came under Roman rule. A series of natural disasters and repeated pirate attacks wreaked havoc on the area, and the city lost its importance by the time of the

Byzantine era The Byzantine calendar, also called the Roman calendar, the Creation Era of Constantinople or the Era of the World (, also or ; 'Roman year since the creation of the universe', abbreviated as ε.Κ.), was the calendar used by the Eastern Orth ...

. The

Knights Hospitaller The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), is a Catholic military order. It was founded in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century and had headquarters there ...

arrived in 1402 and used the remains of the Mausoleum as a quarry to build

Bodrum Castle Bodrum Castle () is a historical fortification located in southwest Turkey in the port city of Bodrum, built from 1402 onwards, by the Knights of St John (Knights Hospitaller) as the ''Castle of St. Peter'' or ''Petronium''. A transnational effor ...

. After the conquest of Rhodes by

Suleiman the Magnificent Suleiman I (; , ; 6 November 14946 September 1566), commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent in the Western world and as Suleiman the Lawgiver () in his own realm, was the List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman sultan between 1520 a ...

in 1522, the town fell under Ottoman control as the Knights Hospitaller relocated to Europe. By the 20th century, the town's economy was mainly based on fishing and

sponge diving Sponge diving is underwater diving to collect soft natural sponges for human use. Background Most sponges are too rough for general use due to their structural spicules composed of calcium carbonate or silica. But two genera, '' Hippospongia' ...

, but tourism has become the main industry in Bodrum since the late 20th century. The abundance of visitors has also contributed to Bodrum's retail and service industry.

Milas–Bodrum Airport Milas–Bodrum Airport is an international airport that serves the Turkey, Turkish towns of Bodrum and Milas. The airport is situated northeast of the town of Bodrum, and south of Milas. Airlines and destinations Traffic statistics ...

and Kos International Airport are the main airports that serve the town. The port has ferries to other nearby Turkish and Greek ports and islands, Kos being the most important. Most of the public transportation in the town is based on local

share taxi A share taxi, shared taxi, taxibus, or jitney or dollar van in the US, or marshrutka in former Soviet countries, is a mode of transport which falls between a taxicab and a bus. Share taxis are a form of paratransit. They are vehicles for hire and ...

s and buses.

Etymology

The modern name ''Bodrum'' derives from the town's

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

name ''Petronium'', which has its roots in the Hospitaller Castle of St. Peter. In

classical antiquity Classical antiquity, also known as the classical era, classical period, classical age, or simply antiquity, is the period of cultural History of Europe, European history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD comprising the inter ...

, Bodrum was known as

(

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

: , ), a major city in ancient

. The suffix - () of Greek is indicative of a

substrate Substrate may refer to: Physical layers *Substrate (biology), the natural environment in which an organism lives, or the surface or medium on which an organism grows or is attached ** Substrate (aquatic environment), the earthy material that exi ...

toponym, meaning that an original non-Greek name influenced or established the place's name. It has been proposed that the () part is

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...

with

Luwian Luwian (), sometimes known as Luvian or Luish, is an ancient language, or group of languages, within the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family. The ethnonym Luwian comes from ''Luwiya'' (also spelled ''Luwia'' or ''Luvia'') – ...

word "", which means fortress. If so, the city's ancient name was probably borrowed from Carian, a Luwic language native to pre-Greek Western

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

. The Carian name for Halicarnassus has been tentatively identified with 𐊠𐊣𐊫𐊰 𐊴𐊠𐊥𐊵𐊫𐊰 (''alos k̂arnos)'' in inscriptions.

History

Ancient era

Halicarnassus (, or ''Alikarnassós''; ), was an

ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

city at the site of modern Bodrum in

. Halicarnassus was founded by Dorian Greeks, and the figures on its coins, such as the head of

Medusa In Greek mythology, Medusa (; ), also called Gorgo () or the Gorgon, was one of the three Gorgons. Medusa is generally described as a woman with living snakes in place of hair; her appearance was so hideous that anyone who looked upon her wa ...

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarde ...

Poseidon Poseidon (; ) is one of the twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and mythology, presiding over the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 He was the protector of seafarers and the guardian of many Hellenic cit ...

, and the

trident A trident (), () is a three- pronged spear. It is used for spear fishing and historically as a polearm. As compared to an ordinary spear, the three tines increase the chance that a fish will be struck and decrease the chance that a fish will b ...

, support the statement that the mother cities were

Troezen Troezen (; ancient Greek: Τροιζήν, modern Greek: Τροιζήνα ) is a small town and a former municipality in the northeastern Peloponnese, Greece, on the Argolid Peninsula. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the munic ...

and Argos. The inhabitants appear to have accepted Anthes, a son of Poseidon, as their legendary founder, as mentioned by

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...

, and were proud of the title ''Antheadae''. The Carian name for Halicarnassus has been tentatively identified with Alosδkarnosδ in inscriptions. In an early period, Halicarnassus was a member of the

Doric Hexapolis The Doric or Dorian Hexapolis () was a federation of six cities of Dorians, Dorian Colonies in antiquity#Greek colonies, foundation in southwest Asia Minor and adjacent islands, largely coextensive with the region known as Doris or Doris in Asia ...

, which included Kos,

Cnidus Knidos or Cnidus (; , , , Knídos) was a Ancient Greece, Greek city in ancient Caria and part of the Dorian Hexapolis, in south-western Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey. It was situated on the Datça peninsula, which forms the southern side of the ...

, Lindos, Kameiros, and Ialysus; but it was expelled from the league when one of its citizens, Agasicles, took home the prize tripod that he had won in the Triopian games instead of dedicating it according to custom to the Triopian

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

. In the early 5th century, Halicarnassus was under the sway of

Artemisia I of Caria Artemisia I of Caria (, ; Floruit, fl. 480 BC) was a queen of the ancient Greek city-state of Halicarnassus, which is now in Bodrum, present-day Turkey. She was also queen of the nearby islands of Kos, Nisyros and Kalymnos,Enc. Britannica, "Ar ...

(also known as Artemesia of Halicarnassus), who made herself famous as a naval commander at the battle of Salamis. Little is known of Pisindalis, her son and successor; but Lygdamis, the

tyrant A tyrant (), in the modern English usage of the word, is an absolute ruler who is unrestrained by law, or one who has usurped a legitimate ruler's sovereignty. Often portrayed as cruel, tyrants may defend their positions by resorting to ...

of Halicarnassus, who next attained power, is notorious for having the poet Panyasis put to death and forcing

Herodotus Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...

, possibly the most well-known Halicarnassian, to leave his native city ().

Persian rule

The city later fell under Persian rule. Under the Persians, it was the capital city of the satrapy of

, the region that long afterward constituted its hinterland and of which it was the principal port. Its strategic location ensured that the city enjoyed considerable autonomy. Archaeological evidence from the period, such as the recently discovered Salmakis (''Kaplankalesi'') Inscription, now in

Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology Bodrum Castle () is a historical fortification located in southwest Turkey in the port city of Bodrum, built from 1402 onwards, by the Knights Hospitaller, Knights of St John (Knights Hospitaller) as the ''Castle of St. Peter'' or ''Petronium''. ...

, attests to the particular pride its inhabitants had developed.

ruled Caria from here, nominally on behalf of the Persians but practically independently, for much of his reign from 377 to 353 BC. When he died in 353 BC, Artemisia II of Caria, who was both his sister and his widow, employed the

architects An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Satyros, Pythis, and the

sculptors Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable ...

Bryaxis,

Scopas Scopas (; born in Paros, fl. 4th century BCE) was an ancient Greek sculptor and architect, most famous for his statue of Meleager, the copper statue of Aphrodite, and the head of goddess Hygieia, daughter of Asclepius. Early life and family S ...

, Leochares, and Timotheus to build a monument and a tomb, known as Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, for him. The word "

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type o ...

" derives from the structure of this tomb. It was a temple-like structure decorated with reliefs and statuary on a massive base. Today only the foundations and a few pieces of sculpture remain.

Hellenistic and Roman periods

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...

laid siege to the city after his arrival in the Carian lands and, together with his ally, Queen Ada of Caria, captured it after fighting in 334 BC. After Alexander's death, the rule of the city passed to Antigonus I (311 BC),

Lysimachus Lysimachus (; Greek language, Greek: Λυσίμαχος, ''Lysimachos''; c. 360 BC – 281 BC) was a Thessaly, Thessalian officer and Diadochi, successor of Alexander the Great, who in 306 BC, became king of Thrace, Anatolia, Asia Minor and Mace ...

(after 301 BC), and the Ptolemies (281–197 BC) and was briefly an independent kingdom until 129 BC, when it came under Roman rule. A series of earthquakes destroyed much of the city, as well as the great Mausoleum, while repeated pirate attacks from the Mediterranean wreaked further havoc on the area. By the time of the early Christian

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

era, when Halicarnassus was an important bishopric, there was little left of the shining city of Mausolus.

Medieval era

Crusader Knights arrived in 1402 and used the remains of the Mausoleum as a quarry to build the still impressively standing

(''Castle of Saint Peter''), a well-preserved example of late Crusader architecture in the eastern Mediterranean. The

(''Knights of St. John'') were given permission to build it by the Ottoman sultan

Mehmed I Mehmed I (; – 26 May 1421), also known as Mehmed Çelebi (, "the noble-born") or ''Kirişçi'' (, "lord's son"), was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1413 to 1421. Son of Sultan Bayezid I and his concubine Devlet Hatun, he fought with hi ...

after

Tamerlane Timur, also known as Tamerlane (1320s17/18 February 1405), was a Turco-Mongol tradition, Turco-Mongol conqueror who founded the Timurid Empire in and around modern-day Afghanistan, Iran, and Central Asia, becoming the first ruler of the Timuri ...

destroyed their previous fortress in

İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

's inner bay. In 1522,

conquered the base of the Crusader knights on the island of

Rhodes Rhodes (; ) is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece and is their historical capital; it is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, ninth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Administratively, the island forms a separ ...

, who then relocated first briefly to

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

and later permanently to

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

, leaving the Castle of Saint Peter and Bodrum to the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

Modern era

Bodrum was a quiet town of fishermen and sponge divers until the early 20th century. From 1867 until 1922, it was part of the

Aidin Vilayet The Vilayet of Aidin or Aydin (, ) also known as Vilayet of Smyrna or İzmir after its administrative centre, was a first-level administrative division (vilayet) of the Ottoman Empire in the south-west of Asia Minor, including the ancient regi ...

of the

. In the 1923 population exchange, the

Greeks Greeks or Hellenes (; , ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Greece, Greek Cypriots, Cyprus, Greeks in Albania, southern Albania, Greeks in Turkey#History, Anatolia, parts of Greeks in Italy, Italy and Egyptian Greeks, Egypt, and to a l ...

of Bodrum settled in Nea Alikarnassos, Crete in exchange for

Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

and

Greek Muslims Greek Muslims, also known as Grecophone Muslims, are Muslims of Greeks, Greek ethnic origin whose adoption of Islam (and often the Turkish language and identity in more recent times) dates either from the contact of early Arabic dynasties of th ...

. There was also forced removal or Greeks from their properties and lands under the threat of death. Most were moved to the Dodecanese Islands, especially Kos and Kalymnos, some were compensated, but others, refused compensation with hope that one day, they would be able to return to their homes. In her book ''Bodrum'', Fatma Mansur points out that the presence of a large community of bilingual Cretan Turks, coupled with the conditions of free trade and access to the southern

Dodecanese The Dodecanese (, ; , ''Dodekánisa'' , ) are a group of 15 larger and 150 smaller Greek islands in the southeastern Aegean Sea and Eastern Mediterranean, off the coast of Anatolia, of which 26 are inhabited. This island group generally define ...

islands until 1935, made the town less provincial. The fact that traditional agriculture was not a very rewarding activity in the rather dry peninsula also prevented the formation of a class of large landowners. Bodrum has no notable history of political or religious extremism. A first nucleus of intellectuals started to form after the 1950s around the writer Cevat Şakir Kabaağaçlı, who first came here in exile two decades previously and was charmed by the town to the point of adopting the

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

''Halikarnas Balıkçısı'' ('The Fisherman of Halicarnassus').

Geography

Climate

Bodrum has a hot summer

Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typic ...

(''Csa'' in the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

and ''Cshl'' in the

Trewartha climate classification The Trewartha climate classification (TCC), or the Köppen–Trewartha climate classification (KTC), is a climate classification system first published by American geographer Glenn Thomas Trewartha in 1966. It is a modified version of the Köp ...

). The average temperature is around in winter and in summer, with many sunny spells. Summers are very hot and mostly sunny, and winters are mild and humid. As of 2019 the record high was 46.8°C (116.2°F) in July 2017.

Main sights

The Castle of St. Peter, also known as Bodrum Castle, is one of the main attractions of the peninsula. The castle was built by the

during the 15th century, and the walls of the fortification contain pieces of the ruins of the Mausoleum, which was used as a source of construction materials. The Castle of Bodrum retains its original design and character of the Knights' period and reflects

Gothic architecture Gothic architecture is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High Middle Ages, High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It evolved f ...

. It also contains the

, a museum established by the Turkish government in 1962 to host the underwater discoveries of ancient shipwrecks in the

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans and Anatolia, and covers an area of some . In the north, the Aegean is connected to the Marmara Sea, which in turn con ...

. In 2016, the castle was included in the Tentative list of World Heritage Sites in Turkey. The castle has been under renovation since 2017, and only some parts of it are accessible to visitors. Built in the fourth century BC, the ruins of the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus are also among the main sights in Bodrum. The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus was a tomb designed by

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

and built for

, a

satrap A satrap () was a governor of the provinces of the ancient Median kingdom, Median and Achaemenid Empire, Persian (Achaemenid) Empires and in several of their successors, such as in the Sasanian Empire and the Hellenistic period, Hellenistic empi ...

of the

Persian Empire The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire, also known as the Persian Empire or First Persian Empire (; , , ), was an Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty in 550 BC. Based in modern-day Iran, it was the larg ...

, and his sister-wife Artemisia II of Caria. The structure was considered one of the

,. By the twelfth century AD, the structure had largely been destroyed. Today, the ruins of the tomb continue to attract both domestic and international tourists. It is planned to turn the ruins into an

open-air museum An open-air museum is a museum that exhibits collections of buildings and artifacts outdoors. It is also frequently known as a museum of buildings or a folk museum. Definition Open air is "the unconfined atmosphere ... outside buildings" ...

. Besides the Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology, other museums are also located on the peninsula. Zeki Müren Art Museum is dedicated to Turkish classical musician Zeki Müren. After his death, the house in Bodrum where he lived during the later years of his life was transformed into the Zeki Müren Art Museum by order of the Ministry of Culture and was opened to the public on 8 June 2000. Bodrum Maritime Museum is another museum dedicated to the classification, exhibition, restoration, conservation, storage, and safekeeping of historical documents, works, and objects that are important to the city's maritime history. Bodrum City Museum is a minor museum in the city center that presents the general history of the Bodrum peninsula. File:Bodrum Theatre.jpg, Theatre at Halicarnassus File:The ruins of the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus.jpg, The ruins of the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus File:Bodrum, Muğla Province, Turkey - panoramio (12).jpg, Entrance of Museum of Underwater Archaeology File:Turkey.Bodrum040.jpg, Collection of

amphora An amphora (; ; English ) is a type of container with a pointed bottom and characteristic shape and size which fit tightly (and therefore safely) against each other in storage rooms and packages, tied together with rope and delivered by land ...

s in Museum of Underwater Archaeology File:Zeki Müren heykeli.jpg, Zeki Müren's statue at Zeki Müren Art Museum File:Windmill ruins in Bodrum.jpg, Windmills of Bodrum

Demographics

Government

The district of Bodrum is one of 957 in Turkey. It is in

, which is part of the Aydin Subregion, which, in turn, is part of the

Aegean Region The Aegean region () is one of the 7 Geographical regions of Turkey, geographical regions of Turkey. The largest city in the region is İzmir. Other big cities are Manisa, Aydın, Denizli, Muğla, Afyonkarahisar and Kütahya. Located in w ...

. Bodrum became a sub-district of the Ottoman Empire in 1871 and a district of Muğla Province in 1872. Bodrum Municipality operates with its 18 directorates and subsidiary units in the entire Bodrum Peninsula, which covers an area of 689 km² and a coastline of 215 km. The organizational structure of Bodrum Municipality is composed of the mayor, four deputy mayors, and 18 directorates. Bodrum Municipality served as the sole district municipality in the Bodrum region for many years. With the increase in the population of the peninsula, a town municipality called Karatoprak ( Turgutreis) was established in 1967. The increase in the population also led to the establishment of the Mumcular (1972), Yalıkavak (1989), and Gündoğan Municipalities (1992). Following the new municipality law of 1999, many villages in Bodrum were turned into towns: Ortakent-Yahşi with the integration of Ortakent and Yahşi villages, Göltürkbükü with the integration of Gölköy, and Türkbükü and Yalı with the integration of Yalı and Kızılağaç villages. The same year, the municipalities of Gümüşlük, Konacık, and Bitez were also founded, raising the number of municipalities in the Bodrum Peninsula to 11. After Muğla Province received

metropolitan municipality A metropolitan municipality is a municipality established to serve a metropolitan area. Canada In generic terms and in practical application within Canada, a metropolitan municipality is an urban local government with partial or complete consol ...

status, these town municipalities were abolished, and all towns across the province were integrated into the city of Bodrum. Since 30 March 2014, the peninsula has been governed as a sole municipality.

Neighbourhoods

There are 56

neighbourhoods A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neighbourh ...

in Bodrum District: * Akçaalan * Akyarlar * Bahçelievler * Bahçeyakası * Bitez * Çamarası * Çamlık * Çarşı * Cevatşakir * Çiftlik * Çırkan * Çömlekçi *

Cumhuriyet ''Cumhuriyet'' (; English: "Republic") is the oldest up-market Turkish daily newspaper. It has been described as "the most important independent public interest newspaper in contemporary Turkey". The newspaper was awarded the ''Freedom of Press ...

* Dağbelen * Dereköy * Dirmil * Eskiçeşme * Farilya * Geriş * Gökpınar * Gölbaşı * Gölköy * Gümbet * Gümüşlük * Gündoğan * Gürece * Güvercinlik * İslamhaneleri * Karabağ * Karaova * Kemer * Kızılağaç * Konacık * Koyunbaba * Küçükbük * Kumbahçe * Kumköy * Mazıköy * Mumcular * Müskebi * Peksimet * Pınarlıbelen * Sazköy * Tepecik * Tepecik Karaova * Torba * Turgutreis * Türkbükü * Türkkuyusu * Umurca * Yahşi * Yakaköy * Yalıkavak * Yeniköy * Yeniköy Karaova * Yokuşbaşı

Economy

During the 20th century, the city's economy was mainly based on fishing and sponge diving. Even though naked sponge diving in the Aegean region can be traced back at least 3,000 years, modern sponge diving became prevalent in Bodrum after

Koan A ( ; ; zh, c=公案, p=gōng'àn ; ; ) is a story, dialogue, question, or statement from Chinese Chan Buddhist lore, supplemented with commentaries, that is used in Zen Buddhist practice in different ways. The main goal of practice in Z ...

and Cretan immigrants settled in the city in the early 1920s, after the population exchange between Greece and Turkey. During its golden age between 1945 and 1965, about 150 boats engaged in sponge diving activities in Bodrum. However, sponge diseases, artificial sponge production, and a ban on sponge diving eventually ended this lucrative industry. Turkey

Over the years, tourism became a major activity and income source for local communities. The abundance of visitors has also enlivened Bodrum's retail and service industries. Leather goods, particularly for traditional woven sandals, are well-known products. Other traditional goods, such as tangerine-flavored

Turkish delight Turkish delight, or lokum () is a family of confectionery, confections based on a gel of starch and sugar. Premium varieties consist largely of chopped dates, pistachios, hazelnuts or walnuts bound by the gel; traditional varieties are often fl ...

, nazar amulets, and handicrafts are popular souvenirs. Apart from small shopping facilities, the city hosts a few shopping malls, such as Midtown and Oasis. There are also marinas for yachts and small ships, such as Milta Bodrum Marina, D-Marin Turgutreis, and the award-winning Yalıkavak Marina. The Carian Trail, which passes by Bodrum and the surrounding Kızılağaç and Pedasa ruins, attracts hikers from both inside and outside Turkey.

Culture

Architecture

Traditional Bodrum houses are characterized by their prismatic shapes, simple designs and locally sourced building materials like stone, wood, clay and cane. They also tend to have white dominated exterior walls with some blue parts (doors, windows). The tradition of white-washed walls is associated with the bug and scorpion repellent properties of lime, which is found in white paint. It is also traditionally applied in most hot regions for heat-reflecting properties of white color. Blue is also believed by locals to protect against the malicious effects of envy (similar to the Anatolian belief Nazar, originated in

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...

). According to

Muğla Muğla () is a city in southwestern Turkey. The city is the center of the district of Menteşe, Muğla, Menteşe and Muğla Province, which stretches along Turkey's Aegean Sea, Aegean coast. Muğla's center is situated inland at an altitude of ...

Municipality, in order to acquire a building permit one has to agree to paint the walls of the new building white. Use of any paint other than white on the exterior walls of a building was officially banned by Muğla Governor Temel Koçaklar in 2006. This was implemented to protect the historical fabric and cultural identity of the city.

Events and festivals

Bodrum International Ballet Festival has been held in Bodrum every summer since 2002. Bodrum has also hosted the Bodrum International Biennial since 2014. Bodrum Baroque Music Festival is another, annual, music event held in the city.

Transportation

Airports

There are no civilian airports located in the district's borders and

and Kos Island International Airport are the main airports that serve the city. Milas–Bodrum Airport is located northeast of Bodrum, with both domestic and international flights. Kos Island International Airport, to the SW, located in Andimachia,

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, accessible by boats from Bodrum across a stretch of the

. Aside from year-round flights to

destinations, Kos airport's traffic is seasonal. Built in 1987, Bodrum-Imsik Airport once served the city before its closure to commercial flights in the late 1990s. Due to financial and legal problems caused by a landownership dispute, the airport was sold to Presidency of Defense Industries in 1997. It is currently being operated as an

air base An airbase (stylised air base in American English), sometimes referred to as a military airbase, military airfield, military airport, air station, naval air station, air force station, or air force base, is an aerodrome or airport used as a mi ...

Bus

The main bus station of Bodrum district used to be located in the city center, but this has changed in 2021 when it was moved to a newly-built facility in Torba, around 6 km away from the town to ease traffic jams in the city center during the high season. The old bus station still has the interdistrict buses, but

intercity bus service An intercity bus service (North American English) or intercity coach service (British English and Commonwealth English), also called a long-distance, express, over-the-road, commercial, long-haul, or highway bus or coach service, is a public t ...

s to other locations in Turkey were redirected to the new station. The new station is powered by

solar power Solar power, also known as solar electricity, is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Solar panels use the photovoltaic effect to c ...

, and contains 6 electric car charging units, which was described to be a first for a bus terminal in Turkey by the Muğla Mayor Osman Gürün. Most of the public transportation in the city is based on local shared taxis called "

dolmuş In Turkey and Northern Cyprus, a () is a share taxi that runs set routes within and between cities. Background The name is derived from Turkish language, Turkish for "seemingly stuffed", in reference to how the vehicles were often filled to the ...

". Each of these privately owned minibuses displays their particular route on signboards behind the windscreens.Turkish Dolmus Taxi or Minibus
turkeytravelplanner.com The word derives from the Turkish for "full" or "stuffed", as these shared taxis depart from the terminal only when a sufficient number of passengers have boarded.Bus Services in North Cyprus
essentialcyprus.com, 28 January 2009. Apart from these minibuses Muğla Municipality also has a scheduled bus service program between towns on the Bodrum peninsula. Public transportation between major towns such as Gümbet, Bitez, Turgutreis and the main bus station is non-stop.

Port

The port has ferries to other nearby Turkish and Greek ports and islands. Bodrum has three large marinas and cruise berths. The first marina, Milta, is located in the center of Bodrum. The second marina is located in Turgutreis, and the third, Palmarina, in Yalikavak. Luxury marina Yalikavak Marina near Bodrum was long in the hands of Mübariz Mansimov, a Turkish-Azerbaijani oligarch and shipping magnate until Erdogan handed management over to Mehmet Ağar, his former interior minister. After 2022, the marina became a safe haven for fleeing Russian oligarchs, like

Roman Abramovich Roman Arkadyevich Abramovich (born 24 October 1966) is a business oligarch and politician. He is the former owner of Chelsea F.C., Chelsea, a Premier League football club in London, England, and is the primary owner of the private investment com ...

Wildlife

Maquis shrubland biome, which is the typical vegetation of the Mediterranean climate, is widespread in Bodrum, especially near the coast.

Forests A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological functio ...

cover 61.3% of the district. Conifers such as pines, larches, stone pines, cedars and junipers are the dominant trees in the region. Forested areas are prone to

wildfires A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a ...

, which are common in the district's history. 95% of forest fires in Turkey are believed to be caused by human activities and there are concerns that forests are deliberately being set on fire to enlarge the city. The ruling party AKP has been criticized in the media for giving building permits to construct new hotels on burnt and

deforested Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. Ab ...

areas. Wild boars and foxes are prevalent in the area, as are other animals such as pygmy cormorants,

Dalmatian pelican The Dalmatian pelican (''Pelecanus crispus''), also known as the curly-headed pelican, is the largest member of the pelican family and among the heaviest flying birds in the world. With a wingspan typically ranging between 2.7 and 3.2 meters (8.9� ...

s and

lesser kestrel The lesser kestrel (''Falco naumanni'') is a small falcon. This species breeds from the Mediterranean across Afghanistan and Central Asia, to China and Mongolia. It is a summer bird migration, migrant, wintering in Africa and Pakistan and someti ...

s. The region is also home to the endangered and internationally protected Mediterranean monk seal.

Notable people

– ancient Greek historian * Scylax of Caryanda – ancient explorer * Julian of Halicarnassus was a bishop in the early 6th century. *

– Carian ruler * Artemisia II of Caria – Carian ruler *

Dionysius The name Dionysius (; ''Dionysios'', "of Dionysus"; ) was common in classical and post-classical times. Etymologically it is a nominalized adjective formed with a -ios suffix from the stem Dionys- of the name of the Greek god, Dionysus, parallel ...

– ancient Greek historian and teacher of rhetoric in the Roman period * Turgut Reis – Ottoman Turkish admiral * Emmanuel Zairis – Greek painter * Halikarnas Balıkçısı, literally 'The Fisherman of Halicarnassus' or Cevat Şakir Kabaağaçlı – Turkish writer born in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

, resident of Bodrum for decades and a symbol for the town *

Neyzen Tevfik Tevfik Kolaylı (March 24, 1879 – January 28, 1953), better known by his pen name Neyzen Tevfik (often misrendered as "Neyzen Teyfik"), was a Turkish poet, satirist, and ''neyzen'' (a " ney performer" in Turkish). Tevfik was born in Bodru ...

– Turkish ney virtuoso and pundit * Zeki Müren – Turkish singer born in

Bursa Bursa () is a city in northwestern Turkey and the administrative center of Bursa Province. The fourth-most populous city in Turkey and second-most populous in the Marmara Region, Bursa is one of the industrial centers of the country. Most of ...

, resident of Bodrum for decades and a symbol for the town * Janet Akyüz Mattei – director of the

American Association of Variable Star Observers The American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) is an international nonprofit organization. Founded in 1911, the organization focuses on coordinating, analyzing, publishing, and archiving variable star observations made largely by ama ...

( AAVSO) from 1973 to 2004 * Abdurrahman Nafiz Gürman – military officer in the Ottoman and Turkish armies * Zeynep Çamcı – Turkish actress

Twin towns – sister cities

Bodrum is twinned with: *

Prizren Prizren ( sq-definite, Prizreni, ; sr-cyr, Призрен) is the second List of cities and towns in Kosovo, most populous city and Municipalities of Kosovo, municipality of Kosovo and seat of the eponymous municipality and District of Prizren, ...

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

Portimão Portimão () is a city and a municipality in the district of Faro (district), Faro, in the Algarve region of southern Portugal. The population in 2022 was 63,079 in an area of 182.06 km2. It was formerly known as Vila Nova de Portimão. In ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

Eskişehir Eskişehir ( , ; from 'old' and 'city') is a city in northwestern Turkey and the capital of the Eskişehir Province. The urban population of the city is 821 315 (Odunpazari + Tebebasi), with a metropolitan population of 921 630. The city is l ...

* Wakayama,

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

References

External links

Turkish Republic Municipalities of Bodrum

Ministry of Culture and Tourism: Bodrum

Bodrum Webcam

Bodrum Instagram Account
* {{Use dmy dates, date=May 2025 Populated places in Muğla Province Turkish Riviera Populated coastal places in Turkey Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Turkey Dorian colonies Aegean Sea port cities and towns in Turkey Districts of Muğla Province Metropolitan district municipalities in Turkey Halicarnassus Important Bird Areas of Turkey