Strobilos (), modern Aspat or Çıfıt Kalesi, is a

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 fortress on the south-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 ...

n coast, across from the island of

Kos Kos or Cos (; ) is a Greek island, which is part of the Dodecanese island chain in the southeastern Aegean Sea. Kos is the third largest island of the Dodecanese, after Rhodes and Karpathos; it has a population of 37,089 (2021 census), making ...

and near modern

Bodrum Bodrum () is a town and district of Muğla Province, Turkey. 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 Hal ...

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 ...

. It is first mentioned in 724, making it one of the few known

n localities to be established during the early Middle Ages which hence, according to researcher Clive Foss, "should reveal the appearance of a distinctively Byzantine site". It is best known as a place of exile, as well as an important fortress and naval base of the

Cibyrrhaeot Theme The Cibyrrhaeot Theme, more properly the Theme of the Cibyrrhaeots (), was a Byzantine theme encompassing the southern coast of Asia Minor from the early 8th to the late 12th centuries. As the Byzantine Empire's first and most important naval them ...

As such it was twice attacked by the

Arabs Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of yea ...

, in 924 and 1035. The existence of a monastery on the site is also attested in the 11th century. The fortress was sacked by the

Seljuk Turks The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; , ''Saljuqian'',) alternatively spelled as Saljuqids or Seljuk Turks, was an Oghuz Turks, Oghuz Turkic, Sunni Muslim dynasty that gradually became Persianate society, Persianate and contributed to Turco-Persi ...

around 1080, but it was recovered and refortified under the Komnenian emperors. It remained in Byzantine hands until 1269, when it was captured by the Turkish emirate of

Menteshe __NOTOC__ Menteshe (, ) was the first of the Turkish Anatolian beyliks (principality), the frontier principalities established by the Oghuz Turks after the decline of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum. Founded in 1260/1290, it was named for its found ...

References

Sources

* Byzantine Anatolia Populated places of the Byzantine Empire Byzantine sites in Anatolia Byzantine fortifications in Turkey Bodrum District History of Muğla Province {{Fort-stub