The
city of Bodrum in Turkey is not on the radar of too many American and
European travelers, but it ought to be. Many people interested in
classical antiquity already know about Bodrum, but may not know that
they know. The Greeks called it Halicarnassus, and it housed the Tomb of
Mausolus, which was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Historians will recognize it as the home town of Herodotus, the father
of the discipline of history, and also of Dionysius, historian of the
Roman republic and rhetoric teacher to Roman emperors. It was ruled by
the Persians and Alexander the Great, and later came under the control
of the Knights of St. John or Knights Hospitaliers, who built its great
castle and renamed it after St. Peter (Petronium), which gave rise to
the modern name of Bodrum. This is where the Mongol advance under
Tamerlane was stopped, but the Crusaders eventually gave way to Suleiman
the Magnificent, who brought the city into the Ottoman Empire in the
16th century. After that, very little happened in Bodrum, which is why
so many ancient sites are so well preserved.
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