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.
The city has the typical Mediterranean climate, with an average low temperature of 8 degrees Celsius or 47 degrees Fahrenheit in mid-winter and summer highs around 34 degrees Celsius (93 degrees Fahrenheit). There are almost 3,000 hours of sunshine a year and the ocean temperature ranges from 17 to 26 degrees Celsius (63 to 79 degrees Fahrenheit), so it is not surprising that Bodrum is a vacation spot. Fishermen and sponge divers are still to be seen, and add to the atmosphere of a seacoast town. The fishing and sponge-diving history of the city is reflected in the Museum of Underwater Archeology that was installed in the Crusaders’ castle of St. Peter in 1962.
Mausolus was the Persian satrap of Halicarnassus, and a statue of him stands today in the British Museum. He was a native of nearby Caria, and apparently sought to project the image of “local boy made good” with a very grand tomb, from which the word “mausoleum” is derived. His widow, who was also his sister, employed two architects and four sculptors to build a massive temple-like structure parts of which have been very well preserved amid present-day Bodrum.