Editing Halicarnassus (section)

== History ==
[[File:Slab_from_the_Amazonomachy_frieze_from_the_Mausoleum_at_Halikarnassos,_Mausoleum_at_Halicarnassus,_British_Museum.jpg|thumb|right|Relief of an Amazonomachy from the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus.]]

===Late Bronze===
====Mycenaean period====
Some large [[Mycenae]]an tombs have been found at Musgebi (or Muskebi, modern [[Ortakent]]), not far from Halicarnassus. According to Turkish archaeologist Yusuf Boysal, the Muskebi material, dating from the end of the fifteenth century BC to ca. 1200 BC, provides evidence of the presence, in this region, of a Mycenaean settlement.<ref name=Yusuf>Yusuf Boysal, [http://dergiler.ankara.edu.tr/dergiler/14/701/8862.pdf New Excavations in Caria (PDF)], Anadolu, (1967), pp. 32–56.</ref>

More than forty burial places dating back to that time have been discovered. A rich collection of artifacts found in these tombs is now housed in the [[Bodrum Castle]]. These finds cast some light on the problem of determining the territories of ancient [[Arzawa]] and [[Achaeans (Homer)|Ahhiyawa]].<ref name =Yusuf />

===Iron Age===
[[Image:Bodrum,_porta_di_myndos_01.JPG|thumb|200px|Myndos Gate. Ruins of the fortifications of Halicarnassus (modern [[Bodrum]]); 4th c. BC;]]
[[Image:herodotusstatue.JPG|thumb|200px|[[Herodotus]] (Greek: Ἡρόδοτος) is honored with a statue in his home of Halicarnassus (modern [[Bodrum]]).]]
The founding of Halicarnassus is debated among various traditions; but they agree in the main point as to its being a [[Dorians|Dorian]] colony, and the figures on its coins, such as the head of [[Medusa (mythology)|Medusa]], [[Athena]] or [[Poseidon]], or the trident, support the statement that the mother cities were [[Troezen]] and [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]]. 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''.<ref name=EB1911/>

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 BC Halicarnassus was under the sway of [[Artemisia I of Caria]] (also known as Artemesia of Halicarnassus), who made herself famous as a naval commander at the [[battle of Salamis]]. Of Pisindalis, her son and successor, little is known. Artemisia's grandson [[Lygdamis II of Halicarnassus]], is notorious for having put to death the poet [[Panyasis]] and causing [[Herodotus]], possibly the best known Halicarnassian, to leave his native city ({{Circa|457&nbsp;BC}}).<ref>{{cite book|title=Suda|chapter=Herodotus|chapter-url=http://www.stoa.org/sol-bin/search.pl?db=REAL&search_method=QUERY&login=guest&enlogin=guest&user_list=LIST&page_num=1&searchstr=herodotus&field=hw_eng|title-link=Suda}} At the Suda On Line Project.</ref><ref name=EB1911/>

=== Hekatomnid dynasty===
[[Hecatomnus]] became king of Caria, at that time part of the Persian Empire, ruling from 404&nbsp;BC to 358&nbsp;BC and establishing the Hekatomnid dynasty. He left three sons, Mausolus, [[Idrieus]] and [[Pixodarus of Caria|Pixodarus]]—all of whom—in their turn, succeeded him in the sovereignty; and two daughters, [[Artemisia II of Caria|Artemisia]] and [[Ada of Caria|Ada]], who were married to their brothers Mausolus and Idrieus.

[[File:Mausoleum at Halicarnassus at the Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology.jpg|thumb|left|Model of the [[Mausoleum at Halicarnassus]], at the [[Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology]].]]
[[File:Persian sphinx at Halicarnassus.jpg|thumb|upright|Persian [[sphinx]] from Halicarnassus, 355 BC.]]
Mausolus moved his capital from [[Mylasa]] to Halicarnassus. His workmen deepened the city's harbor and used the dragged sand to make protecting [[Breakwater (structure)|breakwaters]] in front of the channel.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://premiumtravel.net/turkey-cities/bodrum/|title=Bodrum - Premium Travel|last=premiumtravel|website=premiumtravel.net|access-date=3 May 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170804215330/https://premiumtravel.net/turkey-cities/bodrum/|archive-date=4 August 2017}}</ref> 

On land they paved streets and [[Town square|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 [[watchtower]]s, a [[Architecture of ancient Greece|Greek]]&ndash;style theatre and a [[Greek temple|temple]] to [[Ares]]—the [[Greek mythology|Greek]] [[God (male deity)|god]] of war. Artemisia and Mausolus spent huge amounts of tax money to embellish the city. Mausolus and Artemisia had ruled over Halicarnassus and the region surrounding it for 24 years.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://hffestival.com/|title=Halicarnassus Film Festival|access-date=May 12, 2020}}</ref> They commissioned statues, temples and buildings of gleaming [[marble]]. When he died in 353&nbsp;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 (of grief, according to Cicero, ''Tusculan Disputations'' 3.31). 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&nbsp;BC. This tomb of Mausolus came to be known as the [[Mausoleum of Halicarnassus|Mausoleum]], one of the [[seven wonders of the ancient world]].

Artemisia was succeeded by her brother Idrieus, who, in turn, was succeeded by his wife and sister Ada when he died in 344&nbsp;BC. However, Ada was usurped by her brother Pixodarus in 340&nbsp;BC. On the death of Pixodarus in 335&nbsp;BC his son-in-law, a Persian named [[Orontobates]], received the satrapy of Caria from [[Darius III of Persia]].

===Alexander the Great and Ada of Caria===
{{Main|Siege of Halicarnassus}}
[[File:Obsidio et expugnatio Halicarnassi urbis totius cariae capitis.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|The siege and capture of Halicarnassus under Alexander the Great.]]
When [[Alexander the Great]] entered Caria in 334&nbsp;BC, [[Ada of Caria|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.<ref name=EB1911/> The ruins of this citadel and moat are now a tourist attraction in Bodrum.

===Later history===
Not long afterwards the citizens received the present of a gymnasium from [[Ptolemy I Soter|Ptolemy]] and built in his honour a ''stoa'' or portico.<ref name=EB1911/> Under Egyptian hegemony, around 268 BC, a citizen named [[Hermias of Halicarnassus|Hermias]] became [[Nesiarch]] of the [[Nesiotic League]] in the [[Cyclades]].<ref>[https://www.academia.edu/1600370/Identity_and_resistance_the_Islanders_League_the_Aegean_islands_and_the_Hellenistic_kings C. Constantakopoulou, ''Identity and resistance: The Islanders’ League, the Aegean islands and the Hellenistic kings'', in: Mediterranean Historical Review, Vol. 27, No. 1, June 2012, pp. 49–70, note 49] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180503204457/http://www.academia.edu/1600370/Identity_and_resistance_the_Islanders_League_the_Aegean_islands_and_the_Hellenistic_kings |date=2018-05-03 }}.</ref>

Halicarnassus never recovered altogether from the disasters of the siege, and [[Cicero]] describes it as almost deserted.<ref name=EB1911/>

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]].