This Bodrum Castle, or Castle of St. Peter in the harbor is a fine example of 15th-century crusader architecture, and has been converted into the Museum of Underwater Archeology, displaying artifacts dating as far back as the Bronze Age. Also displayed are vases from the 8th and 9th centuries B.C. The stunning panoramic view from nearby Goktepe is much photographed by visitors to the Museum's second-century theater. There is also a hamam (Turkish bath) museum in Bodrum dating from the early 1900's. The town's charm is well-known, attracting a wide variety of vacationers who stroll along its long, palm-lined waterfront, while elegant yachts crowd the marina.

Not far from town, you can swim in absolutely clear, tideless, warm seas. Underwater divers will want to explore the numerous reefs, caves and majestic rock formations. The waters offer up multicolored sponges of all shapes and sizes, along with octopi and an immense variety of other aquatic life. Although the reputation of Bodrum's boat yards dates back to ancient times, today craftsmen still build the traditional yachts: the tirhandil with a pointed bow and stern, and the gulette with a broad beam and rounded stern. The latter are frequently used on excursions and pleasure trips, as well as in the annual October Bodrum Cup Race.

HISTORY OF BODRUM
As a place where people have lived continuously for thousands of years Bodrum has an incredibly rich past. Its position in or near so many of the great civilization and events of ancient history also makes Halicarnassus (Bodrum's ancient name) an important site for historians. Finding one source of complete historical information on Bodrum is apparently impossible, so the account that follows is a distillation from several sources. The first settlement in this area which left structural evidence behind was on the rocky little island where the Castle of St. Peter now stands (the castle was once completely surrounded by water). When the Knights of St. John arrived to build their fortress, they found the ruins of an older castle, now known to have been built by the Dorians around 1100 BC. Historians have little evidence concerning the foundation of mainland Halicarnassus. The first known mention of it comes form the Seventh Century BC. Halicarnassus was one of six members in the Dorian Confederation of Hexapolis, along with the mainland city of Cnidos, the island of Cos, and three cities on Rhodes.

According to Herodotus, Halicarnassus became increasingly aligned with a group of inland inhabitants, the Ionians. which upset the other members of Hexapolis, and this led to the events that Dorian Cities cut off ties with Halicarnassus. By the Fifth Century BC Halicarnassus appeared purely Ionian in character. Both Herodotus and his uncle Panyasis the epic poet, wrote in Ionian, and no inscriptions from this period show any trace of the Doric dialect. In 546 BC the Persians overran the Greek cities of the coast, and Halicarnassus fell with the rest.

A series of dynasties then ruled in the Persians' interest, the most famous of these, that of Artemisia I, began in 480 BC. Herodotus gave this remarkable woman a lot of space in his writings. Artemisia's son Psyndalis succeeded her as ruler of Halicarnassus (as well as Cos and several other islands). While historians have little to say about the reign of Psyndalis,his son, Lydamis II, isremembered as a cruel and oppressive ruler. Herodotus left his homeland for the island of Samos, unable to tolerate the whims of this tyrant. We do not know who succeeded Lydamis II or why the tyrant fell, but great changes are known to have occurred by the Fourth Century BC. Sometimes during the previous century the harness of Persian control was thrown off, but soon the "King's Peace" treaty between Athens and Persia again put the cities of Asia under Persian control. Persia divided the region into 'satrapes' and by 377 BC King Mausolus ruled as Satrap or Governor of Caria and Halicarnassus.
Until Mausolus' rule Halicarnassus was a fairly small city but Mausolus had a flair for ambitious projects and he recognized the area's natural advantages for fortification and commerce. He built long lines of massive walls around Halicarnassus, parts of which still stand today. One of his projects stands as the only surviving structure from Classical Age Bodrum, the Antique Theater, located on the southern slope of Mt. Goktepe just above the middle of Bodrum. Mausolus died in 353 BC, succeeded by his wife-sister, Artemisia II. She ruled for only three years, but she managed to accomplish two memorable feats. The first was to continue construction of one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Tomb of King Mausolus (from which we derived our word 'mausoleum'). The second, a brilliant battle success rivaling that of Artemisia I, was the capture of Rhodes.
When Alexander the Great began plundering Anatolia with remarkable speed Halikarnassus was the last chance for the Persians to make a stand against Alexander in the Aegean area, yet after a bit of a struggle the city fell to Alexander in about 334 and things were fairly calm for a few years but then the whole region fell into chaotic stand when Alexander died. The Roman Empire calmed things down again.
By 400 AD, with the fall of Rome and the rise of Christianity, Halicarnassus had developed into a Diocese connected to the Archbishopric of Aphrodisias. Meanwhile the Byzantine Empire prospered with its capital, Constantinople, located where Istanbul now stands. This sprawling empire soon included North Africa, Italy and Spain, but the days of global prominence were over for the Bodrum area. Historians make little note of it again until the 11th Century, when the Turks took over the region. The Byzantines captured it during the first Crusade in 1096, but the Turks retook it three years later.
Towards the end of the 13th Century the region known as Caria became the Province of Menteshe and was annexed to the Ottoman Empire by Sultan Beyazit in 1392. Meanwhile the Knights of St. John had their castle at Symira (present-day Izmir) destroyed by the Mongol leader Tamerlane in 1402 and demanded land from Turkish Sultan Mehmet Celebi as compensation. They were given Halicarnassus, built a new castle there, and controlled the town (which they called Mesy) for over a Century.
In 1523 the 'greatest of all the Sultans', Suleyman the Magnificent, expelled the Knights. The Ottoman Empire flourished during Suleyman's 40 year reign but a long period of internal crisis and decline followed.
Bodrum itself suffered a shelling by the Russian Navy in 1770 and it was used as a Turkish Naval Base during the Greek revolt of 1824. During the First World War the French battleship "Duplex" fired on Bodrum and tried to make a landing, but the feisty inhabitants prevented this. The Ottoman Empire lost the Bodrum area to Italy, however, and Italian forces occupied the town in 1919. The imminent success of the Turkish war of independence drove the Italians out by 1922 and Bodrum finally became what its beautiful surroundings seem meant for, a place to relax and enjoy life.