Background:
As Alexander made his way towards Halicarnassus, the capital city of this Persian territory, many more cities peacefully
submitted to him.
Ephialtes, an Athenian exile, commanded the large Greek garrison of Halicarnassus. Other important people were
also there, including Memnon, the Supreme Commander of Darius's forces on the coast of the Mediterranean, as well
as Orontobates, son-in-law of the king of the Persian empire.
Heavily fortified Halicarnassus would prove to be a difficult obstacle for Alexander. The city walls were adorned
with many towers, and they also had engines of war to use in defense of the city. Additionally, a large ditch encircled
it.
Alexander's men needed to somehow make paths for the siege towers to be able to roll across the ditch surrounding
the city wall. Protected by small house-like coverings nicknamed "Tortoises,"(1) the workmen filled in
the ditch at different points to achieve this purpose.
The obstacles & strategy:
By Land:
On the first day of fighting, Memnon sent out a force of mercenaries lead by the garrison commander, Ephialtes.
This surprised the Macedonian forces. After some fierce fighting, the Greek mercenaries were beaten back into the
city.
Alexander wanted the city to surrender, so he refrained from ordering an all-out attack. Only the wall and towers
were to be taken or destroyed, giving the besieged ample chance to surrender. He wanted to conserve both life and
property. This was a campaign of aquisition, not devastation.
Involvement of Myndus:
By Land:
A short time later, Alexander entered secret negotiations initiated by Greek sympathizers to surrender Myndus to
the Macedonians.(Cummings 142) The surrender of the city was to happen at night, under cover of darkness. The Greek
sympathizers were supposed to open the gates and let the Macedonians in. Persia's loss of Myndus would weaken the
resolve of the people of Halicarnassus.
However when Alexander's forces arrived, they found the city gates closed. Although Alexander had not brought any
engines or ladders for storming the city, he did order his sappers to start undermining the city walls. Without
the support of engines or their "Tortoises ", the sappers proceeded with difficulty. Only one tower was
toppled and the walls were not weakened enough to collapse.
By Sea:
Soon Myndus was reinforced by the Persian navy. The crews of the ships left their posts to defend the city and
fierce hand-to-hand combat ensued. The Macedonians were forced to retreat to Halicarnassus.
Alexander held his forces in check even after a breach was made in the wall of Halicarnassus. He still wanted the
city to surrender with the best possible conservation of lives and property. A city is no good to a ruler if it
is destroyed. After a few more breaches were made and a couple of towers toppled, Alexander still held his men
in check. Two of Perdiccas's men were drinking heavily and started to brag about their abilities and decided to
attack the city gate. As they attacked, soldiers from both sides joined the fight. The defenders were driven back
into the city. Had there been some preparation for this part of the battle, Alexander might have been able to conquer
the city in the confusion, much like at the siege of Thebes. Soon a third tower was overthrown.
The besieged sallied out against the siege engines, attempting to set them on fire. Some engines were burned, and
the officers in charge were able to drive off the defenders of the city only after Alexander himself brought reinforcements.
By this time, there were many dead lying around the walls of the city. Alexander sued for a truce to bury the dead.
Memnon granted the truce even though Ephialtes was against it. Memnon assumed, as was the tradition of the time,
this meant that Alexander was declaring his inability to take the city and was conceding defeat. Ephialtes, it
seems, knew Alexander better.
It took a few days to bury the dead, as well as to repair the siege engines. As the days went by, the besieged
got more and more nervous as they realized that Alexander had no intention of quitting the field. After the burial
of the dead, Alexander decided to personally supervise the next attack on the city.
The city knew that it could not hold out for much longer if the siege engines remained in working order. Ephialtes
convinced Memnon to let him take a force of men out to attempt to destroy thier engines. At dawn, two thousand
hand-picked men charged out of the gates, half of them to fight, and half of them with the purpose of destroying
the engines. While some of the engines were being torched, there was fierce fighting. This charge lead to the death
of Ephialtes as well as the defenders suffering heavy losses and being driven back into the city.
Knowing that attempting to withstand the siege was hopeless, Memnon and Orontobates set fire to the city and retreated
to the two inner citadels. Alexander's forces rushed into the city.
By Sea:
No naval forces were involved with the siege at Halicarnassus.
Methods:
Alexander employed battering engines, towers, ladders, sappers, and fighters, similar to the ones used at Perinthus
by his father, Phillip II.
The outcome:
Alexander gave an order that anyone found in the streets setting fire to the city was to be killed, but that the
citizens remaining in their homes should be spared. He decided to leave some men to hold the city to compel surrender
of the inner citadels. Somehow, however, Memnon and others escaped from the clutches of the Macedonians.
This siege was by far the most costly, and hard-won for Alexander up to this point. Many soldiers and officers
were lost by both sides in this siege.
Alexander split the rest of his men into two groups. One group would go back to Greece on furlough and tell of
their adventures following the leadership of Alexander. Alexander hoped this would lead to many new recruits in
the spring, as well as making his cause a popular one. The other half continued to "liberate" more cities
under Persian rule.
After the capture of many coastal towns, the position of Myndus was moot. This was because the Persian navy was
deprived of bases at which to land, and many in the service of the Persian navy grew dissatisfied and returned
to their homes. Although my research does not specifically indicate that Myndus joined Alexander, we can assume
that this did happen because the city no longer had the support of the Persian fleet. Ada, an exile from Halicarnassus,
and acquaintance of Alexander was given rule of Halicarnassus. She had legitimate claim to the rule of the city
and surrounding area in Persian eyes as well as Alexander's.
Quotation references:
1) Grote, pp 41
The Peninsula:
The rich natural diversity of the area
is particularly noteworthy. On the Peninsula, 398 km2 out of 649 km2 (61.3 %) are covered by woodland and maquis,
which are registered as "forest areas" (Kantarci 1998, Güner 1998). A recent ornithological study
identified 147 bird species in the region, including Eleonora's falcon and Audouin's gull, and concluded that the
Peninsula's most important bird areas are the islands, and the forested coastal strip between Torba and Güvercinlik,
on the northern coast (Karauz et al. 1998). In studies of flora, 168 taxon were identified on the Peninsula, with
the number rising to about 1000 in the wider area. The reptiles living on the Peninsula are represented by 36 species
(Baran 1994).
The monk seal, one of the best known wild species in the region, continues to survive within the archipelago and
along some of the unspoiled coasts of the Peninsula. At least four different individuals have been identified in
recent studies (Savas et al., 1998).
Once upon a time in Bodrum: Seals, sponges,
tangerines...
The first record of the monk seal's existence around the Bodrum Peninsula was provided by Ottoman naval officer
and geographer Muhiddin Piri Reis in his book "Kitab-i Bahriye". In this guide to Mediterranean coasts
and harbors, a cove on the western coast of the Peninsula is named as "Ayi Baligi Körfezi" (The
Seal Bay) (Piri Reis 1519).
Since the late 1970s, various researchers have provided data on the monk seal's status around the Peninsula (Berkes
et al. 1978, Gungor 1981, Berkes 1982, Marchessaux 1987, Mursaloglu 1992, Öztürk 1995, Kirac & Veryeri
1996, Savas et al. 1998). All are agreed on a year-round presence of seals in the area, and have suggested population
sizes ranging between 8 - 3.
The Bodrum Peninsula became Turkey's center for sponge diving in the early 1930s - an activity that thrived for
half a century (Yilmaz & Buhan 1998). During this period, sponge diving and citrus plantations - particularly
the cultivation of tangerines - were the main economic interests of the region (Bodrumlu 1945). Small tirhandils
(a traditional Aegean wooden boat, 8-10 meters long) would set sail in late spring, packed with divers, a couple
of sacks of hardtack and a lot of hope for the new, 6-month sponging season. Some set a course to the north to
the Dardanelles and the Sea of Marmara, while others headed south to the Turkish - Syrian border. With the light
morning breeze coming down the hills of Bodrum through the lemon and tangerine plantations covering the coasts,
the boats would head off into the Aegean, the old sponge divers looking earnestly over the surface of the sea.
They believed that the first animal to be seen at the very beginning of the first journey of the first day of the
new season, should be a "foça" (a monk seal), since this would bring better luck for safe dives
and a profitable season.
Today, it is a rather different story. The coasts are now dominated by secondary summer houses and touristic investments,
the tangerine plantations have shrunk into insignificant patches, the sponge fishery has collapsed, divers have
turned to tourism for their livelihoods, and that symbol of good fortune, the monk seal, is becoming rarer and
rarer, having been transformed into a pest by fishermen and fish farmers.
Metamorphosis - from sponge fishery to
tourist centre...
Up until the early 1960s, Bodrum was virtually isolated from the rest of Turkey and retained its character as a
small fishing town (Güner 1998). Then the writer Cevat Sakir Kabaagaçli, who settled in the town after
completing his prison sentence in Bodrum Castle, began to publish stories about sponge divers, fishermen, captains,
sailors, seals and the daily lives of the locals. The stories introduced an unknown facet of life to the intellectuals
living in Turkey's big cities and appealed to their sense of curiosity. Kabaagaçli and his intellectual
friends, in order to enjoy the unspoiled nature of the region and its local culture, began to organize boat tours
every summer to the countless coves and bays around the Bodrum Peninsula, such as Güllük and Gökova
Bays. Lasting one or two weeks, these boat tours were called "Blue Voyages" by Kabaagaçli and
his friends Years later they brought fame to Bodrum, establishing the region's most popular tourism activity.
Bodrum was provided with a better connection to the rest of Turkey after the dirt road to Milas was paved in 1968
(Güner 1998), and soon began to develop fame as a summer holiday resort. In the early 1970s, Bodrum was described
as one of the "First Degree Tourism Development Centers" by the government (Güner 1998).
In 1974, the town was declared a "Monument City". Law No.1710 was designed to protect its unique architecture
and urban landscape. Strict rules were applied to new constructions and the numbers of flats in a building were
limited to two. Because of these restrictions on city centre development, investors turned their attention towards
rural areas, particularly the coasts. As a result, land prices soared 5-10 fold. The locals began to sell their
fields and plantations and to invest in tourist pensions, hotels and boats (Güner 1998).
Historically, most of the settlements on the Peninsula had been established inland, a few kilometres away from
the coast to avoid raids by Christian pirates from the Aegean islands. After the mid-1970s however, as a result
of the region's increasing popularity, the number of buildings and the population on the coastal strip surged.
Tourism activities and investments continued to accelerate during the 1980s. The area also became an important
employment centre, attracting manpower locally and from other Turkish cities. Consequently, the human population
of the Peninsula increased considerably. Today, it is known that 43.3% of the residents were not born in the region
(Güner & Girgin 1998).
The regulations limiting house apartment numbers to two caused both the older towns and new settlements to develop
laterally, and to occupy larger areas. As a result, 13.4% of the Peninsula (86,96 km2 out of 649 km2) and most
of the coasts were covered by buildings (Güner 1998). Over the years, the areas allocated for tourism investments
and the areas occupied by secondary summer houses increased more than two fold, exceeding even the areas occupied
by towns (towns: 21,82 km2; tourism investments and secondary houses: 23,87 km2; area allocated for new tourism
investments: 21,11 km2) (Kantarci, 1998). The Bodrum Peninsula has become the second largest centre in Turkey -
after Kusadasi - for secondary houses. The number of secondary houses has now reached 120,000, equalling 5 apartments
or houses per resident in the area (Gürdal 1998).
The coasts of the Bodrum Peninsula are now dominated by secondary housing.
By the mid-1980s, Turkey was introduced to 'diving tourism' in Bodrum which, among sea-related touristic attractions,
achieved a popularity second only to the 'blue voyage'.
Since the end of 1970s in particular, tourism has dominated traditional economies and consequently, some sponge
divers, captains and seamen switched their occupations to yacht tourism and related businesses. This trend was
spurred on after 1986, when sponge stocks in the Mediterranean were hard hit by an epidemic, and the local sponge
fishery lost its economic importance (Yilmaz & Buhan 1998).
Besides tourism, aquaculture was another new industry that began to develop in coastal waters in 1980s. Starting
from Yalikavak, the northern coasts of Bodrum Peninsula and Güllük Bay became Turkey's fish farming centre.
After a number of years, the contribution of the aquaculture installations to the Turkish economy exceeded the
income generated by tourism investments in the region (although it should be noted that the tourist sector is a
major market for the aquaculture industry). The Bodrum Peninsula provides 19.5% of the total annual aquaculture
products of Turkey (Kinacigil et al. 1998).
The monk seal's fate...
While secondary houses and touristic facilities were developing along the coasts, the monk seal's habitat on the
Peninsula was also being occupied by humans. In recent years - except for some sub-peninsulas and islands - almost
all the coasts of the Bodrum Peninsula have been developed or allocated as "tourism development areas".
Even the "Seal Bay" of Piri Reis has been urbanised.
The importance of the islands around the Peninsula as monk seal habitat has been highlighted since the first studies
in the 1970s (e.g. Berkes et al. 1978, Güngör 1981, Berkes 1982). Recent studies indicate that the Peninsula's
islands and sub-peninsulas, currently spared from coastal development, are the remaining habitats of the seals
in the region, and survivability of the species is strictly dependent upon their preservation (Öztürk
1992, Öztürk 1995, Kiraç & Veryeri 1996, Savas et al. 1998). Of the 144 seal sighting records
collected around the Bodrum Peninsula between 1990-1999 by SAD-AFAG, 62.5% originated from the islands and islets,
while 24.3% originate from the nearby Küdür Peninsula (map). It may therefore be concluded that the islands
and Bodrum Peninsula coasts not yet ruined by coastal development should be preserved to protect the monk seal
and the other threatened and endangered species of the region.
Excessive coastal urbanisation is not the only problem faced by Bodrum's seals. Human activities stemming from
the presence of tourism facilities, which are concentrated on some coasts and islands, cause disturbance to wildlife
and destroy the vulnerable vegetation of sandy beaches. Almost all the islands in the archipelago are used for
diving or other tourism-related activities.
For the monk seal, it seems that one of the greatest problems is diving in and around the coastal caves on the
south coast of Karaada Island. Though this practice was prohibited by the annual Fishery Circulars following an
appeal by AFAG in 1991, some dive centres continue to take their customers into the caves used by the seals. Although
recorded in off-season months, seal sightings in this area during the summer season are mostly nonexistent. One
cave, at the north of Karaada Island, which was known for its monk seals in earlier times is currently exploited
by tourism interests for its thermal spring. The cave lost its importance to the seals with the construction of
a nearby hotel and the building of a pier at the entrance of the cave, which facilitated the mooring of tour boats
and acted as a dam to retain the cave's thermal waters.
Although they were believed to bring bad fortune if killed and good fortune if met on the sea, seals were sometimes
killed in the past. And while seal hide and blubber were used as drugs in traditional medicine, seals were not
subjected to commercial hunting, either in Bodrum or elsewhere along Turkey's Aegean and Mediterranean coasts.
Even today, old people can still be found on the Bodrum Peninsula who jealously conserve their small fragments
of seal hide or their few drops of seal oil in order to treat an illness they describe as "foça"
(seal) sickness (Kiraç & Veryeri 1996).
A male monk seal sighted at the Islands of Çavus and Kiremit off the Bodrum Peninsula.
Today, the risk of deliberate killing of the region's seals may be higher than in the past. Small scale fishermen
and aquaculture investors see the animal as a pest - although, despite rumours over the last seven years, AFAG
has yet to gather any firm evidence that fish farmers have targeted seals.
While the competition between the seals and small scale fishermen may be thought natural, its intensity is often
heightened when fish stocks are overexploited - a common phenomenon along Turkish coasts.
The fish-farm problem can be solved relatively easily by technical means, even if the operators of these facilities
are a potentially greater threat to the seals than Turkey's traditional fishermen. The most effective way to keep
the seals out of the fish pens is a 'predator' or 'protection' net, strong enough to withstand attack by seals.
The first reported incident of seals causing damage and fish losses to aquaculture installations occurred during
the winter of 1992-1993 in Yalikavak, on the NW coast of the Bodrum Peninsula. Since then, such attacks have occurred
every winter in different regions of Turkey. Fish-farm owners have hesitated to invest money in predator nets,
even though the value of their fish is worth at least 40-50 times more than the cost of the nets. Instead, they
prefer to use shotguns as seal-scaring acoustic harassment devices, which seems ineffective in most cases. Sooner
or later, the seals attack the fish pens in search of food, liberating the fish in the process.
On the north coasts of the Bodrum Peninsula, aquaculture and tourism investors are fighting each other over control
of the bays, with both groups claiming that their sector is the most important economically.
Attempts to change the fate of the Bodrum
Peninsula
Over the years, some efforts were made to implement conservation measures in the area. In 1971, a "Long Term
Development Plan for Halicarnassos Sea Shore National Park" was prepared by the Authority for National Parks
in cooperation with the United States National Park Service and with the assistance of the United States Agency
for International Development (OGM 1971). However, it appears that increasing property values in the region doomed
the plan to failure. The best chance of saving the Bodrum Peninsula was lost forever.
The first monk seal protection zone in Turkey was established in 1990, on the western shores of Küdür
Peninsula by the Municipality of Yalikavak, and was confirmed by the Ministry of Development.
During the 1990s, some of the islands and the sub-peninsulas were declared 1st Degree Natural Sites by the Turkish
Ministry of Culture. Some of these areas were proposed by local NGOs and through civil initiatives. In late 1998,
the entire Küdür Peninsula was declared a 1st Degree Natural Site and a "seal habitat" as a
result of AFAG's proposal and study reports.
Gündogan Peninsula on the northern coast and the adjacent islands (about 14,95 km2) were declared a "wildlife
protection zone" in 1997 by the Turkish Ministry of Forestry (Karauz et al. 1998).
Construction of a summer holiday village on Karaada Island was prevented in 1990 by AFAG and local NGO pressure.
Following the establishment of the Turkish National Committee for the Monk Seal, a local seal committee was established
in Yalikavak, a small village on the northwest coast of the Bodrum Peninsula, in 1993. A year later, the Turkish
Ministry of Agriculture (as a result of the Committee's recommendation) prohibited intensive fishing methods (trawls,
seines, etc.) within 3 miles of the coast in the vicinity of Yalikavak and Gümüslük towns, including
Kiremit and Çavus Islands (KKGM 1994).
Quo vadis?
The Bodrum Peninsula continues to attract people and to retain its property values. Tourism investors seek new
building sites and, as a result, new secondary houses are constructed. Only the protected shores, the islands and
the forest areas are left undeveloped, and these are increasingly appealing to the tourism industry. The most recent
fashion in Turkey is the marina. Marina investors are continually looking for unspoiled coasts, and claim that
a marina's economic value is much greater than a seal's or turtle's. Küdür Peninsula was saved just in
time from a marina construction when it was declared a 1st Degree Natural Site.
Bodrum is one of Turkey's more extreme examples of nature - tourism interaction. There are many other places along
Turkish coasts where the question "Development or conservation?" should be a subject for discussion.
While some monk seal habitats on the Turkish Aegean and Mediterranean coasts have been provided with some form
of official protection in recent years, illegal construction and other pressures on these sites remain a cause
for concern. SAD-AFAG and other Turkish NGOs continue to monitor illegal activities, but it seems that a great
effort is still required in order to establish more stable and properly managed coastal protected areas in Turkey.
Quo vadis?
The Bodrum Peninsula continues to attract people and to retain its property values. Tourism investors seek new
building sites and, as a result, new secondary houses are constructed. Only the protected shores, the islands and
the forest areas are left undeveloped, and these are increasingly appealing to the tourism industry. The most recent
fashion in Turkey is the marina. Marina investors are continually looking for unspoiled coasts, and claim that
a marina's economic value is much greater than a seal's or turtle's. Küdür Peninsula was saved just in
time from a marina construction when it was declared a 1st Degree Natural Site.
Bodrum is one of Turkey's more extreme examples of nature - tourism interaction. There are many other places along
Turkish coasts where the question "Development or conservation?" should be a subject for discussion.
While some monk seal habitats on the Turkish Aegean and Mediterranean coasts have been provided with some form
of official protection in recent years, illegal construction and other pressures on these sites remain a cause
for concern. SAD-AFAG and other Turkish NGOs continue to monitor illegal activities, but it seems that a great
effort is still required in order to establish more stable and properly managed coastal protected areas in Turkey.
The Bodrum Peninsula can be counted among the regions in Turkey where coastal natural habitats have, to a great
extent, been ruined. The main causes for habitat destruction in the region are excessive urbanisation (mainly by
secondary summer houses), domestic pollution which increases in the summer season, and both illegal and legal fishing
methods over sea grass meadows in shallow coastal waters. Alongside habitat destruction, extensive human activities
resulting from increased tourism facilities causes disturbance to surviving populations of endangered mammal, bird
and plant species - such as the monk seal Monachus monachus, Audouin's gull Larus audouinii, Eleonora's falcon
Falco eleonorae and the sea lily Pancratium maritimum - on the remaining undeveloped coasts and islands.
The numerous islands of the Aegean and its mainland coasts provide habitat for the largest surviving population
of M. monachus (Sergeant et al. 1978). The monk seal has survived here for thousands of years and, even today,
the seal's historical influence upon the cultures of the region can be detected in the many geographical landmarks
that bear its name (Johnson & Lavigne 1999).
The Bodrum Peninsula from Karaada island.
Bodrum's sub-peninsulas and off-lying islands that have so far escaped development have the typical characteristics
of Mediterranean monk seal habitat, and continue to host a small population of the species.
Gümbet, Bitez, Ortakent Yalisi,
Karaincir, Bagla and
Akyarlar enjoys a well-deserved reputation for the fine, powdery sand of its
beach.
Turgutreis, Gümüslük
and Yalikavak, all with excellent
See the north coast of the peninsula - Torba, Türkbükü,
Gölköy and Gündogan - by
road or, even better, hire a covered with olive trees.
Torba, a modern village with |
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Click
to enlarge This is the kind of houses
making big city people coming down to the Bodrum peninsula.
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Click
to enlarge wide and sandy beaches in
Ortakent/Yahsi
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A summer evening in
Türkbükü click
to enlarge
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REFERENCES
specific
to this siege:
Alexander the
Great by Lewis
V. Cummings, pp 141-144, 1940
A History of
Greece by J.
B. Bury, pp 741, 1913(first edition)
A History of
Greece II-Grecian
History to the Reign of Peisestratus at Athens, Volume XII by George Grote, pp 40-46
The Cambridge
Ancient History,
Volume VI by J. B. Bury, S. A. Cook, F. E. Adcock, pp 363-364, 1964
The Nature of
Alexander by
Mary Renault, pp 89-90, 1975
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