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A visit to Bodrum's Castle of St.
Peter is a must-see in
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LABRAYNDA
Labraynda was a Karian city, famous with great plane tree forests, its water and Zeus Labrandos temple. The temple
was a place for pilgrimage. Labranda was joined to ancient Mylasa (Milas) with a sacred road which is 13 km long.
The suffix (-nda) was the place word used ba Karians and Lykians in the old Anatolia. Labrynthos comes from the
word Labrys which means two-sided axe. The axe is also the symbol of Head God Zeus.
The oldest things found in Labranda belonged to 600 B.C. The temple. Where the Antiques were more, was dwelled
between 600 B.C. and 400 B.C.
Main Buildings:
The temple of Zeus: It was built in the time of satrap Hidrieus who lived between 351 B.C and 344 B.C. The
dimensions are 25 x 16 metres and 6 x 11 metres one row columns with Attica.
South and East Entrances: (Propylea) It was also build by Hidrieus and located on the road which joined
the Sacred Road with the city,.
The Doric House: It is called thus because of the four Doric style columns in front of the building, built
by Hidreus.
The Stadium: It is 176 metres long and the two ends of the building are still whole.
Great Grave: The building includes a front courtyard and two rooms one after the other. It was built in
the soft rock technique in the 4th cntury BC.
The Houses of the Monks: On the Architrav there is a script saying: „Hidrieus, the son of Hekatomnas from Mylasa
has devoted these house to the God Zeus."
The Androns: These are some kind of clubs where met. There are tree Andron, (A) was built by Maussolos between
377 and 352 B.C. Andron (B) and (C) were built by Hidrieus.
The North Stoa: This was built by Maussolos.
The East House: It was built in the 5th century B.C.
Old House with Terrace: It was buiklt in the 5th century B.C. and the New House was built in the 4th century B.C.
The bath and the East Church were built in Byzantian period. The fountain and the West Stoa and the bath were built
in the 1st century A.C.
Between Milas and Labranda the remainders of the Sacred Road can be seen.
The burial chamber still seen today , was most probably robbed much earlier than the theft by the Knights of Rhodes.
Groups of English, French, and German knights undertook the work and its financing. Today, the towers of the castle
are named after the countries that paid for their construction: English Tower, German Tower, and so on. In addition
to these, there is another tower, 'Liman' or 'Harbor' Tower, that now serves as the main entrance to the castle.
As originally constructed, this tower stood in the sea which has since been filled in. Another gate, called the
'Northern Moat Entrance', opens into the main plaza of Bodrum and originally was the castle's landward entrance.
The land on which the castle stands was, at one time an island known as Zefirya, after Zephyros, the god of the
west wind. The castle is thought to occupy the sites of what were the palace of King Mausolos and of a temple dedicated
to Apollo, the principle deity worshipped by the Halicarnassans. Remains of the palace defensive walls are thought
to still exist. The island was joined to the mainland in Hellenistic times, when Halikarnassos was part of the
kingdom of Pergamon.
Examining the defense system of the castle, the first thing one notices is that the walls
on the landward side are much stronger than those on the seaward side. This was because the chief threat to the
castle, the Ottomans, would have come from that direction. In those days, threats from the sea would have been
less of a worry because the Knights of Rhodes kept the Aegean under their strict control.
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Sir Thomas Docwra
Leader of the English Langue
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In its heyday, the castle was probably manned by fifty knights and perhaps three times that
many ordinary soldiers. The knights hailed from seven different European countries and shared in the defense of
the castle and its countryside. The castle's defenses were never put to the test, for the Ottomans never attacked
it. Instead in 1522, they besieged the island of Rhodes led by their sultan, Süleyman the Magnificent. After
holding out for three months, terms were agreed to, under which the Knights had to evacuate Rhodes and five other
of their strongholds in the eastern Mediterranean. Petronium was one of them. In January of the following year,
the Knights set sail, eventually ending up on Malta in 1530.
The subsequent military history of the castle is rather insignificant. In 1770 the Russian
fleet bombarded it briefly. During the first world war, the French did the same but with somewhat more success:
they managed to demolish one side of the English Tower.
Bodrum was occupied by the Italians during the same war and while here, they used the castle as a base, and rebuilt
the Italian Tower in the form we see today. In the decades following the establishment of the Turkish Republic
(1923), the castle suffered from neglect and decay. A few dwellings were built inside and the mosque and bath were
used but in the main, people seem to have avoided it.
In the 60s, a decision was made to turn the castle into an archaeological museum. In the
years since then, it has been undergoing restoration. Today, it is one of the world's most distinguished museums
specializing in underwater archaeology though it also has a fine collection of other antiquities as well.
More of the museum  here
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 on this drawing from around 1800 you still
can see the friezes built in the walls of the castle
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