Mugla Travel Guide

The antique Stratoniceia city is at Eskihisar village, located on the Yataðan-Milas highway 6-7 km. west of Yatagan, Mugla.

The city was founded in the 3rd century B.C. The Syrian king, Seleucus I, arranged for the marriage of his wife, Stratonice, with his son Antiochus who founded the city in honour of his erstwhile stepmother and present wife.

According to Strabon, wanderer and writer, the city adorned with beautiful buildings, was later given to Rhodes as a present at an uncertain date. The Rhodians later lost their dominance but took over again in 197 B.C. The Roman Senate decreed Caria's independence in 167 B.C., thus ending the Rhodian sovereignty. The city was captured by Mithridates in 88 B.C. Labienus, at the head of his Parthian hordes, attacked the city in 40 B.C. From the coins found during the excavations, the Stratoniceians started minting their own money in 167 B.C., when they gained their independence from Rhodes, until the time of Gallienus (253-268 B.C.).

The acropolis is on the hilltop on the south, fortified by a ringwall around the summit. To the north, on a terrace at the hillside (just beyond the present highway) there are remains of a small temple with an inscription stating that it was devoted to the cult of Emperors. Below this is a large theatre. The cavea is divided by stairways into nine cunei and there is a single diazoma. The stagebuilding is now in evidence to a large scale by virtue of excavations.

The Temple of Hecate at Lagina is within the Turgut region of Yataðan, Muðla. The ruins of Lagina may be reached by an asphalt road of 9 km., which branches to the right past the thermal power plant on the Yatagan-Milas highway.
The Lagina sanctuary, which was a prominent cult centre of the Carians, is still famous today and is also known by the name of Leyne.
Recent research has revealed that this region was inhabited from the Antique Bronze Age (3000 B.C.) up to the present. The kings of Seleucus, by virtue of great constructional efforts, built up the Lagina sanctuary as a religious centre, and the city of Stratoniceia, 11 km. away, was the political centre.

The inscriptions at Lagina and on the walls of Bouleterion at Stratoniceia reveal that those two cities, were connected by a Sacred Road, and during festivities, a splendid ritual procession carried the key of the temple from Lagina to Stratoniceia.
Hecate, the deity of Lagina, is the grandchild of Caios and Phoibe, Titan descendants of the sun. Her father is Perses and her mother is Asterie.
Asterie and Leto are twin sisters. Hence, Apollon, Artemis and Hecate are cousins.
An Anatolian deity, Hecate reigns over air, land, and sea. Therefore, in works of art she is represented as a single body, but, generally with three heads. She is empowered to open the door of Hades of the underworld. Hecate is also the mistress of the dead. She is present at funerals and takes delivery of the dead spirits. She is the sender of bad dreams (nightmares), ghosts and spectres, but, as sender, can also defend man against them. At the same time, Hecate rules over oracles, magic and spells. Oracles and witches are Hecate's priests.
Her principal attributes are a female dog, a female wolf, a mare, a snake, a hatchet, a dagger, a key, a torch, an earthenware pot and a crescent moon.

THE ISLAND OF CEDREAE
(SEDIR ADASI)

Within the boundaries of Ula, in the Gökova Bay, the Island of Cedreae ( the Cedreae antique city) is one of the most interesting sites both from the archaeological and natural point of view, where cultural tourism is highly concentrated. The Island of Cedreae may be reached by boats either from Gökova-Akyaka or from Çamlýköy.

With numerous towers in regular ashlars, the temple of Apollo, succeeded by a Christian church; a good-sized theatre in good condition, and an agora which is still discernible, the remains of the antique harbour, are worth a visit at the Island of Cedreae. The sand along the shore is worthy of notice which rarely exists within the geographical zone of our country. The carbonate in the spring waters flowing into sea envelops the fine sand particles, forming the sand called oolit and pizolit. Within the Ula region, the calcium carbonate accumulates on fine particles with each movement of the waves and the intake by these particles of carbonate increases. This phenomenon is unique within the climatic zone around Anatolia and in the surrounding seas. The formation of these sandy particles takes a long time and thus cannot be easily replaced.

It is rumoured that Cleopatra, the famous Egyptian queen, owed her beauty to these sands. That is why the island is also called the Island of Cleopatra.

In antique times in Anatolia, the region between the Meander (Menderes) and Indus (Dalaman) rivers in the south was called Caria. The inhabitants were Carians and Lelegians. In his Iliad, Homeros describes the Carians as the natives of Anatolia, defending their country against Greeks in joint campaigns in collaboration with the Trojans.
As one of the first cities in Carian region, Mugla, located inland, could not benefit from the naval trade and was therefore not so affluent as its contemporaries like Halicarnassos and Mylasa. The antique name of Mugla is open for discussion. Various sources refer to the city as Mogola, Mobella or Mobolia.
There are almost no ruins to enlighten the history of Mugla. Whatever exists were found quite accidentally. On the high hill to the north of the city, the presence of some insignificant ancient remains indicate that the acropolis was located here. Two inscriptions unearthed within the city are from the 2nd century B.C., attesting to Rhodian domination.
In the 13th century B.C., following the invasion by Ramses II, the Carian region was under Egyptian rule for some time. The Anatolian tribes were defeated during the Trojan War and the Dorians settled along the southern shores in 1000 B.C. In 546 B.C., the Persians enslaved the Lycian King Croesus and took over the region when Caria became a satrapship governed by kings of its own race.
In 334 B.C., Alexander arrived in Anatolia and, following the shore line, conquered first Halicarnassos (Bodrum) and then Mugla. After his withdrawal from the region, Mugla went through a dark period of tumult. In 188 B.C., with the aid of the Romans, Mugla fell under the reign of the Pergamum Kingdom. However, Attalus III, the King of Pergamum, bequeathed all the kingdom, including the Mugla region, to the Romans in 133 B.C., by virtue of which the city became a Roman province.