PEDASA

 Herodotus said, “Pedasans lived inland beyond Halicarnossos. This comment gives essential information about the Pedasa location, confirmed by an inscription on the temple terrace in 2008.

Located in the north of Bodrum, Pedasa displays all the features of an essential Lelegian city with its acropolis, walls, burial grounds, agricultural terraces, farmhouses, and defensive walls.

 Herodotus says that when something terrible happened to the Pedasians or their neighbors, the priestess of the Temple of Athena suddenly had a beard growing out. This strange event happened three times in history.

Research has proven that Pedasa was inhabited from 2000 BC to 1300 AD, and it was a vital city in the 6th and 5th centuries BC and lived its golden age that ended with successive Persian attacks.

 Excavating Pedesa, Prof. Dr. Adnan Diler discovered a 10-meter-wide sacred road leading from the acropolis to the temple of Athena, and he said that Pedasa was a city with a population of 4000-5000 people.

 The pottery archeologists unearthed during the excavations in Pedasa revealed that the city was united with Halicarnassus during King Mausolus’s time. The people of Pedasa did not wholly abandon their city, but its lifestyle changed.

 Surrounded by a wall, the city’s acropolis was inhabited from the Geometric Period until the Byzantine Period (12th century AD).

The terracotta figurines, weapons, and jewelry found in the Pedesa excavations are exhibited in the Bodrum Museum. A headless statue of Athena and the eye images attract attention.