The story of the Bodrum Castle begins with the Mongolian Sultan Timur defeating the Ottoman Sultan Yıldırım Beyazıt in the Battle of Ankara in 1402 and capturing Anatolia. Tamerlane, who captured Izmir, also besieged Saint Peter Castle, belonging to the Knights of Saint John in the inner harbor. The knights who defended this castle in place of the Hisar Mosque in Konak Bazaar, a wholly filled area today, eventually had to leave the site by getting on their ships and seeking a new place of strategic importance as they descended to the south.

The leader of the Knights, Grand Master Naillac, came to help Izmir. Halicarnassos was chosen as the new port because of its proximity to Rhodes, which became the knights’ center in 1309. Meanwhile, the knights also got permission from the Ottoman Sultan Çelebi Mehmet, who recovered the Ottoman Empire after the Mongol danger and almost reestablished it by constructing a new castle.

RODOS KNIGHTS PERIOD

They chose Bodrum for their new castle to better control the maritime traffic in the region and the castle in Kos. It was also near Rhodes, the union center. Construction activities related to the castle continued until 1523 the knights left Bodrum.