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In ancient times in Anatolia, the region between the Menderes (Meander)
and Dalaman (Indus) rivers in the south was called Caria.
The inhabitants were Carians and Leleges. In his Iliad, Homer describes the Carians as natives of Anatolia, defending their country against Greeks in joint campaigns in collaboration with the Trojans. The original name of Muğla is open for discussion. Various sources refer to the city as Mogola, Mobella or Mobolia.
In Hellenistic and İmperial times it was a rather insignificant settlement in the part of the Rhodian Peraea which was subject to Rhodes but not incorporated in the Rhodian state, and was called under the Carian name of Mobolla. There are almost no ruins to enlighten the history of the settlement of Muğla. On the high hill to the north of the city, the presence of some insignificant ancient remains indicate that an acropolis was located here. Two inscriptions unearthed within the city are from the 2nd century B.C., attesting to the Rhodian domination.
In 1261 CE, Menteşe Bey, founder of the Beylik (principality) that carried his name, with its capital in Milas, established his rule over the region of Muğla as well. The beys of Menteşe held the city until 1390 and this first Turkish state in the region shone with its high level of cultural development, the constructions remaining to this day and, having become a significant naval power, with contacts it developed with the Aegean Islands, Crete and as far as Venice and Egypt. The Turkish settlement in the region as a whole during the Menteşe period usually took place through migrations following the Kütahya-Tavas axis.
In 1390, Muğla was taken over by the Ottoman Empire. However, just twelve years later, Tamerlane and his forces defeated the Ottomans in the Battle of Ankara, and returned control of the region to its former rulers, the Menteşe Beys, as he did for other Anatolian Turkish Beyliks. Muğla was brought back under Ottoman control, this time by Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror, in 1451.
Muğla acquired a regional importance after it replaced Milas as the seat of the subprovince (sanjak) under the Ottomans. The sanjak carried the name Menteşe till the Republican Era when it was renamed after its seat (Muğla). One of the most important events for the city during the Ottoman period was the well-recorded passage in the region of Süleyman the Magnificent and his armies, while on the way to the campaign of Rhodes, which was launched with Marmaris as the base of departure for the troops.
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