Milas

Milas (ancient Mylasa) is a city in southwestern Turkey. It is part of Mugla Province and depends on the province seat of Mugla administratively.

Milas,Mugla by beeye

 It was the ancient capital of Caria and of the Anatolian Turkish Beylik of Mentese. The territory of Milas district boasts of 27 different archaeological sites, a record among local entities in Turkey, and probably anywhere.

In classical antiquity

 Milas is situated on a fertile plain at the foot of mountain on which there are great quarries of the white marble which has been used for the construction or decoration of the city's temples and other buildings since antiquity.
 
An older picture of the Mausoleum copy, called "Gümüşkesen Monument" locallyMylasa was taken by Labienus in the civil wars. In the Greco-Roman period it enjoyed a season of brilliant prosperity, and the three neighbouring towns of Olymos, Labraunda, and Euromos were included within its limits. Its finest temples were that dedicated to Zeus Osogoa, which recalled to Pausanias (VIII, x, 3) the Acropolis of Athens, and those of Zeus Karios and of Zeus Labraundos, or Stratios (Strabo, XIV, ii, 23). Mylasa is frequently mentioned by the ancient writers. At the time of Strabo the city boasted two remarkable orators, Euthydemos and Hybreas. Various inscriptions tell us that the Phrygian cults were represented here by the worship of Sabazios; the Egyptian, by that of Isis and Osiris. There was also a temple of Nemesis.

An inscription from Mylasa (first brought to light in Bulletin de correspondance hellénique, 1890, pp. 621-623) provided one of the few certain data about the life of Cornelius Tacitus, identifying him as governor of Asia between 112 and 113.

 In the Christian Era

 Among the ancient bishops of Mylasa was Saint Ephrem (fifth century), whose feast was kept on January 23, and whose relics were venerated in neighbouring city of Leuke. Cyril and his successor, Paul, are mentioned by Nicephorus Callistus (Hist. eccl., XIV, 52) and in the Life of Saint Xene. Le Quien mentions the names of three other bishops (Oriens christianus, I, 921), and since his time the inscriptions discovered refer to two others, one anonymous (C.I.G., 9271), the other named Basil, who built a church in honour of St. Stephen (Bulletin de correspondance hellenique, XIV, 616). The Saint Xene referred to above was a noble virgin of Rome who, to escape the marriage which her parents wished to force upon her, donned male attire, left her country, changed her name Eusebia to that of Xene (stranger), and lived first on the island of Cos, then at Mylasa.

Mylasa remains a titular see of the Roman Catholic Church, Mylasensis; the seat has been vacant since the death of the last bishop in 1966

Turkish Era

Milas and the surrounding region has been taken over by Turks under the command of Menteşe Bey in mid-13th century, who gave his name to the principality that has established its capital in the city, the administrative center being the Beçin Castle located in the contemporary depending township of that name at a distance of 5 km. from Milas and which was easier to defend.

Milas, together with the entire Beylik of Menteşe was taken over by the Ottoman Empire in 1390. However, just twelve years later, Tamerlane and his forces have beaten 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. Milas was brought back under Ottoman control, this time by Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror, in 1451.

At the turn of the 20th century, according to 1912 figures, Milas urban center had a population of 9,000, in which some 2,900 were Greeks, a thousand or so Jewish, and the remaining majority were Turks Milas Greeks have been exchanged with Turks living in Greece under the 1923 agreement for Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations between the two countries, while the sizable Jewish community remained as a presence till the 1950s, at which time they emigrated to Israel, still visiting Milas frequently to this day.

Climate

Milas, which is at south west of our country, is surrounded by Bodrum - Mandalya Bay, Lake Bafa and Gökova Bay. As a result of this, it has a long coastal line. Temperature rarely decreases under 0 C in Milas, where summers are passing hot and dry, and winters are warm and rainy.