Putting Halicarnassus on the (tourist) map

The Hurriyet Daily News recently published an article entitled “Mausoleum at Halicarnassus to be restituted” that made me raise my eyebrows. What did they mean with “restitute” for there certainly is no way to rebuild the Mausoleum since too many pieces have been lost over time.

On top of that, the rest of the article is pretty confusing with plans and projects that are very vague. What transpires, however, is that the Bodrum Municipality wants to put the city on the map and most probably on the tourists’ map.

Of course, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus is recognized as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and as I understand what the newspaper is trying to say, they intend to connect this monumental tomb built by King Mausolos in 353 BC to Bodrum harbor. I wonder how they can go about this for it would mean the destruction of a good part of today’s residential area.

It is also odd to read that a team composed of a professional tour guide, an underwater archaeologist, an architect, a businessman and a photographer had to be called to meet at the Bodrum Municipality in order to plan excavations to reveal more of Halicarnassus’ past. The projects that are discussed include more excavations of the eight-meter-long city wall and unearthing the 3,500-year-old hippodrome. The program also should tackle the restoration of the Jewish cemetery, the organization of a festival dedicated to Herodotus (International Herodotus Culture and Arts Festival), the illumination of the existing Myndos Gate and last but not least the collection of artifacts testifying of early Mycenaean occupation in the area (15^th-12^th century BC). By themselves, these are all excellent ideas but it seems that is all there is, ideas tossed on the table without any strong argument to back them up or plan to work them out.

Their intention to put Herodotus, the father of ancient history who was born in Halicarnassus in the 5^th century BC in the floodlights may simply be an additional PR for Bodrum.

It will be interesting to see which part of these projects, if any, will ever materialize.