A Harbor at Güllük Gulf

Abstract

Iasos, an ancient city situated approximately 26 km west of Milas, is located in the Kıyıkışlacık Neighborhood of Milas District in the Mugla Province. The ancient settlement was originally founded on a rocky peninsula in the shelter of a deep and extensive bay, once called the Gulf of Iasos (Sinus Iasicus) and now known as the Gulf of Mandalya or Güllük. To the east beyond a small cultivated plain rises the mountain chain known as the Grion (Paşalı Dağ).

The ancient settlement was established on a rocky peninsula in a deep and long cove called the Gulf of Iasos. Legend has it that the colonists who came from Argos established the settlement. Two counterforts, now submerged, close the western harbor of Iasos. The traces found in the western harbor are on the same building level as the Agora, and they date back to the Early Imperial Period. A tower was added to the small counterfort east of the harbor. Comparisons with similar retaining walls in Cyprus and specific historical arguments suggest that the construction date corresponds to the 12th-13th centuries AD when the Byzantine Empire was in decline and the defense system against the dangers of the sea was strengthened. During the research in the region of the western harbor, stone blocks were discovered underwater in some areas and nowadays it is possible to see these findings.