Guide
Myndos lies at Gumusluk, on the western side of the Bodrum peninsula. It appears in the ancient sources as a city founded by Maussollos in the fourth century BC, and there is a puzzle attached to it: Herodotus, writing in the fifth century BC, mentions the people of Myndos and their ships, yet no find pointing to that date has so far been recovered from the site.
The city was enclosed by walls beginning on the ridges of Kocadağ to the west, continuing along the ridges above the town to the east and ending on Tavşan Adası. Written sources record that wine and olive production were carried on here in antiquity. The city was occupied from the fourth century BC until the end of the Byzantine period. Excavations on Tavşan Adası uncovered the remains of a church, and on the shore opposite the island, where Kocadağ meets the sea, the remains of an ayazma. Excavations around the city by the Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology brought to light necropolis areas dated to the Early Bronze Age, and the finds from them are displayed at that museum.
