Gulf of Gökova in the context of "Datça peninsula"

Muğla (Turkish: [ˈmuːɫa]) is a city in southwestern Turkey. The city is the center of the district of Menteşe and Muğla Province, which stretches along Turkey's Aegean coast. Muğla's center is situated inland at an altitude of 660 m and lies at a distance of about 30 km (19 mi) from the nearest seacoast in the Gulf of Gökova to its south-west. Muğla (Menteşe) district area neighbors the district areas of Milas, Yatağan and Kavaklıdere to its north by north-west and those of Ula and Köyceğiz, all of whom are dependent districts. Muğla is the administrative capital of a province that incorporates internationally well-known and popular tourist resorts such as Bodrum, Marmaris, Datça, Dalyan, Fethiye, Ölüdeniz and also the smaller resort of Sarigerme.

Bodrum (Turkish pronunciation: [ˈbodɾum]) is a town and district of Muğla Province in Turkey. It is a port town at the entrance to the Gulf of Gökova. Known in ancient times as Halicarnassus, the town was once home to the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, also known as the tomb of Mausolus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

The town was founded by Dorian Greeks. It later fell under Persian rule and became the capital of the satrapy of Caria. Mausolus ruled Caria from here, and after his death in 353 BC, his wife Artemisia built a tomb, called the Mausoleum, for him. Macedonian forces laid siege to the city and captured it in 334 BC. After Alexander's death, the city passed to successive Hellenistic rulers and was briefly an independent kingdom until 129 BC, when it came under Roman rule. A series of natural disasters and repeated pirate attacks wreaked havoc on the area, and the city lost its importance by the time of the Byzantine era. The Knights Hospitaller arrived in 1402 and used the remains of the Mausoleum as a quarry to build Bodrum Castle. After the conquest of Rhodes by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1522, the town fell under Ottoman control as the Knights Hospitaller relocated to Europe.

Halicarnassus (/ˌhælɪkɑːrˈnæsəs/ HAL-ih-kar-NASS-əs; Latin: Halicarnassus or Halicarnāsus; Ancient Greek: Ἁλικαρνασσός Ancient Greek pronunciation: [ha.li.kar.naːs.sós] Halikarnāssós; Turkish: Halikarnas; Carian: 𐊠𐊣𐊫𐊰 𐊴𐊠𐊥𐊵𐊫𐊰 alos k̂arnos) was an ancient Greek city in Caria, in Anatolia. It was located in southwest Caria, on an advantageous site on the Gulf of Gökova, which is now in Bodrum, Turkey. The city was famous for the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, also known simply as the Tomb of Mausolus, whose name provided the origin of the word "mausoleum". The mausoleum, built from 353 to 350 BC, ranked as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

Halicarnassus' history was unique on two interlinked issues. Halicarnassus retained a monarchical system of government at a time when most other Greek city states had long since rid themselves of their kings. Secondly, while their Ionian neighbours rebelled against Persian rule, Halicarnassus remained loyal to them. It formed part of the Persian Empire until Alexander the Great captured it at the siege of Halicarnassus in 333 BC.

Knidos or Cnidus (/ˈnaɪdəs/; Ancient Greek: Κνίδος, Ancient: [knídos], Modern: [ˈkniðos], Knídos) was a Greek city in ancient Caria and part of the Dorian Hexapolis, in south-western Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey. It was situated on the Datça peninsula, which forms the southern side of the Sinus Ceramicus, now known as Gulf of Gökova. By the 4th century BC, Knidos was located at the site of modern Tekir, opposite Triopion Island. But earlier, it was probably at the site of modern Datça (at the half-way point of the peninsula).

It was built partly on the mainland and partly on the Island of Triopion or Cape Krio. The debate about it being an island or cape is caused by the fact that in ancient times it was connected to the mainland by a causeway and bridge. Today the connection is formed by a narrow sandy isthmus. By means of the causeway the channel between island and mainland was formed into two harbours, of which the larger, or southern, was further enclosed by two strongly built moles that are still in good part entire.

The Datça Peninsula, also known as the Reşadiye Peninsula, is an 80 km-long, narrow peninsula in southwest Turkey separating the Gulf of Gökova to the north from the Hisarönü to the south. The peninsula corresponds almost exactly to the administrative district of Datça, part of Muğla Province. The town of Datça is located at its halfway point.

Previously, the ancient Greek names for the peninsula included the Dorian or Cnidos Peninsula or the Chersonisos Cnidia.