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Milas, Mylasa Mylasa, which was the former capital of Caria, houses monuments bearing witness to great past of the town. From the ending of the name "asa", we understand this was an Anatolian name and it is suggested it was one of the early cities established in the region. Strabo mentioned Mylasa one of the three noteworthy cities in the region. It is not certain how the city got its name.
Due to its privileged location, its marble and fishing, Iassos had been inhabited since the earliest days of the history. The city was founded by the Greek colonist coming from Argos nearly 9th BC and then inhabited by the immigrants from Miletus. However, Italian archaeologists under the directorate of Doro Levi have found Minoan houses and Mycenaean pottery which indicates that the site had been inhabited at much earlier date than arrival of Greeks. The digs started 1960s reveled that oldest part of Iassos was on the top of Acropolis hill, now taken by the Byzantine fortress. These evidences show some similarities between the Crete, Greece and Anatolian cultures. The chief divinities of Iassos were Apollo and Artemis. One of the inscriptions discovered in Iassos mentions Artemis Astias, apparently mixture of old Carian deity Goddess with Artemis the hunter. Her temple had unroofed cella. On the other side, theatre and festivals arranged for Dionysus shows also importance of God Dionysus in Iassos. Euromos Located in the north of Bodrum, the ancient city of is Euromos worth visiting because of her temple. . The city got its name 4th century BC when Caria became under the Greek rule. It is suggested that the name Euromos was also used for the district. The Temple of Zeus, which was partially searched and excavated, revealed some interesting results indicating the existence of an earlier shrine there. This Corinthian temple with peripteros plan with 6*11 columns is believed to built during the time of Hadrian. The existence of some unfluted columns show that the temple never got the finishing touches. From the inscriptions on the columns, we understand that prominent figures of the city donated those columns to the temple. Heraclia Situated at the head of Latmian Gulf, Heraclia was called Latmus at the beginning taking its name from the impressive mountain reaching the height of 1300 meters above the sea level. Heraclia, which was located at the head of the gulf never, became an important city it was far from the popular trade road running form Ephesus to Miletus. Miletos captured most of the sea borne trade. Although it was located in Ionia, Heralia was a Carian city in character and its history was formed by the events of Caria. King Mausolos used a stratagem to capture the city and he changed the name of the city during his efforts of Hellenisation of the Caria region. To differ it from many other Heraclias, it was called Heraclia under Latmus. In 287 BC Lysimachus, one of the generals of Alexander the Great captured the city. He also built great defense walls for the city that still surrounds the town and most impressive remains in the city. These walls, which started at the lakeshore level climb up to 500 meters altitude, extended nearly four miles and fortified with 65 towers. Towards the end of the 1 century BC, the prosperity of Heraclia began to decline due to loss of the trade when river Meandros silted up the area and closed the Heraclia's link with the sea. PRIENE Located in the south of Ephesus, The city of Priene offers the marvellous features of a 4th century Greek city. Priene was designed by famous town planner, Hippodamos of Miletus.who designed the city in chess board plan with the strait streets cutting each other at the right angles. Major streets run in the east west direction while the secondary streets run in the north south direction. As a whole city faced to south. This arrangement made the Priene houses getting sun light during the winter mouths and sun went over the roofs of the houses during summer time. Hippodamos plan made the city divided into insulas or islands. Each rectangular area .had either four houses or one official building. Some of the buildings such as stadium and theatre did not fit into city plan because of their shape and or their size. Besides its town planing, three monuments attract visitors to Priene: Mıletus Miletus, the queens of the Ionian cities, was first founded 3000 years BC. It was first inhabited by the Minoens and the by the Mycenaeans. Ionians came to Miletos 1000 BC. according to the a legend, sacred fish of Apollo dolphin guided Ionians towards present day Miletos. On arriving to Miletos, Ionians built a shrine to Apollo and called it Dephiniaon. Because of its location and its sea faring people Miletians established 90 colonies all over the Mediterranean Basin including Sinop on the Black Sea Coast, Cyscos in southern Marmara and Naucratis on the Egyptian Delta. The city was also birthplace of famous philosophers, architects, town planners and mathematicians. Thales, Anaximender, Aneximnes, Hipodamos, Isodorus, Aspasia were al native sons of Miletus. Golden Age of Miletus ended with the Persian occupation during which Miletos was punished and burned as the leader city of Ionians. Persian occupation lasted till arrival of the Alexander the Great who liberated the city after a big battle with the Persians. DIDYMA This impressive Ionic temple was one of the greatest oracle temples of the ancient world. During the archaeological research done, German archaeologist discovered the remains of an earlier temple, dating back to 8 century BC. But first temple in monumental portions was built in 6th century. this temple which had peipteros plan and had .... columns was destroyed by the Persians after their capture of Miletus. With the help of Brancites, Persians looted the temple and took the statue of Apollo and its priests to Ectebana in Persia. During the campaign of Alexander the Great, Alexander not only punished the priests, but also sent the Apollo's statues back to Didyma Temple. Labranda Labranda, which is the sacred area of Zeus Labraundos, is in ancient Caria (Southwestern Anatolia), 14 km northeastern of Mylasa city to which it is associated. The holy ground is situated on the slopes of impressive hill. Labraynda was the site of the most sacred shrines of Caria. The shrine was dedicated to Zeus Straticus, whose festival was celebrated here by whole Carian Population. The most ancient findings belong to the year 600 BC. The area that has been used as sacred ground in 6th and 5th centuries and then as temple terrace consisted of a single, small, artificial terrace. A great war took place in the sacred area in 497 and Carian army has been crushed by the Persian army. At the times of the satraps named Mausolos (377 - 352 BC) and Idrieus (351 - 344 BC), this place obtained a new appearance and in 4th century, Labranda became the most important shrine in the region. In 355, during the sacrifice festival in Labranda, Mausolos escaped from an murder attempt at the last minute. Visitors enjoy great monumental buildings such as a series of artificial terraces, entrance structures, a small Doric fountain, monumental stairs, two large feast halls (androns), building used by the priest named as oikoi, Stoa and famous Zeus Temple surrounded with columns. Among the monuments visitors enjoy most are the remains of Zeus Temple which was begun by King Mausolos and completed by his brother Idreus and two Royal dining halls Andron A and B, built by the same rulers. Magnesia Located in the south of Ephesus , Magnesia is an impressive site. Buried under the sand, brought by Meander River , Magnesia still houses outstanding monuments for shedding light upon history and architecture of the region. According to tradition, Magnesia was founded by the soldiers of Agamemnon after the Trojan War. The city was built by the Aeolians originating from Magnesia in Thessaly . An inscription, discovered in Magnesia, records that this was the first city founded by the Greeks in Asia Minor . One of the imposing buildings in Magnesia is famous temple of Artemis . This beautiful temple is one of the landmarks the history of architecture. It was designed and built by Hermogenes who was also architect of the Dionysus Temple in Teos.
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One of the earlier accounts about Mylasa was during the Persian rule when a tyrant, appointed by the Persian Satrap, Oliates, ruled the city. However, the Golden Age of Mylasa came during the early 4th century during the rule of famous Persian Satraps such as Hysaldomus, Hekatomnos and Maosolos. At the beginning, it seems that the former city of Mylasa was situated at Pecin Kale, great rock situated 3 miles distance from Mylasa. During 4th century BC and then it moved to its present site, which was an unusual location for a Carian, city, usually built on the rocky hills. This great rocky hill supplied good quality of marble for the city of Mylasa and to nearby cities. The importance of Mylasa continued even after the move of the capital to Halicarnasus. It was the most important inland city of Caria throughout the Hellenistic and Roman Periods. 
