Mugla, Turkey

Mugla is the seat of Mugla province, which stretches along Turkey´s Aegean coast in the southwest of the country. In ancient times, Mugla was an insignificant settlement in the region of Caria, which was ruled from the larger coastal towns of Halicarnassos or Knidos. Mugla was part of the Rhodian Peraea, which was subject to Rhodes but not incorporated in the Rhodian state, and bore the Carian name of Mobolla. There are almost no ruins to reveal the history of the settlement of Mugla. On the high hill to the north of the city, a few ancient remains indicate that it was the site of an acropolis. Two inscriptions unearthed within the city are from the 2nd century B.C., attesting to Rhodian domination. Turkish-era Mugla remained a minor site, as the local ruling dynasty, the Menteºe, ruled from nearby Milas. Mugla finally acquired regional importance after it replaced Milas as the seat of the subprovince (sanjak) under the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century. The sanjak carried the name Mentese until the Republican Era, when it was renamed Mugla after its seat of government