Saturday 29 March 2014

Proposed Theatre Location



In 2011, following a joint project with the University of Hamburg, Uludağ University Archaeology Department announced that they had identified the possible site of the theatre.




Sunday 23 March 2014

New page added The "Lelegian" Wall 

Apart from the obvious misnomer, as most academics seem to agree that it isn’t a Lelegian structure,  there seems to be no obvious purpose for wall which runs down the spine of the headland, Kocadağ. However we came across a paper presented at a seminar held at the Free University of Berlin in 2005 where Professor Mustafa Şahin of Uludağ University proposed that the wall may pre date Mausolus’ Myndos by several hundred years. 

Thursday 20 March 2014

TALES FROM THE BALCONY

One enchanted evening

      It started out as the type of evening Gümüşlük delivers on a regular basis. Hardly a breeze was blowing from the sea, which was bathed in moonlight. The only sounds that could be heard were the soft lap of the waves landing on the beach just a few steps from Hera restaurant, soft music wafting from the jazz cafe down the beach, and the murmur of people talking while enjoying their meals and drinks. After visiting for nearly 20 years we try very hard not to take these evenings for granted.

      Hera regularly set tables on the beach next to the sea, which makes for a more secluded meal and for some people it’s very romantic.
      We had just finished our meals in Hera when Güven the waiter came past carrying a menu for a couple who had been seated at a table by the sea.
      ‘I am bringing romantic news with a meal tonight’ said Güven
       ‘What’s the news?’ we asked.
      ‘It is a secret, please do not tell’ Güven said. ‘After their meal he will ask her to marry him, I shall take him their drinks with a box that contains a ring’
       Discretely, my wife and I, along with Dave who had joined us sat waiting for the romantic news.
       The couples meal was coming to its romantic conclusion, dishes had been taken away and Güven passed us carrying a tray of drinks and a small box. The box was opened and, as the question was being asked, Güven pointed overhead, we all looked up into the night sky.
        A fireball of immense size had suddenly appeared, streaming behind it a fan like tail. It made its way across the sky toward the horizon before disappearing as if into the sea. Those who saw it that night had never seen anything so huge and so clear. Some of us wondered if it was a disaster involving an aeroplane.

        During that night, and the next day we enquired if anyone else other than those at Hera had seen it, no one had. We looked into all the local and national media, nothing. To this day we have never been able to find out what it was we had seen that night. All we know is that some couple had the most marvellous romantic evening, and I would guess, that no woman since has had such a cosmic display of light appearing in the night sky as she was being proposed to.

Gulsum Ken

Tuesday 18 March 2014

Two pithoi burials in the Gümüşlük area excavated by staff from the Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology


Bodrum Museum have performed a number of “rescue” excavations of tombs and burials around Gümüşlük, but to date I have never managed to find any of their reports published online.

Thursday 13 March 2014

Gümüşlük October 1943

A while ago while running a Google search for some other village related info I found a reference to an allied warship, HMS Hurworth, which had sank off the Island of Kalymnos in Oct 1943. 

HMS Hurworth By Royal Navy official photographer
[Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Following this lead I discovered that Hurworth was one of two ships that struck mines that night. The second ship, HHelMS Adrias, was badly damaged but managed to make its way to the neutral harbour of Gümüşlük as did some of the survivors from HMS Hurworth.

 HHMS Adrias By Royal Navy official photographer
[Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
We’ve added a new page which contains a brief description of the events, and of the time Adrias was under repair in the village.









Wednesday 5 March 2014

Monday 3 March 2014

Visitors In The 1800s

It’s not unusual when reading about Gümüşlük’s history to see a comment along the lines of: early visitors to the site reported the presence of a stadium and theatre but neither survive today.
The man generally credited with proposing that Gümüşlük was the possible site of Mausolus’ Myndos was Captain Francis Beaufort following his survey of the coast line in 1811/12.
In 1836 Beaufort, now a Rear Admiral and British Hydrographer to the Navy, dispatched HMS Beacon under the command of Lieutenant Commander Thomas Graves on a survey of the Mediterranean.
1n 1938 Lt Cdr Graves surveyed and produced a chart of the Gümüşlük peninsular and included on it the position of the archaeological remains visible at the time. As far as we are aware all 19th century references to the stadium and theatre date back to naval chart produced from Lt Cdr Graves’ survey.
A new page has been added that contains a brief summary of Beaufort’s visit, Graves’ chart and comments by a few other visitors in the 1800s