Beçin Castle

GPS coordinates: 37.274799, 27.789000
Beçin Castle/Zamek Beçin
Beçin Castle/Zamek Beçin

Description: 

A mighty fortress, built on a high hill during the reign of the local Menteşe dynasty, towers over the town of Beçin, located near Milas. Despite the proximity of the Aegean coast and the extremely popular seaside resort of Bodrum, few people visit Beçin itself to undertake the climb to the castle. However, if you are passing through this area, it may be worth stopping there for a moment, if only to admire the vast panorama stretching from the defensive walls.

Historical background

Beçin is a place where traces of settlements from the Geometric, Archaic, and Classical periods have been found. There are also remains from the Hellenistic period, including a temple from the 4th century BCE. The Byzantine church indicates that the settlement existed in the Middle Ages - although the small size of the building suggests the settlement's minor importance. According to a contemporary Italian source, its name in the Middle Ages was Petzona. This information is found in a treaty concluded by İlyas Bey of the Menteşe dynasty with the Venetians in 1414.

Beçin's period of the greatest glory was in the 13th and 14th centuries. Then, after the defeat in the Battle of Kösedağ in 1243, the Seljuk power declined, and the political vacuum created in Asia Minor was quickly filled by several local dynasties. One of them was the family whose progenitor was Bey Menteşe. At the time of its greatest power, their state occupied the territories stretching from Aydın in the north to Fethiye in the south. During the reign of the grandson of the founder of the dynasty - Bey Orhan - Beçin became the capital of this emirate.

View from Beçin Castle/Widok z zamku Beçin
View from Beçin Castle/Widok z zamku Beçin

In 1358, the state ruled by the Menteşe family was divided into two parts. The southern areas fell to Ahmed Ghazi, who expanded and beautified Beçin. His successors resisted the growing power of the Ottomans for a long time. In 1390, Ottoman troops occupied Beçin for the first time, but the Menteşe dynasty managed to retake their capital after twelve years of fighting. However, in 1426, their power was finally broken, and Beçin and its surroundings were finally incorporated into the Ottoman Empire.

Beçin Castle/Zamek Beçin
Beçin Castle/Zamek Beçin

Systematic archaeological excavations have been carried out at the Beçin archaeological site since 1972. In 2000, a hoard of coins was found in Beçin, of which 60,000 were Ottoman coins and 850 were European coins. This is not only the largest coin hoard ever found in Turkey during archaeological excavations, but also the largest collection of Ottoman coins ever found.

The hoard consists mainly of approximately 60,000 coins from the Ottoman Empire, mostly minted in the 16th and 17th centuries at 18 different mints located in present-day Anatolia, Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, Serbia and Syria during the reigns of the sultans Murad III, Mehmed III, and Ahmed I.

Sightseeing

When entering Beçin from the direction Milas, it is hard to ignore the view of the high hill dominating the landscape. On top of this mighty hill stands a castle (tr. Beçin Kalesi), looking as if taken straight from a tale of medieval knights. From a distance, it seems an impregnable fortress, but after driving a little closer, it turns out that a quite good and passable road leads right to its gate.

You can find traces of many structures within this fortress. There are abandoned houses, a funerary monument from the Hellenistic period, as well as public buildings such as Turkish baths and a cistern in the area of ​​the inner castle. In addition, you can find traces of a church from the Byzantine period, as well as other archaeological remains.

Apart from the fortress, the most interesting historical structures in the town of Beçin are the Great Hamam, the Orhan Mosque, the Ahmet Gazi Madrasa, the Bey Manor and Bath, the Domed Fountain, the Seymenlik Inn, the Menteşe Family Cemetery, and the Karapaşa Madrasa. Most of these structures date back to the 14th and 15th centuries, except for the fortress itself, which was built from the ruins dating back to ancient times.

Beçin Castle/Zamek Beçin
Beçin Castle/Zamek Beçin

The fortress was built during the times of the power of the Menteşe family, and all available materials were used for its construction, including fragments of the Temple of Zeus, which had stood in this precise location. A careful look at the fortress will certainly indicate marble steps from this building, which currently serve as the foundations of the castle. It is assumed that the first fortifications in this location were built earlier, in the Byzantine period, but the walls preserved to this day date back to the 14th century.

Beçin Castle/Zamek Beçin
Beçin Castle/Zamek Beçin

After the fall of the Menteşe state, many residential houses were built within and around the fortress. Although the buildings within the defensive walls were officially abandoned in the 1970s, when walking around the fortress, you can see that some of them give the impression of still being used.

Beçin Castle/Zamek Beçin
Beçin Castle/Zamek Beçin

Just in front of the castle gate stands the impressively sized so-called Great Hamam, a currently ruined bathhouse. Its floors are lined with marble probably obtained from an old Carian settlement, and the roof was made in the form of domes. Apparently, after the Ottomans absorbed the Menteşe state, the bathhouse building served local bandits as a hideout and a place to store stolen valuables.

Nearby there is also the building of a former inn (i.e. zawiyah from the 14th century. It is mentioned by the famous Arab geographer and traveller Ibn Battuta in his life's work, the book "A Gift for Those Who Behold the Curiosities of Cities and the Wonders of Travel". In addition, there are modest remains of a mausoleum built at the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries and a fountain from the 15th century.

The Karapaşa Madrasa is located south of the city and the castle, outside the city walls. It was probably built in the first half of the 15th century. Only some fragments of the building's walls remain intact. This single-story building has an almost square shape and a rectangular plan, with an open courtyard. There are three student rooms at the eastern and western ends.

The Ahmet Gazi Madrasa, whose construction was commissioned by Ahmed Gazi of the Menteşe family in 1375, is another historical educational structure in the city. The Orhan Mosque stands near the Ahmet Gazi Madrasa. The only elements of this structure that have survived to this day are the entrance door, the mihrab niche, the marble door frame, and the lintels on the northern façade. The foundation inscription of this mosque has not survived, but the famous 17th-century Ottoman traveller Evliya Çelebi referred to it in his "Book of Travels".

He recorded that: "This blessed mosque was constructed by the enormous, grand, triumphant, and victorious Emir, Sultan of the Turkish Veterans, Şucaü’d-devle’d-din Orhan Ibn Massoud in 732. May Allah bless his victories. It has no minaret and is an ancient structure, now covered with earth. It is raised on long and floating feet, and within the mosque there are sixteen pine pillars." Using the modern calendar, this means that the building was constructed in 1331 CE.

Mausoleum at Beçin Castle/Mauzoleum przy zamku Beçin
Mausoleum at Beçin Castle/Mauzoleum przy zamku Beçin

Visitor tips: 

In 2024, part of the castle was temporarily closed to visitors due to renovation. Opening hours were 08:30-17:30, and the ticket price was 3 euros.

Beçin Castle/Zamek Beçin
Beçin Castle/Zamek Beçin

Getting there: 

By public transport: Coaches arrive at the Milas coach station, 6 km from Beçin, from where you can walk or take a taxi to the castle.

By car: From the intersection of the main roads D525 and D330, south of the centre of Milas, there is a side road to Ören, via Beçin. After driving 1.5 km from this intersection, you will reach the castle hill. The entrance road to the castle itself is marked by a brown signpost.

Signpost to Beçin Castle/Kierunkowskaz do zamku Beçin
Signpost to Beçin Castle/Kierunkowskaz do zamku Beçin