Halicarnassus is an ancient Greek city at the site of modern Bodrum in Turkey.

It is located in southwest Caria on a picturesque, advantageous site on the Ceramic Gulf.

The city is famous for the tomb of Mausolus, the origin of the word mausoleum, built between 353 BCE and 350 BCE, and one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

It is part of the Persian Empire until captured by Alexander the Great at the siege of Halicarnassus in 334 BCE.Halicarnassus originally occupies only a small island near to the shore called Zephyria, which is the original name of the settlement and the present site of the great Castle of St. Peter built by the Knights of Rhodes in 1404; but in course of time, the island unites with the mainland and the city extends to incorporate Salmacis, an older town of the Leleges and Carians and site of the later citadel.