page_title: Fethiye
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Fethiye / History
caption_attribution_description: The same sarcophagus in 1883.Lycian Sarcophagus Fethiye - Mugla - Asia Minor, Turkey - πρώην Μάκρη, Μικρά Ασία, Τουρκία
context_page_description: Fethiye is a city and district of Muğla Province in the Aegean Region of Turkey. It is one of the prominent tourist destinations in the Turkish Riviera. In 2019 its population was 162,686.
context_section_description: Modern Fethiye is located on the site of the ancient city of Telmessos, the ruins of which can be seen in the city, e.g. the Hellenistic theatre by the main quay.
  A Lycian legend explains the source of the name Telmessos as follows: The god Apollo falls in love with the youngest daughter of the King of Phoenicia, Agenor. He disguises himself as a small dog and thus, gains the love of the shy, withdrawn daughter. After he reappears as a handsome man, they have a son, who they name 'Telmessos' (the land of lights).
  The city became part of the Persian Empire after the invasion of the Persian general Harpagos in 547 BC, along with other Lycian and Carian cities. Telmessos then joined the Attic-Delos Union (Delian League) established in mid-5th century BC. and, although it later left the union and became an independent city, it continued its relations with the union until the 4th century BC.
  Very little is known of the city during the Byzantine times. Surviving buildings attest to considerable prosperity during late Antiquity, but most were abandoned in the 7th–8th centuries due to the Arab-Byzantine Wars. The city was fortified in the 8th century, and appears as "Telmissos or Anastasioupolis" ca. 800. By the 10th century, the ancient name was forgotten and it became known as Makre or Makri (Μάκρη, "long one"), from the name of the island at the entrance to the harbour. There are signs of renewed prosperity in the 12-13th centuries: the city walls were enlarged, a report from 1106 names Makre a centre for perfume production, and geographical works from the 13th century describe the city as a commercial centre. The area fell to the Turks in the late 12th or early 13th century.
  Telmessos was ruled by the Anatolian beylik of Menteşe starting in 1284, under the name Beskaza.
  It became part of the Ottoman Empire in 1424, and was called مكرى Meğri until 1934.
  The town grew considerably in the 19th century, and had a large Greek population at that time. Following the population exchange between Greece and Turkey, the Greeks of Makri were sent to Greece where they founded the town of Nea Makri (New Makri) in Greece. The town was resettled with Turks from Greece. At nearby Kayaköy, formerly Levissi, the abandoned Greek Orthodox church is still standing.
  In 1934, the city was renamed Fethiye in honor of Captain Fethi Bey, one of the first pilots of the Ottoman Air Force, who died (together with First Lieutenant Sadık Bey) during an airplane crash on 27 February 1914 near Al-Samra, while attempting to complete the first flight from Istanbul to Cairo.
  Fethiye has experienced many earthquakes. Last significant ones date to 1957 and 1961, with 67 casualties and 3200 damaged buildings after 25 April 1957 earthquake. The town has been rebuilt since then and now has a modern harbor and a marina.
  On 3 August 1953, Air France Flight 152, while en route from Rome to Beirut, ditched into the Gulf of Fethiye off Kızılada. Of the 8 crew and 34 passengers on board, four drowned. The survivors were hosted by the residents during their stay in the town.
caption: Lycian rock tomb in Fethiye (4th century BCE).
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Make": "OLYMPUS CORPORATION", "Image Model": "C725UZ", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "144", "Image YResolution": "144", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "11-1000", "Image DateTime": "2006:08:19 18:29:58", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "254", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "6534", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6095", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/30", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Creative", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0210", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2006:08:19 18:29:58", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2006:08:19 18:29:58", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "32/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1984", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1488", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "590", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera"}