Loryma (Bozburun Peninsula)

The city is established in the area today known as the Bozuk Gulf, Serçe Port on the southern tip of the Bozburun Peninsula. Loryma Peninsula was used for the entire peninsula where there were demes on the western coasts of Anatolia subjected to the management of Rhodes, which were called as Asia Minor then. However, the city of Loryma is not a deme of Rhodes, but a residential area affiliated with the deme of Kasara.

Loryma also houses the pyramidal, stepped, three-to-four-sided pedestals showing the features of the pyramidal tomb in Turgut Village. Located in the southern part of Loryma, these pedestals are estimated to have been used as an offering during the worship rituals.

Loryma Castle is a Rhodes work due to its building layout and features. The walls of the castle are 320 meters in length, 27.4 meters in width and 2.44 meters thickness.

The drawing designed with dimensions by George Bean reveals the structure of the castle. According to Bean, the building has military property since no traces of any structure were found behind the five small doors indicated as A in the drawing or within the walls. Four of the five doors are situated in the east of the castle. The castle is hosting 9 square-shaped towers and round-shaped towers on both ends. In the areas indicated as B in the drawing, cisterns are located. On the other hand, the points shown as C are drilled for water channels. The inscriptions on the rocks outside the door at the eastern end of the south wall show that this place is dedicated to Zeus Atabyrios, a god unique to Rhodes.

On top of the pier in the Serçe Port, there is the city's acropolis. The inscriptions on the walls of the cave on this hill indicate that this place is a sacred space.

Loryma and Physkos were important port cities. Thucydides mentions both cities in his work titled Peloponnesian Wars. The source describes the war between Athens and the Peloponnesian. In the war between Athens, which controls a large number of islands on the coasts of Anatolia, and Peloponnesian, the Loryma Port was used as a safe shelter because it provides excellent protection against bad weather.

Again during the Knidos War, which took place between Sparta and Athens in 394 BC, the Spartans came to Physkos and fought on Loryma coast. Athenians, who became the winner of the war, changed the balance in the Aegean in their favor and thereby gained counted allies.

Loryma and Physkos Ports kept its prestige from the ancient times as a strategic base also during the new era. The ancient civilizations such as Peloponnesian, Athens and Sparta as well as The Ottoman Empire and the United Kingdom have continued to use the advantages of these ports.

With these features, Loryma has been an integral part of Rhodes, where Rhodes, where citizens of Rhodes lives, unquestionably constituting the heart of the opposite side of Rhodes in ancient times at the same time.