PHYSCUS, PHYSKOS, PARADION, CRESSE, MARMORICE, MARMARİS

The first settlements of the ancient Caria region extend back to the years 3400 BC. The ruins of this important port city of this region are seen on Asartepe in the north of Marmaris city center.

Physkos is the first Carian port city and center of the other settlements in the region. Physkos means "Nature City" in Carian language. It is called so because it incorporates all elements and the beauty of nature.

Today, unfortunately, city walls can be seen on the Acropolis only. Like all Kayra settlements, it was established in the steep mountain peaks and slopes. It is settled on the hills area between Beldibi and Camiavlu regions and the valley and its slopes.

First, Physkos was covering a very small part of the geography of Marmaris where we live today. It was built on the slope and skirt of the hill right beside. The Carians built settlements on hills and slopes due to the efforts to secure themselves as a warrior community.

According to what Umar said, Constantine Doukas, a historian of the late Byzantine, stated that the name Marmaris comes from the Hellenic translations of "Mamalos" which was originally “Mamala, Mama-cık” in Luwian language. This phrase means the people of the Head Goddess. However, it is not certain yet the Mamalas as mentioned by Doukas is Marmaris. In ancient Hellenic language, Marmaroeis means "glittering", which is thought to come from the Hellenic language version of marble.

As far as we understand, the other Carian cities of Physkos around Marmaris were more important before being affiliated to Rhodes. The reasons for this include Halicarnassus’s being the head town in that period, if it is true to say. This in turn arises from the emphasis placed by satraps, namely Hekatomnid period, on Halicarnassus and affiliation of the small port cities as “deme”.

Physkos contains few ruins from the Carian period. Except for the scattered findings on Asarlık hill, there is little data on Physkos. This refers us especially to journals, memories and analysis of some researchers who arrived in the English, Spanish and Portuguese navies taking shelter in the Marmaris Port prior to the Great Egyptian Campaign in the early 1800s while writing the Physkos section. Therefore, the information provided in this part of the study is not proven to be accurate yet. Even though it is proven, it is composed of reviews unavailable to us.

Researcher Peter Admund Laurent states that in Physkos there are remains referring to goddess Leto, mother of Apollon and Artemis, also daughter of the Skies Titans Kolos and Phoebe and lover of Zeus according to many resources. Yet Strabo, in his work titled Geography as one of the most important historical sources, indicated the existence of the Leto woods near Physkos. This information is also used by George Bean investigating the Caria region.

In fact, mentioning of the distance of Physkos to the Ionian city of Ephesus in the work on ancient geography composed indicates that it is interpreted as a port city in a sense. Although it is not included in the first or second place as Halicarnassus or Knidos in the ranking of the ancient port cities, it is deemed as one of the gates where Ephesus and Internal Caria opened to the sea and other civilizations.

Another work near Physkos is the bronze statue of Demeter located in İzmir Archaeology Museum today. The statue of Demeter, whose information and images we obtained from Archaeologist Güner Özler from the Museum of Bodrum, was found as attached in sponge nets near the Arap Island around Marmaris in 1979. The statue represents the 4th century BC with its style properties. This work was probable made by Praksiteles, the sculptor of the Knidos Demeter. The work must have been carried from its location to the ship due to the need of mine at a later period.