Heraclea Ancient Site

Heraclea Ancient Site is situated in the Milas District of Mugla Province. It is one of the ancient Ionian region's cities, roughly equivalent to Izmir today. The ancient site, which is actually a Caria settlement and a member of the Delian League, dates back to the 5th century. Halicarnassus took control of it in the fourth century. Once it had a link with the Aegean Sea, but in the 4th century, sediments on the banks of the Menderes River closed this connection and created the Bafa Lake. The city is one of the settings for the myth Endymion, which is about a sheepman who fell into an eternal sleep to avoid growing old and losing his beauty.