Milas

Milas lies in the inland plain of ancient Caria, beneath hills rich in marble. The ancient city of Mylasa was a centre of Carian rule and left behind temples, tombs and finely worked stone monuments. Above the plain, the fortress of Beçin became a seat of the Menteşe dynasty, whose rulers controlled a principality extending toward the Aegean coast.

In 1375 Ahmed Gazi of Menteşe founded a madrasa within Beçin. Its stone portal opened onto a courtyard, and the patron's tomb lay inside the building. Mosques, baths and houses grew around the fortress, making the hill a political and religious centre for the dynasty. Ottoman rule later replaced that of the Menteşe rulers, but their buildings remained above Milas as witnesses to an age of local principalities.