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Fethiye (Greek: Μάκρη, Makri or Macri) is a city and district of Muğla Province in the Aegean region of Turkey with about 68,000 inhabitants (2008).
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.
Telmessos was the most important city of Lycia, with a recorded history starting in the 5th century BC.
A Lycian legend explains the source of the name Telmessos as follows[citation needed]: 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 He disguises himself as a small dog and thus gains the love of the shy, withdrawn daughter.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, whom they name 'Telmessos' (the land of lights). The city became part of the Persian Empire after the invasion of the Persian King Harpagos in 547 BC, along with other Lycian and Carian cities. Telmessos then joined the Attic-Delos Union established in mid-5th century BC. and, although it later left the union and became an independent city, continued its relations with the union until the 4th century BC.
The oracle of Telmessos, devoted to Apollo, had great impact on the course of ancient history.
Legend says that Alexander the Great, on a mission to invade Anatolia in the winter of 334–333 BC, entered Telmessos harbour with his fleet. The commander of the fleet, Nearchus, asks permission of King Antipatrides of Telmessos for his musicians and slaves to enter the city. On getting the permission, the warriors with weapons hidden in the flute boxes capture the acropolis during the feasts held at night.
By the 10th century, it came to be called Makri (< μακρή 'distant'), after the name of the island at the entrance to the harbor.
Telmessos was ruled by the Anatolian beylik of Menteşe starting in 1284, under the name Megri. It became part of the Ottoman Empire in 1424.
Fethiye was formerly known as Makri (Μάκρη); while it received a considerable amount of Turkish population from the Greek Islands and mainland Greece under the terms of the 1923 exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey, the Greeks deported from the area founded the town of Nea Makri (New Makri) in Greece.
In 1934, the city was renamed 'Fethiye' in honor of Fethi Bey, one of the first pilots of the Ottoman Air Force, killed on an early mission.
Fethiye has experienced many earthquakes. Last significant ones date to 1957 and 1961, with 67 casualties and 3200 damaged buildings after the 25.04.1957 earthquake. The town has been rebuilt since then and now has a modern harbor and a marina.
