Although it’s not for sure when Marmaris was founded, but within the sixth century BC the location was called Physkos (Ancient Greek: Φύσκος) and regarded a part of Caria. Marmaris Castle and town was dominated by Egyptians, Assyrians, Ionians and Dorian turn. The Dorians divided the Carian province into nine colony cities, such as Halicarnassos and Knidos, then Marmaris became an energetic commerce centre for peninsula and led to a rise in handicrafts and maritime trade. According to the historian Herodotus, there had been a castle on the positioning since 3000 BC. Throughout the Hellenistic Age, Caria and also Marmaris was invaded by Alexander of Macadonia so the castle was besieged. The invading armies was well aware of the strategic value of the castle.

In 138 B.C. Attalos the 3rd, King of Bergama, whose predecessors had dominated Caria for 90 years, bequeathed Physkos to Rome and also the town was ruled from Rhodes by Roman generals. Town became a part of the Turkish Empire in 1425, and also the castle was built in 1521 AD for use in an exceedingly planned invasion on Rhodes. The Ottoman “Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent”, changed the name of the city to Mimaras, which then became Marmaris in time.

In the mid-fifteenth century, once the Turkish Empire began to rise and by the efforts of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, who succeeded in conquering and uniting underneath one banner the varied tribes and kingdoms of Asia Minor and Balkans. Beside conquering Constantinople another greatest difficult task came from the Knights of St. John, who occupied the Aegean islands ,based mostly in Rhodes. The Knights had fought vs Ottomans for several years; they were ready to face up to the onslaughts of Mehmed II, till a succeeding and powerful Sultan came on the scene “Suleyman the Magnificent”. Marmaris Castle was remodeled from scratch in 1522 by the Ottoman sultan “Suleyman the magnificent” once he had started for his campaign on Rhodes, for sure Marmaris was served as a base for the Ottoman Navy.

A local rumor has it that the explanation for the change of name Mimaras was that Suleiman, on arriving from his invasion to Rhodes, disliked the castle and exclaimed “mimar as!”, which implies “hang the architect!” unfortunately there’s no proof to support this amusing story.

Lord Nelson and his entire fleet secure within the harbor of Marmaris in 1798, on the way to Egypt to defeat Napoleon’s fleet throughout the Mediterranean campaign. Since 1979, renovation work has been continued at Marmaris Castle, so as to restore it back to its original condition. underneath the preservation of the Ministry of Culture, the castle was reborn into a museum. There are seven galleries, the biggest is being employed as an exhibition area and therefore the court is decorated with seasonal flowers. Built at the same time as the castle within the bazaar, there’s also little Ottoman caravanserai built by Suleiman’s mother Ayşe Hafsa sultan.