In 1995 the Turkish authorities made an important discovery on the Salmakis Promontory west of the entrance to the harbour of Bodrum – ancient Halikarnassos. Remains of walls and mosaic floors dating to Hellenistic and Roman times were found, and on one of the walls there was a well-preserved Greek inscription, now known as The Salmakis Inscription. The inscription was found to be a previously unknown Hellenistic poem in which Aphrodite reveals what Halikarnassos has to be proud of. Her poetic account includes famous authors born in Halikarnassos. The text leaves no doubt that the location of the inscription was the famous Salmakis Fountain inseparably connected to the name of Hermaphroditos. The unparalleled inscription aroused great interest and discussion when
published.
An international symposium was held at the Castle of St. Peter in Bodrum, where specialists representing numismatics, ancient history, literature, philology, religion, epigraphy and archaeology offered their views on the inscription and its implications for our understanding of the Hellenistic world. The Salmakis Inscription and Hellenistic Halikarnassos contains the contributions to that symposium. Apart from studies directly concerning the Salmakis inscription there are other articles on Hellenistic Halikarnassos, partly based on already well known evidence partly on new material.
