The Urla-Karaburun-Çeşme Peninsula (Turkish: Urla-Çeşme-Karaburun Yarımadası) also known as the Urla Peninsula (Urla Yarımadası) or the İzmir Peninsula, is a large peninsula in western Turkey, in

İzmir Province İzmir Province ( tr, İzmir ili) is a province and metropolitan municipality of Turkey in western Anatolia, situated along the Aegean coast. Its capital is the city of İzmir, which is in itself composed of the province's central 11 distri ...

. The peninsula extends from İzmir to the west, into the

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea ; tr, Ege Denizi (Greek language, Greek: Αιγαίο Πέλαγος: "Egéo Pélagos", Turkish language, Turkish: "Ege Denizi" or "Adalar Denizi") is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It ...

, and lies opposite the Greek island of

Chios Chios (; el, Χίος, Chíos , traditionally known as Scio in English) is the fifth largest Greek island, situated in the northern Aegean Sea. The island is separated from Turkey by the Chios Strait. Chios is notable for its exports of mastic ...

. At an area of 171,000 hectares, it is one of the largest peninsulas in Turkey, and its ports, size, and location have given it a strategic role in Turkey's past. The peninsula is divided into three parts: Urla in the east, Karaburun in the north, and Çeşme in the southwest. A narrow strip of plain on the east divides the Urla region of the peninsula from the western extension of

Mount Nif Mount Nif, tr, Nif Dağı, (elevation: ) is a mountain in the district of Kemalpaşa, towering over the district center (''formerly also called Nif''), located immediately to the east of the city of İzmir, in western Turkey. It was one of the n ...

and the Bozdağlar mountains. The Karaburun ("black cape") peninsula in the north is either named for its dark colored cliffs or according to the old Turkish convention for the cardinal directions. Çeşme, one of the northernmost cities on the

Turkish Riviera The Turkish Riviera ( tr, Türk Rivierası), also known popularly as the Turquoise Coast, is an area of southwest Turkey encompassing the provinces of Antalya and Muğla, and to a lesser extent Aydın, southern İzmir and western Mersin. The ...

, is "the most important tourist center in the İzmir metropolitan area." Archeological excavations have uncovered signs of human habitation in the peninsula as early as the Neolithic. In antiquity, the region was known as the Peninsula of the Teians and the

Erythrae Erythrae or Erythrai ( el, Ἐρυθραί) later Litri, was one of the twelve Ionian cities of Asia Minor, situated 22 km north-east of the port of Cyssus (modern name: Çeşme), on a small peninsula stretching into the Bay of Erythrae ...

ans, according to the geographer

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could see ...

, or more simply the Peninsula of Erythrae. The mountain range running north to south on the peninsula was called Mount Mimas, and is geographically an extension of

Mount Tmolus Mount Tmolus (Ancient Greek: Τμῶλος, modern Bozdağ; highest point: 2,157 m), named after Tmolus, King of Lydia, is in "a mountain range on the south of Sardis, forming the watershed between the basins of the Hermus in the north and the C ...

(Bozdağ). In the Odyssey, Nestor tells Telemachus that some of the Greeks returning from Troy considered sailing between Chios and "the stormy headland of Mimas." The three promontories formed by Mount Mimas were Melaena (present-day Karaburun), Argennum (

Çeşme Çeşme () is a coastal town and the administrative centre of the district of the same name in Turkey's westernmost end, on a promontory on the tip of the peninsula that also carries the same name and that extends inland to form a whole with the ...

) and Coryceum (Koraka Burnu, in the south).

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...

sought to cut a canal through the isthmus of the peninsula near Urla, in order to connect the Hermaean Bay ( İzmir Gulf) and the Caÿstrian Bay (

Gulf of Kuşadası The Gulf of Kuşadası ( tr, Kuşadası Körfezi) is a small gulf and strait in the Aegean Sea, separating the Greek island of Samos from the mainland of Turkey. Kuşadası is a resort town on Turkey's western Aegean coast, on the Gulf of Kuşada ...

), but he failed to do so.

References

{{coord, 38, 18, N, 26, 36, E, type:landmark_region:TR_dim:100000, display=title Landforms of İzmir Province Gulf of İzmir