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 () 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 districts out of 30 in to ...

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

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans and Anatolia, and covers an area of some . In the north, the Aegean is connected to the Marmara Sea, which in turn con ...

, and lies opposite the Greek island of

Chios Chios (; , traditionally known as Scio in English) is the fifth largest Greece, Greek list of islands of Greece, island, situated in the northern Aegean Sea, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, tenth largest island in the Medi ...

. 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, , (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 nineteen mountains ...

and the Bozdağlar mountains. The

Karaburun Karaburun (, Achirlí) is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of İzmir Province, in western Turkey. Its area is 421 km2, and its population is 12,200 (2022). The district area roughly corresponds to the peninsula of the same nam ...

("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 (), 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 combination of a ...

, 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 () later Lythri(Λυθρί, turk. Ildırı) 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 ...

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 "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...

, 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 ...

(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

), Argennum (

Çeşme Çeşme, officially the Çeşme Municipality, is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of İzmir Province, Turkey. Its area is 285 km2, and its population is 48,924 (2022). It sits at Turkey's westernmost end, on a promontory on t ...

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

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...

sought to cut a canal through the isthmus of the peninsula near Urla in order to connect the Hermaean Bay (

İzmir Gulf İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

) and the Caÿstrian Bay (

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

), 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