The Selçuk Sultanate of Rum was one of the great powerhouses of the Middle Ages, but its authority came to an end in 1243 when the sultan was defeated by the Mongols at the Battle of Kösedağ. In the power vacuum that followed, several emirates were established in Western Anatolia. One of these was founded by Menteşe Bey who, at the height of his power, governed all the land between modern Aydın and Fethiye. During the reign of his grandson Orhan Bey, Beçin, just outside modern Milas, became the capital of the Menteşe emirate.
Over the ensuing decades the emirate reached out its tentacles until eventually it controlled land as far away as Finike on the Mediterranean coast. But that turned out to be a stretch too far and in 1358 the emirate split into two separate parts.
Ahmed Ghazi became ruler of the southern half of the emirate, and he it was who expanded Beçin to its greatest extent.
But with the increasingly powerful Ottomans breathing down their necks, the Menteşes were destined to become a footnote in history. In 1390 Beçin fell to the Ottomans for the first time, only to be recaptured briefly by the Menteşes in 1402. But by 1426 it was all over for them, and Beçin was swallowed up into the Ottoman Empire.
