After the death of Alexander the Great, the region was ruled by the Ptolemaic and Seleucid empires respectively. After it entered under the domination of Rhodes, it was declared free by the Romans. However with the foundation of Anatolian-Asia Province by the Romans as the inheritors of Kingdom of Pergamum in 133 BC, Caria was also included within the territories of the region. The Roman Empire split in two in 395 AD, and Caria came under Byzantine rule. Following acceptance of Christianity as the official religion in 324 AD, it became a Diocese under the Archbishop of Aphrodisias. In 1071, the Great Seljuk Empire took the city and ruled it until 1402 when the unity in Anatolia broke up and Halicarnassus was transferred to the Knights Hospitaller of Rhodes. When Rhodes was conquered by the Süleyman the Magnificient in 1523, Halicarnassus became part of the Ottoman Empire. During the First World War, Bodrum was occupied by the Italians, and it was recovered by Turkey in 1921.