Caria
Encyclopedia
Caria (from Luwian
Karuwa meaning "steep country", Ancient Greek
, Καρία) was a region of western Anatolia
extending along the coast from mid-Ionia
(Mycale
) south to Lycia
and east to Phrygia
. The Ionian
and Dorian Greeks colonized the west of it and joined the Carian population in forming Greek-dominated states there. The eponymous inhabitants of Caria were known as Carians
, and they had arrived in Caria before the Greeks. They were described by Herodotos
as being of Minoan
descent, while the Carians themselves maintained that they were Anatolian mainlanders intensely engaged in seafaring and were akin to the Mysians
and the Lydians
. The Carians did speak an Anatolian language, which does not necessarily reflect their geographic origin, as Anatolian once may have been widespread. Also closely associated with the Carians were the Leleges
, which could be an earlier name for Carians or for a people who had preceded them in the region and continued to exist as part of their society in a reputedly second-class status.
is based entirely on ancient sources. The multiple names of towns and geomorphic features, such as bays and headlands, reveal an ethnic layering consistent with the known colonization.
south of Miletus
, but Miletus had been placed in the pre-Greek Caria. South of it is the Iassicus Sinus (Güllük
Körfezi) and the towns of Iassus and Bargylia, giving an alternative name of Bargyleticus Sinus to Güllük Körfezi, and nearby Cindye, which the Carians called Andanus. After Bargylia is Caryanda
or Caryinda, and then on the Bodrum
Peninsula Myndus
(Mentecha or Muntecha), 56 miles (90 km) miles from Miletus. In the vicinity is Naziandus, exact location unknown.
On the tip of the Bodrum Peninsula (Cape Termerium) is Termera (Telmera, Termerea), and on the other side Ceramicus Sinus (Gökova Körfezi
). It "was formerly crowded with numerous towns." Halicarnassus
, a Dorian Greek city, was planted there among six Carian towns: Theangela, Sibde, Medmasa, Euranium, Pedasa or Pedasum, and Telmissus. These with Myndus and Synagela (or Syagela or Souagela) constitute the eight Lelege towns. Also on the north coast of the Ceramicus Sinus is Ceramus
and Bargasus.
On the south of the Ceramicus Sinus is the Carian Chersonnese, or Triopium Promontory (Cape Krio
), also called Doris after the Dorian colony of Cnidus. At the base of the peninsula (Datça Peninsula
) is Bybassus or Bybastus from which an earlier names, the Bybassia Chersonnese, had been derived. It was now Acanthus and Doulopolis ("slave city").
South of the Carian Chersonnese is Doridis Sinus, the "Gulf of Doris" (Gulf of Symi
), the locale of the Dorian Confederacy. There are three bays in it: Bubassius, Thymnias and Schoenus, the last enclosing the town of Hyda. In the gulf somewhere are Euthene or Eutane, Pitaeum, and an island: Elaeus
or Elaeussa near Loryma
. On the south shore is the Cynossema, or Onugnathos Promontory, opposite Symi
.
South of there is Peraea, a section of the coast under Rhodes
. It includes Loryma
or Larymna in Oedimus Bay, Gelos, Tisanusa, the headland of Paridion, Panydon or Pandion (Cape Marmorice) with Physicus, Physca or Physcus, also called Cressa (Marmaris
). Beyond Cressa is the Calbis River (Dalyan
River). On the other side is Caunus
(near Dalyan), with Pisilis or Pilisis and Pyrnos between.
Then follow some cities that some assign to Lydia and some to Caria: Calynda on the Indus River, Crya, Carya, Carysis or Cari and Alina in the Gulf of Glaucus (Katranci Bay or the Gulf of Makri
), the Glaucus River being the border. Other Carian towns in the gulf are Clydae or Lydae and Aenus.
near Selimiye
was the district of Euromus or Eurome, possibly Europus, formerly Idrieus and Chrysaoris (Stratonicea), apparently the ethnic center of non-Hellenic Caria. The name Chrysaoris once applied to all of Caria; moreover, Euromus was originally settled from Lycia
. Its towns are Tauropolis, Plarassa and Chrysaoris. These were all incorporated later into Mylasa. Connected to the latter by a sacred way is Labranda. Around Stratonicea is also Lagina
or Lakena as well as Tendeba and Astragon.
Further inland towards Aydin
is Alabanda
, noted for its marble
and its scorpion
s, Orthosia, Coscinia
or Coscinus on the upper Maeander and Halydienses, Alinda or Alina. At the confluence
of the Maeander and the Harpasus is Harpasa
(Arpaz). At the confluence of the Maeander and the Orsinus, Corsymus or Corsynus is Antioch on the Maeander
and on the Orsinus in the mountains a border town with Phrygia
, Gordiutichos ("Gordius' Fort") near Geyre
. Founded by the Leleges
and called Ninoe it became Megalopolis ("Big City") and Aphrodisias
, sometime capital of Caria.
Other towns on the Orsinus are Timeles and Plarasa. Tabae
was at various times attributed to Phrygia, Lydia and Caria and seems to have been occupied by mixed nationals. Caria also comprises the headwaters of the Indus and Eriya or Eriyus and Thabusion on the border with the small state of Cibyra.
Karkija (a member state of the Assuwa
league, ca. 1250 BC), Babylonian Karsa, Elamite and Old Persian Kurka. Allegedly, the region received the name of Caria from Car
, an ancestral hero of the Carians.
Caria arose as a Neo-Hittite
kingdom around the 11th century BC.The coast of Caria was part of the Dorian hexapolis (six-cities) when the Dorians arrived after the Trojan War
in the last and southernmost waves of Greek migration to western Anatolia's coastline and occupied former Mycenaean
settlements such us Knidos
and Halicarnassos (present-day Bodrum
). Herodotus, the famous historian was born in Halicarnassus during the 5th century BC. But Greek colonization touched only the coast and the interior remained Carian organized in a great number of villages grouped in local federations.
The Iliad
records that at the time of the Trojan War
, the city of Miletus
belonged to the Carians, and was allied to the Trojan
cause.
Lemprière
notes that "As Caria probably abounded in fig
s, a particular sort has been called Carica, and the words In Care periculum facere, have been proverbially used to signify the encountering of danger in the pursuit of a thing of trifling value." The region of Caria continues to be an important fig-producing area to this day, accounting for most fig production in Turkey, which is the world's largest producer of figs.
y in 545 BC. The most important town was Halicarnassus
, from where its sovereigns reigned. Other major towns were Latmus, refounded as Heracleia under Latmus
, Antiochia
, Myndus
, Laodicea
, Alinda
and Alabanda
.
Halicarnassus was the location of the famed Mausoleum
dedicated to Mausolus
, a satrap
of Caria between 377
–353 BC
by his wife, Artemisia
. The monument became one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
, and from which the Romans named any grand tomb a mausoleum.
in 334 BC
with the help of the former queen of the land Ada of Caria
who had been dethroned by the Persian Empire
and actively helped Alexander in his conquest of Caria on condition of being reinstated as queen. After their capture of Caria, she declared Alexander as her heir.
the name of Caria was still used for the geographic region but the territory administratively belonged to the province of Asia. During the administrative reforms of the 4th century this province was abolished and divided into smaller units. Caria became a separate province as part of the Diocese of Asia.
Christianity
was on the whole slow to take hold in Caria. The region was not visited by St. Paul, and the only early churches seem to be those of Laodicea
and Colossae
(Chonae) on the extreme inland fringe of the country, which itself pursued its pagan
customs. It appears that it was not until Christianity was officially adopted in Constantinople
that the new religion made any real headway in Caria.
system was introduced. The region corresponding to ancient Caria was captured by the Turks
under Menteşe dynasty in early 13th century.
There are only indirect clues regarding the population structure under the Menteşe and the parts played in it by Turkish migration from inland regions and by local conversions, but the first Ottoman Empire
census records indicate, in a situation not atypical for the region as a whole, a large Muslim
(practically exclusively Turkish) majority reaching as high as 99 % and a non-Muslim minority (practically exclusively Greek supplemented with a small Jewish community in Milas) as low as one per cent. One of the first acts of the Ottomans after their takeover was to transfer the administrative center of the region from its millenary seat in Milas to the then much smaller Muğla
, which was nevertheless better suited for controlling the southern fringes of the province. Still named Menteşe until the early decades of the 20th century, the kazas corresponding to ancient Caria are recorded by sources such as G. Sotiriadis (1918) and S. Anagiostopoulou (1997) as having a Greek population averaging at around ten per cent of the total, ranging somewhere between twelve to eighteen thousand, many of them reportedly recent immigrants from the islands. Most chose to leave in 1919, before the population exchange
.
Luwian language
Luwian is an extinct language of the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family. Luwian is closely related to Hittite, and was among the languages spoken during the second and first millennia BC by population groups in central and western Anatolia and northern Syria...
Karuwa meaning "steep country", Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
, Καρία) was a region of western Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
extending along the coast from mid-Ionia
Ionia
Ionia is an ancient region of central coastal Anatolia in present-day Turkey, the region nearest İzmir, which was historically Smyrna. It consisted of the northernmost territories of the Ionian League of Greek settlements...
(Mycale
Mycale
Mycale, also Mykale and Mycali , called Samsun Daği and Dilek Daği in modern Turkey, is a mountain on the west coast of central Anatolia in Turkey, north of the mouth of the Maeander and divided from the Greek island of Samos by the 1300 metre wide Samos Strait...
) south to Lycia
Lycia
Lycia Lycian: Trm̃mis; ) was a region in Anatolia in what are now the provinces of Antalya and Muğla on the southern coast of Turkey. It was a federation of ancient cities in the region and later a province of the Roman Empire...
and east to Phrygia
Phrygia
In antiquity, Phrygia was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now modern-day Turkey. The Phrygians initially lived in the southern Balkans; according to Herodotus, under the name of Bryges , changing it to Phruges after their final migration to Anatolia, via the...
. The Ionian
Ionians
The Ionians were one of the four major tribes into which the Classical Greeks considered the population of Hellenes to have been divided...
and Dorian Greeks colonized the west of it and joined the Carian population in forming Greek-dominated states there. The eponymous inhabitants of Caria were known as Carians
Carians
The Carians were the ancient inhabitants of Caria in southwest Anatolia.-Historical accounts:It is not clear when the Carians enter into history. The definition is dependent on corresponding Caria and the Carians to the "Karkiya" or "Karkisa" mentioned in the Hittite records...
, and they had arrived in Caria before the Greeks. They were described by Herodotos
Herodotus
Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria and lived in the 5th century BC . He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...
as being of Minoan
Minoan civilization
The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age civilization that arose on the island of Crete and flourished from approximately the 27th century BC to the 15th century BC. It was rediscovered at the beginning of the 20th century through the work of the British archaeologist Arthur Evans...
descent, while the Carians themselves maintained that they were Anatolian mainlanders intensely engaged in seafaring and were akin to the Mysians
Mysians
Mysians were the inhabitants of Mysia, a region in northwestern Asia Minor.-Origins according to ancient authors:Their first mention is by Homer, in his list of Trojans allies in the Iliad, and according to whom the Mysians fought in the Trojan War on the side of Troy, under the command of Chromis...
and the Lydians
Lydians
The Lydians were the inhabitants of Lydia, a region in western Anatolia, who spoke the distinctive Lydian language, an Indo-European language of the Anatolian group....
. The Carians did speak an Anatolian language, which does not necessarily reflect their geographic origin, as Anatolian once may have been widespread. Also closely associated with the Carians were the Leleges
Leleges
The Leleges were one of the aboriginal peoples of southwest Anatolia , who were already there when the Indo-European Hellenes emerged. The distinction between the Leleges and the Carians is unclear. According to Homer the Leleges were a distinct Anatolian tribe Homer...
, which could be an earlier name for Carians or for a people who had preceded them in the region and continued to exist as part of their society in a reputedly second-class status.
Municipalities of Caria
Cramer's detailed catalog of Carian towns in classical GreeceClassical Greece
Classical Greece was a 200 year period in Greek culture lasting from the 5th through 4th centuries BC. This classical period had a powerful influence on the Roman Empire and greatly influenced the foundation of Western civilizations. Much of modern Western politics, artistic thought, such as...
is based entirely on ancient sources. The multiple names of towns and geomorphic features, such as bays and headlands, reveal an ethnic layering consistent with the known colonization.
Coastal Caria
Coastal Caria begins with DidymaDidyma
Didyma was an ancient Ionian sanctuary, the modern Didim, Turkey, containing a temple and oracle of Apollo, the Didymaion. In Greek didyma means "twin", but the Greeks who sought a "twin" at Didyma ignored the Carian origin of the name...
south of Miletus
Miletus
Miletus was an ancient Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia , near the mouth of the Maeander River in ancient Caria...
, but Miletus had been placed in the pre-Greek Caria. South of it is the Iassicus Sinus (Güllük
Güllük
Güllük, is a small harbor town with own municipality within the district of Milas, situated north of Bodrum in Muğla Province of Turkey. It is a small Turkish town and growing holiday destination, with the town being pleasantly developed with a range of tourist amenities. The Town centre is...
Körfezi) and the towns of Iassus and Bargylia, giving an alternative name of Bargyleticus Sinus to Güllük Körfezi, and nearby Cindye, which the Carians called Andanus. After Bargylia is Caryanda
Caryanda
Caryanda was an ancient city on the coast of Caria in southwestern Anatolia.Caryanda was situated on a bay on the north coast of the Bodrum Peninsula in what is today the Turkish tourist resort town of Turkbuku. Greek geographer Strabo mentions Caryanda as being between the Carian coastal cities...
or Caryinda, and then on the Bodrum
Bodrum
Bodrum is a port city in Muğla Province, in the southwestern Aegean Region of Turkey. It is located on the southern coast of Bodrum Peninsula, at a point that checks the entry into the Gulf of Gökova. The site was called Halicarnassus of Caria in ancient times and was famous for housing the...
Peninsula Myndus
Myndus
Myndus or Myndos was an ancient Dorian colony of Troezen, on the coast of Caria in Asia Minor, , sited on the Bodrum Peninsula, a few miles northwest of Halicarnassus. The site is now occupied by the modern village of Gümüslük....
(Mentecha or Muntecha), 56 miles (90 km) miles from Miletus. In the vicinity is Naziandus, exact location unknown.
On the tip of the Bodrum Peninsula (Cape Termerium) is Termera (Telmera, Termerea), and on the other side Ceramicus Sinus (Gökova Körfezi
Gulf of Gökova
Gulf of Gökova or Gulf of Kerme , is a long , narrow gulf of the Aegean Sea between Bodrum Peninsula and Datça Peninsula in south-west Turkey.Administratively, Gulf of Gökova coastline includes portions of the districts of, clockwise, Bodrum, Milas,...
). It "was formerly crowded with numerous towns." Halicarnassus
Halicarnassus
Halicarnassus was an ancient Greek city at the site of modern Bodrum in Turkey. It was located in southwest Caria on a picturesque, advantageous site on the Ceramic Gulf. The city was famous for the tomb of Mausolus, the origin of the word mausoleum, built between 353 BC and 350 BC, and...
, a Dorian Greek city, was planted there among six Carian towns: Theangela, Sibde, Medmasa, Euranium, Pedasa or Pedasum, and Telmissus. These with Myndus and Synagela (or Syagela or Souagela) constitute the eight Lelege towns. Also on the north coast of the Ceramicus Sinus is Ceramus
Ceramus
Ceramus or Keramos was a city on the north coast of the Ceramic Gulf—named for this city—in Caria, in southwest Asia Minor; its ruins can be found outside the modern village of Ören, Muğla Province, Turkey....
and Bargasus.
On the south of the Ceramicus Sinus is the Carian Chersonnese, or Triopium Promontory (Cape Krio
Cape Krio
Deveboynu Cape is a promontory in southwest Turkey, on the Aegean Sea, at the extreme end of the Datça Peninsula, north of the island of Rhodes. The modern town of Tekir is located here....
), also called Doris after the Dorian colony of Cnidus. At the base of the peninsula (Datça Peninsula
Datça Peninsula
The Datça Peninsula is an 80 km-long, narrow peninsula in southwest Turkey separating the Gulf of Gökova to the north from the Gulf of Hisarönü to the south. The peninsula corresponds almost exactly to the administrative district of Datça, part of Muğla Province...
) is Bybassus or Bybastus from which an earlier names, the Bybassia Chersonnese, had been derived. It was now Acanthus and Doulopolis ("slave city").
South of the Carian Chersonnese is Doridis Sinus, the "Gulf of Doris" (Gulf of Symi
Symi
Symi also transliterated Syme or Simi is a Greek island and municipality. It is mountainous and includes the harbor town of Symi and its adjacent upper town Ano Symi, as well as several smaller localities, beaches, and areas of significance in history and mythology...
), the locale of the Dorian Confederacy. There are three bays in it: Bubassius, Thymnias and Schoenus, the last enclosing the town of Hyda. In the gulf somewhere are Euthene or Eutane, Pitaeum, and an island: Elaeus
Elaeus
Elaeus is a Greek city in Thracian Chersonese, a colony of Ionian Teos, hometown of the mythological hero Protesilaus....
or Elaeussa near Loryma
Loryma
Loryma is an ancient town and Roman Catholic titular see in the former Roman province of Caria, in Asia Minor .Loryma was a small fortified town and harbour on the coast of Caria, formerly in the Ottoman province Loryma is an ancient town and Roman Catholic titular see in the former Roman...
. On the south shore is the Cynossema, or Onugnathos Promontory, opposite Symi
Symi
Symi also transliterated Syme or Simi is a Greek island and municipality. It is mountainous and includes the harbor town of Symi and its adjacent upper town Ano Symi, as well as several smaller localities, beaches, and areas of significance in history and mythology...
.
South of there is Peraea, a section of the coast under Rhodes
Rhodes
Rhodes is an island in Greece, located in the eastern Aegean Sea. It is the largest of the Dodecanese islands in terms of both land area and population, with a population of 117,007, and also the island group's historical capital. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within...
. It includes Loryma
Loryma
Loryma is an ancient town and Roman Catholic titular see in the former Roman province of Caria, in Asia Minor .Loryma was a small fortified town and harbour on the coast of Caria, formerly in the Ottoman province Loryma is an ancient town and Roman Catholic titular see in the former Roman...
or Larymna in Oedimus Bay, Gelos, Tisanusa, the headland of Paridion, Panydon or Pandion (Cape Marmorice) with Physicus, Physca or Physcus, also called Cressa (Marmaris
Marmaris
Marmaris is a port city and a tourist resort on the Mediterranean coast, located in southwest Turkey, in Muğla Province.Marmaris' main source of income is tourism. Little is left of the sleepy fishing village that Marmaris was just a few decades ago after a construction boom in the 1980s...
). Beyond Cressa is the Calbis River (Dalyan
Dalyan
Dalyan is a town in Muğla Province located between the well-known districts of Marmaris and Fethiye on the south-west coast of Turkey. The town is an independent municipality, within the administrative district of Ortaca....
River). On the other side is Caunus
Kaunos
Kaunos was a city of ancient Caria and in Anatolia, a few km west of the modern town of Dalyan, Muğla Province, Turkey....
(near Dalyan), with Pisilis or Pilisis and Pyrnos between.
Then follow some cities that some assign to Lydia and some to Caria: Calynda on the Indus River, Crya, Carya, Carysis or Cari and Alina in the Gulf of Glaucus (Katranci Bay or the Gulf of Makri
Fethiye
Fethiye is a city and district of Muğla Province in the Aegean region of Turkey with about 68,000 inhabitants .-History:...
), the Glaucus River being the border. Other Carian towns in the gulf are Clydae or Lydae and Aenus.
Inland Caria
At the base of the east end of LatmusLatmus
Beşparmak Mountains is a ridge of many spurs running in an east-west direction along the north shore of the former Latmian Gulf on the coast of Caria, which became part of Hellenised Ionia. The city of Latmus, located on the south slopes of Mount Latmus east of Miletus, was originally a port on...
near Selimiye
Selimiye
Selimiye may refer to:* Selimiye Mosque , the name of various mosques.* Selimiye Barracks, in Istanbul* Selimiye , a village in Antalya Province, near Manavgat and Side...
was the district of Euromus or Eurome, possibly Europus, formerly Idrieus and Chrysaoris (Stratonicea), apparently the ethnic center of non-Hellenic Caria. The name Chrysaoris once applied to all of Caria; moreover, Euromus was originally settled from Lycia
Lycia
Lycia Lycian: Trm̃mis; ) was a region in Anatolia in what are now the provinces of Antalya and Muğla on the southern coast of Turkey. It was a federation of ancient cities in the region and later a province of the Roman Empire...
. Its towns are Tauropolis, Plarassa and Chrysaoris. These were all incorporated later into Mylasa. Connected to the latter by a sacred way is Labranda. Around Stratonicea is also Lagina
Lagina
Lagina is an ancient cult site of important archaeological and touristic value dating from the Carian period and extended under the Seleucid kings that is situated in southwestern Turkey and which is famous for its Hekate Sanctuary...
or Lakena as well as Tendeba and Astragon.
Further inland towards Aydin
Aydin
Aydın is a city in and the seat of Aydın Province in Turkey's Aegean Region. The city is located at the heart of the lower valley of Büyük Menderes River at a commanding position for the region extending from the uplands of the valley down to the seacoast...
is Alabanda
Alabanda
Alabanda – also hê Alabanda, ta Alabanda, Alabandeus, Alabandensis, Alabandenus, and for a time, Antiochia of the Chrysaorians – was an ancient city of Caria, Anatolia, the site of which is now located near Doğanyurt , Aydin Province, in the Asian part of Turkey.The city is located in...
, noted for its marble
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
and its scorpion
Scorpion
Scorpions are predatory arthropod animals of the order Scorpiones within the class Arachnida. They have eight legs and are easily recognized by the pair of grasping claws and the narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back, ending with a venomous stinger...
s, Orthosia, Coscinia
Coscinia
Coscinia is a genus of moth in the family Arctiidae.-Species:* Coscinia bifasciata * Coscinia cribraria * Coscinia liouvillei Le Cerf, 1928* Coscinia libyssa...
or Coscinus on the upper Maeander and Halydienses, Alinda or Alina. At the confluence
Confluence
Confluence, in geography, describes the meeting of two or more bodies of water.Confluence may also refer to:* Confluence , a property of term rewriting systems...
of the Maeander and the Harpasus is Harpasa
Harpasa
Harpasa is a Roman Catholic titular see in the former Roman province of Caria, suffragan of the archbishopric of Stauropolis.Little is known of the history of this town, situated on the bank of the Harpasus, a tributary of the Mæander. It is mentioned by Ptolemy , by Stephanus Byzantius, by...
(Arpaz). At the confluence of the Maeander and the Orsinus, Corsymus or Corsynus is Antioch on the Maeander
Antioch on the Maeander
Antiochia on the Maeander also Antioch on the Maeander , earlier Pythopolis, was a city of ancient Caria, in Anatolia. The city was situated between the Maeander and Orsinus rivers near their confluence and, though it was the site of a bridge over the Maeander had "little or no individual history"...
and on the Orsinus in the mountains a border town with Phrygia
Phrygia
In antiquity, Phrygia was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now modern-day Turkey. The Phrygians initially lived in the southern Balkans; according to Herodotus, under the name of Bryges , changing it to Phruges after their final migration to Anatolia, via the...
, Gordiutichos ("Gordius' Fort") near Geyre
Geyre
Geyre is the village in the province of Aydın, Turkey. It is a settlement which was developed among the ruins of the ancient city Aphrodisias.-History:...
. Founded by the Leleges
Leleges
The Leleges were one of the aboriginal peoples of southwest Anatolia , who were already there when the Indo-European Hellenes emerged. The distinction between the Leleges and the Carians is unclear. According to Homer the Leleges were a distinct Anatolian tribe Homer...
and called Ninoe it became Megalopolis ("Big City") and Aphrodisias
Aphrodisias
Aphrodisias was a small city in Caria, on the southwest coast of Asia Minor. Its site is located near the modern village of Geyre, Turkey, about 230 km from İzmir....
, sometime capital of Caria.
Other towns on the Orsinus are Timeles and Plarasa. Tabae
Tabae
Tabae is a Catholic titular see. The original diocese was in Caria, a suffragan of Stauropolis; according to Strabo it was located in a plain in Phrygia on the boundaries of Caria. The place is now Tavas, near Kale, Denizli in Turkey; some inscriptions and numerous ancient remains have been...
was at various times attributed to Phrygia, Lydia and Caria and seems to have been occupied by mixed nationals. Caria also comprises the headwaters of the Indus and Eriya or Eriyus and Thabusion on the border with the small state of Cibyra.
Pre-Hellenic States and People
The name of Caria appears in a number of early languages: HittiteHittite language
Hittite is the extinct language once spoken by the Hittites, a people who created an empire centred on Hattusa in north-central Anatolia...
Karkija (a member state of the Assuwa
Assuwa
The Assuwa league was a confederation of states in western Anatolia, defeated by the Hittites under an earlier Tudhaliya I around 1400 BC. The league formed to oppose the Hittite empire. The list of its members contains 22 names, including [...]uqqa, Warsiya, Taruisa, Wilusiya and Karkija .Some of...
league, ca. 1250 BC), Babylonian Karsa, Elamite and Old Persian Kurka. Allegedly, the region received the name of Caria from Car
Car (King of Caria)
Car, according to Herodotus, was the brother of Lydus and Mysus. He was regarded as the eponymous and ancestral hero of the Carians who would have received their name from the king....
, an ancestral hero of the Carians.
Sovereign State Hosting the Greeks
Neo-Hittite
The states that are called Neo-Hittite, or more recently Syro-Hittite, were Luwian, Aramaic and Phoenician-speaking political entities of the Iron Age northern Syria and southern Anatolia that arose following the collapse of the Hittite Empire around 1180 BC and lasted until roughly 700 BC...
kingdom around the 11th century BC.The coast of Caria was part of the Dorian hexapolis (six-cities) when the Dorians arrived after the Trojan War
Trojan War
In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, the king of Sparta. The war is among the most important events in Greek mythology and was narrated in many works of Greek literature, including the Iliad...
in the last and southernmost waves of Greek migration to western Anatolia's coastline and occupied former Mycenaean
Mycenaean Greece
Mycenaean Greece was a cultural period of Bronze Age Greece taking its name from the archaeological site of Mycenae in northeastern Argolis, in the Peloponnese of southern Greece. Athens, Pylos, Thebes, and Tiryns are also important Mycenaean sites...
settlements such us Knidos
Knidos
Knidos or Cnidus is an ancient settlement located in Turkey. It was an ancient Greek city of Caria, part of the Dorian Hexapolis. It was situated on the Datça peninsula, which forms the southern side of the Sinus Ceramicus, now known as Gulf of Gökova. By the fourth century BC, Knidos was located...
and Halicarnassos (present-day Bodrum
Bodrum
Bodrum is a port city in Muğla Province, in the southwestern Aegean Region of Turkey. It is located on the southern coast of Bodrum Peninsula, at a point that checks the entry into the Gulf of Gökova. The site was called Halicarnassus of Caria in ancient times and was famous for housing the...
). Herodotus, the famous historian was born in Halicarnassus during the 5th century BC. But Greek colonization touched only the coast and the interior remained Carian organized in a great number of villages grouped in local federations.
The Iliad
Iliad
The Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles...
records that at the time of the Trojan War
Trojan War
In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, the king of Sparta. The war is among the most important events in Greek mythology and was narrated in many works of Greek literature, including the Iliad...
, the city of Miletus
Miletus
Miletus was an ancient Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia , near the mouth of the Maeander River in ancient Caria...
belonged to the Carians, and was allied to the Trojan
Troy
Troy was a city, both factual and legendary, located in northwest Anatolia in what is now Turkey, southeast of the Dardanelles and beside Mount Ida...
cause.
Lemprière
John Lemprière
John Lemprière , English classical scholar, lexicographer, theologian, teacher and headmaster...
notes that "As Caria probably abounded in fig
Ficus
Ficus is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes, and hemiepiphyte in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extending into the semi-warm temperate zone. The Common Fig Ficus is a genus of...
s, a particular sort has been called Carica, and the words In Care periculum facere, have been proverbially used to signify the encountering of danger in the pursuit of a thing of trifling value." The region of Caria continues to be an important fig-producing area to this day, accounting for most fig production in Turkey, which is the world's largest producer of figs.
Persian Satrapy
Caria was then incorporated into the Persian Achaemenid empire as a satrapSatrap
Satrap was the name given to the governors of the provinces of the ancient Median and Achaemenid Empires and in several of their successors, such as the Sassanid Empire and the Hellenistic empires....
y in 545 BC. The most important town was Halicarnassus
Halicarnassus
Halicarnassus was an ancient Greek city at the site of modern Bodrum in Turkey. It was located in southwest Caria on a picturesque, advantageous site on the Ceramic Gulf. The city was famous for the tomb of Mausolus, the origin of the word mausoleum, built between 353 BC and 350 BC, and...
, from where its sovereigns reigned. Other major towns were Latmus, refounded as Heracleia under Latmus
Latmus
Beşparmak Mountains is a ridge of many spurs running in an east-west direction along the north shore of the former Latmian Gulf on the coast of Caria, which became part of Hellenised Ionia. The city of Latmus, located on the south slopes of Mount Latmus east of Miletus, was originally a port on...
, Antiochia
Antioch on the Maeander
Antiochia on the Maeander also Antioch on the Maeander , earlier Pythopolis, was a city of ancient Caria, in Anatolia. The city was situated between the Maeander and Orsinus rivers near their confluence and, though it was the site of a bridge over the Maeander had "little or no individual history"...
, Myndus
Myndus
Myndus or Myndos was an ancient Dorian colony of Troezen, on the coast of Caria in Asia Minor, , sited on the Bodrum Peninsula, a few miles northwest of Halicarnassus. The site is now occupied by the modern village of Gümüslük....
, Laodicea
Denizli
Denizli is a growing industrial city in the Southwestern part of Turkey and the eastern end of the alluvial valley formed by the river Büyük Menderes, where the plain reaches an elevation of about a hundred meters. Denizli is located in southwestern Turkey, in the country's Aegean Region.The city...
, Alinda
Alinda (Caria)
Alinda was an ancient inland city of Caria in Anatolia. It is situated on a hilltop which commands the modern-day town of Karpuzlu, Aydın Province, in western Turkey, and overlooks a fertile plain....
and Alabanda
Alabanda
Alabanda – also hê Alabanda, ta Alabanda, Alabandeus, Alabandensis, Alabandenus, and for a time, Antiochia of the Chrysaorians – was an ancient city of Caria, Anatolia, the site of which is now located near Doğanyurt , Aydin Province, in the Asian part of Turkey.The city is located in...
.
Halicarnassus was the location of the famed Mausoleum
Mausoleum of Maussollos
The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus or Tomb of Mausolus was a tomb built between 353 and 350 BC at Halicarnassus for Mausolus, a satrap in the Persian Empire, and Artemisia II of Caria, his wife and sister....
dedicated to Mausolus
Mausolus
Mausolus was ruler of Caria . He took part in the revolt against Artaxerxes Mnemon , conquered a great part of Lycia, Ionia and several Greek islands and cooperated with the Rhodians in the Social War against Athens...
, a satrap
Satrap
Satrap was the name given to the governors of the provinces of the ancient Median and Achaemenid Empires and in several of their successors, such as the Sassanid Empire and the Hellenistic empires....
of Caria between 377
377 BC
Year 377 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Tribunate of Mamercinus, Poplicola, Cicurinus, Rufus , Cincinnatus and Cincinnatus...
–353 BC
353 BC
Year 353 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Peticus and Poplicola...
by his wife, Artemisia
Artemisia II of Caria
Artemisia II of Caria was a sister, the wife and the successor of the king Mausolus. She was a daughter of Hecatomnus, and after the death of her husband she reigned for two years, from 353 to 351 BC...
. The monument became one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
The Seven Wonders of the World refers to remarkable constructions of classical antiquity listed by various authors in guidebooks popular among the ancient Hellenic tourists, particularly in the 1st and 2nd centuries BC...
, and from which the Romans named any grand tomb a mausoleum.
Macedonian Kingdom
Caria was conquered by Alexander III of MacedonMacedon
Macedonia or Macedon was an ancient kingdom, centered in the northeastern part of the Greek peninsula, bordered by Epirus to the west, Paeonia to the north, the region of Thrace to the east and Thessaly to the south....
in 334 BC
334 BC
Year 334 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Caudinus and Calvinus...
with the help of the former queen of the land Ada of Caria
Ada of Caria
Ada of Caria was satrap of Caria in the 4th century BC.Ada was the daughter of Hecatomnus, satrap of Caria, and sister of Mausolus, Artemisia, Idrieus, and Pixodarus. She was married to her brother Idrieus, who succeeded Artemisia in 351 BC and died in 344 BC...
who had been dethroned by the Persian Empire
Achaemenid Empire
The Achaemenid Empire , sometimes known as First Persian Empire and/or Persian Empire, was founded in the 6th century BCE by Cyrus the Great who overthrew the Median confederation...
and actively helped Alexander in his conquest of Caria on condition of being reinstated as queen. After their capture of Caria, she declared Alexander as her heir.
Roman Province
As part of the Roman EmpireRoman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
the name of Caria was still used for the geographic region but the territory administratively belonged to the province of Asia. During the administrative reforms of the 4th century this province was abolished and divided into smaller units. Caria became a separate province as part of the Diocese of Asia.
Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
was on the whole slow to take hold in Caria. The region was not visited by St. Paul, and the only early churches seem to be those of Laodicea
Laodicea
- Turkey :*Laodicea on the Lycus, in Phrygia*Laodicea Pontica, in the Pontus*Laodicea Combusta, in Pisidia- Other countries :* Laodicea , in Greece* Laodicea , in Iraq* Laodicea in Media, former name of Nahavand, Iran...
and Colossae
Colossae
Colossae or Colosse , was an ancient city of Phrygia, on the Lycus, which is a tributary of the Maeander River. It was situated about 12 miles South East of Laodicea, and near the great road from Ephesus to the Euphrates...
(Chonae) on the extreme inland fringe of the country, which itself pursued its pagan
Paganism
Paganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....
customs. It appears that it was not until Christianity was officially adopted in Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
that the new religion made any real headway in Caria.
Dissolution under the Byzantine Empire and Passage to Turkish Rule
In the 7th century provinces were abolished and the new themeTheme (Byzantine administrative unit)
The themes or themata were the main administrative divisions of the middle Byzantine Empire. They were established in the mid-seventh century in the aftermath of the Muslim conquests of Byzantine territory and replaced the earlier provincial system established by emperors Diocletian and...
system was introduced. The region corresponding to ancient Caria was captured by the Turks
Turkish people
Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...
under Menteşe dynasty in early 13th century.
There are only indirect clues regarding the population structure under the Menteşe and the parts played in it by Turkish migration from inland regions and by local conversions, but the first Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
census records indicate, in a situation not atypical for the region as a whole, a large Muslim
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
(practically exclusively Turkish) majority reaching as high as 99 % and a non-Muslim minority (practically exclusively Greek supplemented with a small Jewish community in Milas) as low as one per cent. One of the first acts of the Ottomans after their takeover was to transfer the administrative center of the region from its millenary seat in Milas to the then much smaller Muğla
Mugla
Muğla is a city in south-western Turkey. It is the center of the district the same name, as well as of Muğla Province, which stretches along Turkey´s Aegean coast. Muğla center is situated inland at an altitude of 660 m and lies at a distance of about from the nearest seacoast in the Gulf of...
, which was nevertheless better suited for controlling the southern fringes of the province. Still named Menteşe until the early decades of the 20th century, the kazas corresponding to ancient Caria are recorded by sources such as G. Sotiriadis (1918) and S. Anagiostopoulou (1997) as having a Greek population averaging at around ten per cent of the total, ranging somewhere between twelve to eighteen thousand, many of them reportedly recent immigrants from the islands. Most chose to leave in 1919, before the population exchange
Population exchange between Greece and Turkey
The 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey was based upon religious identity, and involved the Greek Orthodox citizens of Turkey and the Muslim citizens of Greece...
.