The Chrysaorian League was an informal loose federation of several cities in ancient region of Caria

Caria

Caria was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid-Ionia 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...

, Anatolia

Anatolia

Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...

 that was apparently formed in the early Seleucid

Seleucid Empire

The Seleucid Empire was a Greek-Macedonian state that was created out of the eastern conquests of Alexander the Great. At the height of its power, it included central Anatolia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Persia, today's Turkmenistan, Pamir and parts of Pakistan.The Seleucid Empire was a major centre...

 period and lasted at least until 203 BC

203 BC

Year 203 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Caepio and Geminus...

. The League had its primary focus on unified defense, and secondarily on trade, and may have been linked by ethnic bonds (the Chrysaorians). It had an assembly and financial institutions, and a form of reciprocal citizenship whereby a citizen of a member city was entitled to certain rights and privileges in any other member city. The capital of the League was Chrysaorium

Chrysaorium

Chrysaorium was an ancient city in Caria, Anatolia, between Euromus and Stratonicea. In Seleucid times, Chrysaorium was the seat of the Chrysaorian League. The League's assembly met here, in a temple of Zeus Chrysaorius.-External links:*...

 where the assembly met. http://www.ancientlibrary.com/gazetteer/0111.html

Other member cities included: 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...

 (renamed Antiochia of the Chrysaorians), Alinda

Alinda

Alinda was an ancient inland city of Caria in Anatolia.Alinda may also refer to:* 887 Alinda, an asteroid* Alinda , a genus of land snails* Alinda family, a group of asteroids...

, Amyzon

Amyzon

Amyzon in Caria was an ancient city 30 km south of modern Koçarlı. Under the Seleucids, Amyzon was one of the cities in the Chrysaorian League of Carian cities that lasted at least until 203 BCE, when Antiochus III confirmed the privileges of Amyzon...

, 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....

, Mylasa, Peræa Rhodiorum

Kaunos

Kaunos was a city of ancient Caria and in Anatolia, a few km west of the modern town of Dalyan, Muğla Province, Turkey....

, Stratonicea

Stratonikeia

-References:* from the Catholic Encyclopedia *Richard Stillwell, William L. MacDonald, Marian Holland McAllister ; , , Princeton, *Smith, William ; Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, , London,...

, Thera.

For periods of time, some of the member cities were subject to 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...

.

External links

• Hazlitt, Classical Gazetteer, "Chrysaorium"