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.
Municipalities of Caria
thumb|right|400px|alt=Map of ancient Caria showing cities|Carian cities in white. This map depicts the current rivers and coastline and certain features have changed over the years, notably Miletus, Heracleia, and Myus were on the south side of a gulf and Priene on the north side; the river Maeander has since filled in the gulf. Also politically Telmessos, Miletus, and Kalynda were sometimes considered Carian and sometimes notCramer's detailed catalog of Carian towns in
classical Greece 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
Didyma 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), 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, Syagela or Souagela, where the tomb of
Car is located, 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 acalled 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.
Inland Caria
At the base of the east end of
Latmus 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
scorpions, 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
Pelasgi 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.
Pre-Hellenic states and people
The name of
Caria appears in a number of early languages:
Hittite 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.
Sovereign state hosting the Greeks
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
figs, a particular sort has been called Carica, and the words
In Care periculum facere, having been proverbially used to signify the encountering of danger in the pursuit of a thing of trifling value."
Lydian province
Persian satrapy
Caria was then incorporated into the Persian
Achaemenid empire as a
satrapy 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.Macedonian kingdom
Caria was conquered by
Alexander III of Macedon 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.
Roman province
As part of the
Roman Empire 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.
Dissolved by Constantinople
In the 7th century provinces were abolished and the new
theme system was introduced.
Traces in modern Turkey
The Greek population of the coast of Anatolia persisted through the fall of
Constantinople in 1453 CE and went on under the
Ottoman Empire. In the early 20th century as a result of various social conflicts and power vacuum, the Ottoman Empire came under the rule of the
Three Pashas who first socially and then militarily attacked populations they considered foreign. The Greeks of the western coast suffered
pogroms and were reduced to second-class citizens.
Subsequently the three pashas were removed from power, court-martialed and sentenced to death in absentia but meanwhile the Ottoman Empire had been on the losing side in
World War I and lost sovereignty to the
Entente Powers. They were not long under the Entente, conducted a
Turkish War of Independence resulting in a new
Turkish Republic under the presidency of
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk starting in 1923.
Atatürk set about resolving the ethnic difficulties he inherited, making the decision to westernize Turkey and seeking the assistance of westerners, notably of president
Woodrow Wilson. Together they hammered out a border between Turkey and the new state of
Armenia. Part of the difficulty was to make the border ethnically tidy; that is, with Turks on one side and Armenians on the other, and the same difficulties applied to the border between Turkey and Greece. As a result of the
Treaty of Lausanne a decision was made to tidy the border by moving populations to either side of it. In the resulting
Population exchange between Greece and Turkey the population of Greeks in western Anatolia greatly diminished, as did the population of Turks on the Aegean Islands and mainland Greece.
The exchange ended a 3000-year Greek presence in Anatolia; however, modern Turkey cherishes the ruins and culture of ancient times, having turned much of the coast into national parks and granting licenses to western archaeologists. Modern Turkish scholarship also is significant. Many of the names remain intact or they have been converted to local tongue; for example, Caria:
Geyre; Myndos: Menteşe.
See also
