Caria

Caria (/ˈkɛəriə/; from Greek: Καρία, Karia; Turkish: Karya) was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid-Ionia (Mycale) south to Lycia and east to Phrygia.

[3] The multiple names of towns and geomorphic features, such as bays and headlands, reveal an ethnic layering consistent with the known colonization.

On the tip of the Bodrum Peninsula (Cape Termerium) is Termera (Telmera, Termerea), and on the other side Ceramicus Sinus (Gökova Körfezi).

"[5] Halicarnassus, a Dorian Greek city, was planted there among six Carian towns: Theangela, Sibde, Medmasa, Euranium, Pedasa or Pedasum, and Telmissus.

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.

It includes Loryma or Larymna in Oedimus Bay, Gelos, Tisanusa, the headland of Paridion, Panydon or Pandion (Cape Marmorice) with Physicus, Amos, Physca or Physcus, also called Cressa (Marmaris).

Further inland towards Aydın is Alabanda, noted for its marble and its scorpions, Orthosia, Coscinia or Coscinus on the upper Maeander and Alinda.

Their presence is attested by protogeometric pottery[citation needed] which appears in the area around 1100 BC, along with other markers of Greek material culture.

[citation needed] An account also cited that Aristotle claimed Caria, as a naval empire, occupied Epidaurus and Hermione and that this was confirmed when the Athenians discovered the graves of the dead from Delos.

Under Achaemenid rule, the Carian dynast Mausolus took control of neighbouring Lycia, a territory which was still held by Pixodarus as shown by the Xanthos trilingual inscription.

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.

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.

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 Carian supplemented with a small Jewish community in Milas) as low as one per cent.

[17] 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 and eighteen thousand, many of them reportedly recent immigrants from the islands.

In July 2021, archaeologists led by Abuzer Kızıl have announced the discovery of two 2,500-year-old marble statues and an inscription during excavations at the Temple of Zeus Lepsynos in Euromus.

Location of Caria within the classical regions of Asia Minor / Anatolia
The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus , one of the Seven wonders of the ancient world , was built by Greek architects for the local Achaemenid satrap of Caria, Mausolus (Scale model)
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 not
Relief of an Amazonomachy from the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus .
The coast of Milas .
Theatre at Halicarnassus in Bodrum, with the Bodrum Castle seen in the background.
The Sebasteion of Aphrodisias
A kylix found in Milas on display at Milas Museum
Coin of Maussolos as Achaemenid Satrap of Caria. Circa 377/6-353/2 BC
Artemisia , Queen of Halicarnassus , and commander of the Carian contingent, at the Battle of Salamis , 480 BC. Wilhelm von Kaulbach [ 12 ]
Coin of Caria, Achaemenid Period. Circa 350-334 BC.
Carian soldier of the Achaemenid army , circa 480 BC. Relief on the tomb of Xerxes I .
Marble head of a goddess, found in the Hadrianic Baths of Aphrodisias , 2nd century AD.
The Temple of Zeus Lepsinos at Euromus was built on the site of an earlier Carian temple in the 2nd century AD during the reign of the emperor Hadrian .