Author: Volkan

Karia or Caria is the ancient name for a geographical region in south west Anatolia that includes the south of the River Meander (Büyük Menderes), inland and north parts of Menteşe. It was established before old Greek tribes started colonising the Aegean. The historians agree that Carians are Anatolian indigenous. According to Herodotus, the name of Caria is derived from their legendary king Car. It is also confirmed by modern linguistic; the Carian language that belongs to the Hittite-Luwian subfamily of the Indo-European languages is a local Anatolian language. It is related to Lycian, Lydian and Mysia (Misya) the languages spoken to the southeas and north of Caria. The Carians themselves maintained that they were Anatolian mainlanders, according to Herodotus. Milet (Miletos) was the city of Caria during the Troy wars but later on it became one of the Ionian cities mentioned by Homer at his Iliad. There are some clues to indicate the undefinited relationships between Carians and Lelegians (who were the earliest indigenous in Anatolia). Historian Philippus of Theangela (which was around Halicarnassus), suggested that the Carians were a higher class than the Lelegians in the structure of society at his work. Therefore, it is thought that when Carians started to invade the Aegean Islands, they reigned the Lelegians. Strabon also wrote about their relationships as he mentioned that they were not able to distinct from each other as they had mixed socially. Therefore the Greeks started the invasion, both Caria and Lelegians pulled back to Anatolia together. It can be understood that some Lelegians had succeeded to continue their identities for a while, after Mausolus made Halicarnassus a capital city, 6 of 8 Leleges cities had to be moved to the capital. The locals of Caunos (Dalyan) in the city within the Lycian borders in the Carian