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CARIA

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 330 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CARIA , an See also:

ancient See also:district of See also:Asia See also:Minor, bounded on the N. by See also:Ionia and See also:Lydia, on the W. and S. by the See also:Aegean See also:Sea, and on the E. by See also:Lycia and a small See also:part of See also:Phrygia. The See also:coast-See also:line consists of a See also:succession of See also:great promontories alternating with deep inlets. The most important inlet, the Ceramic Gulf, or Gulf of See also:Cos, extends inland for 70 m., between the great See also:mountain promontory terminating at Myndus on the See also:north, and that which extends to See also:Cnidus and the remarkable headland of Cape Krio on the See also:south. North of this is the deep See also:bay called in ancient times the Gulf of Iasus (now known as the Gulf of Mendeliyah), and beyond this again was the deeper inlet which formerly extended inland between See also:Miletus and See also:Priene, but of which the See also:outer part has been entirely filled up by the alluvial deposits of the Maeander, while the innermost See also:arm, the ancient Latmic Gulf, is now a See also:lake. South of Cape Krio again is the gulf known as the Gulf of See also:Doris, with several subordinate inlets, bounded on the south by the rugged promontory of Cynossema (mod. Cape Alupo). Between this headland and the frontier of Lycia is the sheltered bay of Marmarice, noted in See also:modern times as one of the finest harbours of the Mediterranean. Almost the whole of Caria is mountainous. The two great masses of See also:Cadmus (Baba-dagh) and Salbacum (Boz-dagh), which are in fact portions of the great See also:chain of See also:Taurus (see AsIA MINOR), See also:form the See also:nucleus to which the whole See also:physical framework of the See also:country is attached. From these lofty ranges there extends a broad tableland (in many parts more than 3000 ft. high), while it sends down offshoots on the north towards the Maeander, and on the See also:west towards the Aegean. Of these ranges the See also:summit of Mt Latmus alone reaches 4500 ft. The coast is fringed by numerous islands, in some instances separated only by narrow straits from the mainland.

Of these the most celebrated are See also:

Rhodes and Cos. Besides these are See also:Syme, Telos, Nisyros, Calymnos, Leros and See also:Patmos, all of which have been inhabited, both in ancient and modern times, and some of which contain excellent harbours. Of these Nisyros alone is of volcanic origin; the others belong to the same See also:lime-See also:stone formation with the rocky headlands of the coast. The country known as Caria was shared between ?the Carians proper and the Caunians, who were a wilder See also:people, inhabiting the district between Caria and Lycia. They were not considered to be of the same See also:blood as the Carians, and were, therefore, excluded from the See also:temple of the Carian See also:Zeus at Mylasa, which was See also:common to the Carians, Lydians and Mysians, though their See also:language was the same as that of the Carians proper. See also:Herodotus (i. 172) believed the Caunians to have been See also:aborigines, the Carians having been originally called See also:Leleges, who had been driven from the Aegean islands by the invading Greeks. This seems to have been a prevalent view among the See also:Greek writers, for See also:Thucydides (i. 8) states that when See also:Delos was "purified" more than See also:half the bodies found buried in it were those of " Carians." Modern archaeological See also:discovery, however, is against this belief; and the fact that Mysus, See also:Lydus and See also:Car were regarded as See also:brothers indicates that the three populations who worshipped together in the temple of Mylasa all belonged to the same stock. See also:Homer (Il. x. 428-429) distinguishes the Leleges (q.v.) from the Carians, to whom is ascribed the invention of See also:helmet-crests, coats of arms, and See also:shield handles. A considerable number of See also:short Carian See also:inscriptions has been found, most of them in See also:Egypt.

They were first noticed by See also:

Lepsius at See also:Abu-Simbel, where he correctly inferred that they were the See also:work of the Carian mercenaries of See also:Psammetichus. The language, so far as it has been deciphered, is "Asianic" and not Indo-See also:European. The excavations of W.R. See also:Paton at Assarlik (Journ. See also:Hell. Studies, 1887) and of F. See also:Winter at Idrias have resulted in the discoveryof See also:Late-Mycenaean and Geometric pottery. Caria, however, figured but little in See also:history. It was absorbed into the See also:kingdom of Lydia, where Carian troops formed the bodyguard of the See also:king, Cnidus and See also:Halicarnassus on the coast were colonized by See also:Dorians. At Halicarnassus (q.v.) the See also:Mausoleum, the See also:monument erected by See also:Artemisia to her See also:husband See also:Mausolus, about 36o B.C., was excavated by See also:Sir C. T. See also:Newton in 1857—1858.

Cnidus (q.v.) was excavated at the same See also:

time, when the " Cnidian See also:Lion," now in the See also:British Museum, was found crowning a See also:tomb near the site of the old See also:city (C. T. Newton, History of Discoveries at Cnidus, Halicarnassus and Branchidae). On the border-See also:land between Caria and Lydia See also:lay other Greek cities, Miletus, Priene, and See also:Magnesia (see articles s.v.), colonized in See also:early times by the See also:Ionians. Inland was See also:Tralles (mod. See also:Aidin), which also had an Ionic See also:population, though it never belonged to the Ionic confederacy (see TRALLES). The excavations of the See also:English in 1868-1869, of the See also:French under O. Rayet and A. See also:Thomas in 1873, and more recently of the Germans under Th. Wiegand and See also:Schrader in 1895—1898 have laid See also:bare the site of the Greek Priene, and the same has been done for the remains of Magnesia ad Maeandrum by French excavators in 1842—1843 and the See also:German expedition under K. Humann in 1891—1893. A German expedition under Th.

Wiegand carried on excavations at Miletus (see articles on these towns). In the See also:

Persian See also:epoch, native dynasts established themselves in Caria and even extended their See also:rule over the Greek cities. The last of them seems to have been Pixodarus, after whose See also:death the See also:crown was seized by a Persian, Orontobates, who offered a vigorous resistance to See also:Alexander the Great. But his See also:capital, Halicarnassus, was taken after a See also:siege, and the principality of Caria conferred by Alexander on Ada, a princess of the native See also:dynasty. Soon afterwards the country was incorporated into the Syrian See also:empire and then into the kingdom of See also:Pergamum. See W. M. See also:Ramsay, " See also:Historical See also:Geography of Asia Minor " (R.G.S. iv., 189o) ; W. See also:Ruge and E. See also:Friedrich, Archdologische Karte von Kleinasien (1899) ; See also:Perrot and Chipiez, History of See also:Art in Phrygia, Lydia, Caria and Lycia (Eng. trans., 1892) ; A. H. See also:Sayce, " The Karian Language and Inscriptions " (T.S.B.A. ix.

1, 1887) ; P. Kretschmer, Einleitung in See also:

die Geschichte der griechischen Sprache, pp. 376-384 (1896). For the coinage see See also:NUMISMATICS. (A. H.

End of Article: CARIA

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