See Also: Caria(encyclopedia)

Caria (sh)




Ancient district, southern Anatolia.

It was one of the most thoroughly Hellenized districts in ancient Anatolia; its territory included Greek cities along the shore of the Aegean Sea and a mountainous interior bounded by Lydia, Phrygia, and Lycia. Absorbed first by Lydia, it later was annexed (4th century BC) by the Persian Achaemenian Empire, one of whose governors, Mausolus, transferred its capital from Mylasa to Halicarnassus. Taken from Persia in 334 BC by Alexander the Great, it was incorporated into the Roman province of Asia in 129 BC.