Caria

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.