DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4376#0019
HISTORY OF CARIA. 6
is possible that the Phoenicians may have made
some settlements there when they colonized Rhodes;b
but the two races whom Hellenic tradition repre-
sents to have been the first inhabitants of this
country, are the Oarians and theLeleges. Of these,
the Carians claimed to be one of the indigenous
races of Asia Minor —a belief which they expressed
in the mythical statement, that Ear was the brother
of Lydus and Mysus, and that on account of this
kinsmanship the Lydians and Mysians had a right
to worship in the temple of the Carian Zeus at
Mylasa.0
According to Herodotus, who, as a native of
Halicarnassus, must have been well acquainted with
the popular legends of his country, the Carians
were once a maritime race, spread over the islands
of the JEgsean under the name of Leleges.1
The statement that these two primeval races were
identical, may be doubted, because it is at variance
with the views of other ancient authors : but the
occupation of many of the Cyclades at a very early
period by the Carians is distinctly asserted by
Thucydides,6 who adduces as a proof of it the fact,
that when the Athenians, under the direction of
Pisistratus, piirified Helos by removing all the
sepulchres from that sacred island, it was noticed
15 Cramer, Asia Minor, ii. p. 165, quotes in support of this view,
AthensBus, iv. p. 174, -who remarks that Erinna and Bacchylides
applied the name Phajnice to Oaria.
c Herod, i. 17.1. Strabo, xiv. p. 659. The tomb of Kar was
shown at Syangela, an ancient town of the Leleges, in Caria.—
Steph. Byzant. s. v. SouayytXa.
d Herod, i. 171. e i- 8.
B 2
is possible that the Phoenicians may have made
some settlements there when they colonized Rhodes;b
but the two races whom Hellenic tradition repre-
sents to have been the first inhabitants of this
country, are the Oarians and theLeleges. Of these,
the Carians claimed to be one of the indigenous
races of Asia Minor —a belief which they expressed
in the mythical statement, that Ear was the brother
of Lydus and Mysus, and that on account of this
kinsmanship the Lydians and Mysians had a right
to worship in the temple of the Carian Zeus at
Mylasa.0
According to Herodotus, who, as a native of
Halicarnassus, must have been well acquainted with
the popular legends of his country, the Carians
were once a maritime race, spread over the islands
of the JEgsean under the name of Leleges.1
The statement that these two primeval races were
identical, may be doubted, because it is at variance
with the views of other ancient authors : but the
occupation of many of the Cyclades at a very early
period by the Carians is distinctly asserted by
Thucydides,6 who adduces as a proof of it the fact,
that when the Athenians, under the direction of
Pisistratus, piirified Helos by removing all the
sepulchres from that sacred island, it was noticed
15 Cramer, Asia Minor, ii. p. 165, quotes in support of this view,
AthensBus, iv. p. 174, -who remarks that Erinna and Bacchylides
applied the name Phajnice to Oaria.
c Herod, i. 17.1. Strabo, xiv. p. 659. The tomb of Kar was
shown at Syangela, an ancient town of the Leleges, in Caria.—
Steph. Byzant. s. v. SouayytXa.
d Herod, i. 171. e i- 8.
B 2