(Karia). A district of Asia Minor, in its southwestern corner. It is intersected by low mountain chains, running out far into the sea in long promontories, forming gulfs along the coast and inland valleys that were fertile and well-watered. The chief products of the country were corn, wine, oil, and figs. The coast was inhabited chiefly by Greek colonists. The inhabitants of the rest of the country were Carians, a people nearly allied to the Lydians and Mysians. The Greeks considered the people mean and stupid, even for slaves. The country was governed by a race of native princes, who fixed their abode at Halicarnassus. These princes were subject-allies of Lydia and Persia, and some of them rose to great distinction in war and peace. (See Artemisia; Mausolus.) Under the Romans, Caria formed a part of the province of Asia. As the Carians were often used as mercenaries, the proverb arose en Kari kinduneuein, equivalent to the familiar Latin experimentum facere in corpore vili. Cf. the scholiast on Plato, Laches, 187 B; and Polyb. x. 32, 11.

The country was said to have got its name from Car (Kar), the brother of Mysus and Lydus ( Herod.i. 171). (Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, 1898)

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