Carian Mythology - Myths and Legends

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Mythologie Carienne – Lycienne

The mythology Carian – Lycian describes the myths, legends, stories from the region of Caria and Lycia in Anatolia.

Caria (in Greek ancient Καρία / Karía) is a historical region in southwest Asia Minor, located between Lycia to the east, Pisidia to the northeast, Lydia to the north and the Aegean Sea to the southwest. It corresponds to the current region of Bodrum in the southwest of Turkey.

The Greeks Ionians and Dorians colonized the west and joined the Carian population to form states dominated by the Greeks. The Carians were described by Herodotus as being of minoan, while he reports that the Carians themselves maintained that they were continentals Anatolians intensely engaged in navigation and were similar to the Mysians and to Lydians.

The Carians spoke Carian, a native Anatolian language closely related to Luwian. The Leleges, which may be an earlier name for the Carians, were also closely associated with the Carians.

The earliest known inhabitants of the region of Lycia were the Solymoi (or Solymi), also known as the Solymians, who possibly spoke a Semitic language. Later in prehistory, another people, known as the Milyae (or Milyans) migrated to the same region; they spoke an Anatolian (Indo-European) language known as Milyan and the region was known as Milyas.

The term land of Lukka (sometimes lands of Luqqa), in texts in the language Hittite from the 2nd millennium BC. BC, is a collective term designating the states formed by the Lukka people in southwestern Anatolia (present-day Turkey). The Lukka have never been subjugated in the long term by the Hittites, who generally considered them hostile. It is commonly accepted that the Bronze Age toponym Lukka is related to Lycia of classical antiquity (8th century BC to 5th century AD).