Culturally also they were inferior to the Carians, and their settlements were of rather modest appearance. In the area around Miletus several Lelegian settlements were known to exist, and in Caria there were some fortresses and tombs described as "Lelegian structures". Strabo also writes of eight Lelegian towns on the peninsula of Halicarnassus. But Mausolus, the dynast of Caria, is said to have dissolved these in the
second quarter of the 4th cent. B.C., and to have incorporated them into the newer, growing cities of Halicarnassus, Myndus, and Theangela.
More recent research has revealed that the Lelegians' lifestyle was indeed different from that of the Carians. According to Radt buildings of the Lelegians, constructed of raw masonry and mostly round in shape, can still
be found in the area south of Miletus. Even more exist in the region around lasus, and still to-day they determine the character of the landscape in the central mountains of the Halicarnassus peninsula. Their characteristic signs are thus described by Radt: For their settlements the Lelegians preferred hills and mountains, even the highest mountains inland. On the highest point of the settled area a circular wall was erected, in whose centre stood a small citadel. These were fortresses for the protection of the populace, which found refuge here for itself and its animals in times of danger.
Based on archaeological discoveries of recent years the history of the settlement of Caria is much older than that assumed by the ancient authors. Even the mythical legends appear as inventions of a later date. The early history of Cnidus, for instance, goes back to the 3rd millennium B.C.. Even as a place name Cnidus was known in the 2nd mill. B.C. From the earliest Bronze Age lasus had been continuously inhabited, and the area in which the city of Aphrodisias was later founded, had been settled since the 4th mill. B.C. Therefore it can be stated with certainty that the Carians were indeed indigenous inhabitants of the west Anatolian coastland, that some migrated from there to the Aegean islands, while the others remained on the mainland. It appears that those who settled in the islands became seafarers and pirates, while the inhabitants of the mainland cultivated the land and raised animals. They were known by the Luwian word "lulahi", meaning barbarian, from which the name Lelegian was later derived.
The Carians, or Lelegians, were forced by the newly arrived lonians into what is now known as Caria. The Dorians, however, who had settled along the coast of Caria, were unable to drive them away. The latter had arrived after the Aeolians and lonians in the last great migration from Greece to western Anatolia. First they settled on Rhodes and on Cos. Later they occupied some areas on the southwestern shore of Anatolia and establi~hed a league of six conquered cities, the Dorian Hexapolis, to which belonged Cos, three cities on the island of Rhodes, as well as Cnidus and Halicarnassus on the mainland.
The members of the hexapolis m~t regularly during the festival of Triopian Apollo on the territory of Cnidus. The other Dorian settlements, such as lasus, were not part of the league. The melding process of the Dorian immigrants with the native Carians, however, did not take place without problems. In Halicarnassus, for instance, the Greeks pushed the Carians back into the mountains, for which the latter retaliated with frequent forays. The Carian national character seems to have survived a long time, for in inscriptions of the 5th cent. B.C. Carian and Greek names of citizens of Halicarnassus appear in equal number. The interior, consisting mainly of villages, at first remained Carian. Apart from Mylasa, Alabanda, Alinda and Euromos, few of these settlements could be described as towns. The villages were grouped in federations, smaller villages being dependent on the larger ones. A truly national Carian character only emerged as the Persian danger became ever greater. At this time the Carians often gathered in their common sanctuary, the temple of Carian Zeus at Mylasa, in order to make political decisisons.
Croesus, the last king of Lydia, dominated the Greek colonial cities on the west coast till he was defeated by the Persians in 546 B.C. This victory marked the beginning of the Persian domination. Most lonian and Carian cities submitted without notable resistance to the Persian armies led by Harpagus, with the exception of the small Lelegian town of Pedasa. In the years 500/499 B.C. there were uprisings by the lonians, which the Carians joined after some hesitation. But they were easily defeated. The Persian army under Daurises was then sent to force the final surrender of the Carian rebels. Although the Carians reacted more swiftly this time, the Persians defeated them again, and the Carians lost their city of Mylasa. The Carian spirit however was indomitable, and they successfully attacked Daurises when he marched on to Halicarnassus. In their attempt to dominate the west coast of Asia Minor the Persians suffered several more defeats before their final victory. In 490 B.C. the attack by the Persian King Darius I on Greece ended in defeat at Marathon. Ten years later Xerxes marched on Greece and was defeated at Salamis and Plataea. Thereupon the victorious

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