Ancient sources indicate that the Carians sided with the Trojans during the famous Trojan War and were part of the alliance formed mainly by Anatolian cities and people.
During the Kades Battle, between the Hittites and Egyptian armies, the Carians fought for the Hittites, and the war ended with a famous Kades Peace Treaty.
According to the historian Herodotus, the Carians served as mercenaries under the legendary King Minos’ rule and built ships for him.
During the following centuries, the Carians witnessed the arrival of warlike Dorians from Greece. Arriving in Caria in 1100 BC, the Dorians occupied the only coastal zone and eventually mixed with the local populations. Dorians settled in the Halicarnassus and the nearby Salmakis Bay during this colonization period. Later on, six Dorian cities in the region established a Dorian Federation, including two Caria cities: Halicarnassus and Cnidos, on Anatolian soil.
CARIANS SERVING AS MERCENARIES
During the 7th and 6th centuries, the Carian soldiers served as mercenaries in Egypt. According to the historian Herodotus, they served under several Egyptian Pharaohs. Nearly 200 inscriptions in the Carian language, discovered in Egypt, prove Carians’ existence in Egypt.

The Carians appeared in Egypt’s history during the Egyptian Pharaoh Psammeticus and following Egyptian rulers, serving as mercenaries for Egyptians and leaving their traces and inscriptions in various ancient Egypt regions. The Carian inscriptions, which helped decipher the Carian language, were discovered in abundance at the Egyptian temples and funerary monuments. Unfortunately, most of these inscriptions were in the form of graffiti, and they were very short and not helpful in deciphering the language. Although there is a great effort to decipher the Carian Language, scholars are still unsure about the results. They say,” We read but don’t understand the language.”
Carians and their military inventions
According to Herodotus, Carians served as mercenaries for many other nations and created military weapons and tools. The shield handles, the symbols put on the shields, and the crests on the helmets were all Carian inventions adopted by the rest of the ancient world in the following centuries. Because of the crest on their helmets, Carians were called “cocks” by the other nations.

PERSIAN PERIOD
In 546 BC, the Persian army under Cyrus the Great defeated famous Lydian King Croesus in Central Anatolia near Hallys. After the battle, the Persians followed the Lydians to Sardis, capturing the Lydian Kingdom’s capital city. As part of their remarkable campaign in Anatolia, the Persians attacked Caria under General Harpagus and occupied the Caria and Lycia regions.
The Caria region stayed under the Persians’ rule until the arrival of Alexander the Great, and Persian satraps (governors) appointed by the Persian Empire ruled Anatolia.
In 480 BC, after the famous Ionian Revolt, when the Ionian cities rioted against Persian rule, the Persian army under the command of General Dariusus attacked Caria. Being defeated by the Persian army, the Carians retreated to the famous shrine of Carian Zeus at Labranda near present-day Milas. When they got help from Miletus’s city, they fought against the Persians again. The fierce battle occurred near the Cine River (Marsyas River), where the Persian forces killed nearly 10.000 Carians. Although this was a decisive victory for the Persian army, the Carians didn’t give up, and once more, they attacked the Persian army on the way to Pedesa. During this night ambush, the Carians killed many soldiers of the Persian army and General Dariusus. But the tragic end was inevitable; once more, Persians captured the whole Caria and Lycia regions. After this military campaign, the Persians divided these occupied regions into satrapies and appointed military governors (satraps) to rule. Persians did not impose their religions and culture on the local populations and preferred to choose their satraps from Persian nobles. Only in Caria a local figure from the famous Hekatomnid Dynasty was selected as a satrap to rule the region under the Persian Empire’s name. This move was a precaution to prevent local populations from rioting against the Persian empire.
During Darius and his son Xerxes’s rule, the Persian armies crossed the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles straits, captured the Athenian Acropolis, and razed it in 480 BC.