a city of Caria, on the coast of Asia Minor, opposite to the island of Cos, founded by a colony of Troezenians (Strab.), who were joined by a party of Argentines under the command of Melas and Arvanias (Vitruv. ii. 8). We are told by Herodotus (i. 144), that it originally belonged to the Dorian confederacy, which consisted of six cities, and that it lost this privilege because Agasicles, one of its citizens, carried off the tripod, which had been adjudged to him in the games in honour of the Triopian Apollo, instead of dedicating it to the god, as had always been the custom. The other cities, indignant at this breach of the law, met and declared Halicarnassus unworthy of participating in their privileges; and from that time the Dorian confederacy consisted of five cities, and was called Pentapolis. We have no means of discovering at what period this event took place; but about the year 500 B.C., we find it subject to Lygdamis, whose daughter, Artemisia, commanded a squadron of ships in the fleet of Xerxes, and behaved so nobly in the battle of Salamis, 480 B.C. (Herod. viii. 87.) It was probably during the reign of her son, called Lygdamis, that Herodotus, unwilling to witness the tyrannical acts of a despot, abandoned his native city and retired to Samos. (Suid.)

A considerable period now elapses, in which we know nothing of the history of Halicarnassus; but about 350 B.C., we find it under princes of Carian extraction. Hecatomnus is mentioned by Strabo (xiv. 656) as king of the Carians; and he left three sons, Mausolus, Hidrieus, and Pixedarous, and two daughters, Artemisia and Ada, who were married to the two elder brothers. On the death of Mausolus, his wife and sister became queen, and is best known in history as the builder of that celebrated tomb to her husband, which she called from him mausoleum, (see Mausoleum), and which was reckoned one of the seven wonders of the world. She was succeeded by her second brother Hidrieus, whose sister and wife, Ada, was driven from the kingdom by her brother Pixedarous.

At this period Alexander the Great arrived with his forces in Caria, and having razed Halicarnassus to the ground, restored Ada to the sovereignty of Caria. It seems to have been rebuilt, but never regained its former degree of splendour. Cicero speaks of his brother restoring Halicarnassus (ad Q. Fr. i. 8); and Tacitus (Ann. iv. 55) tells us that the people of this place were anxious to erect a temple to Tiberius. It was the birthplace of Herodotus, and of Dionysius, author of the Roman Antiquities. Its ruins are still found at Bondroum, and are thus described by Captain Beaufort:—“The spot where Halicarnassus was placed rises gently from a deep bay, and commands a view of the island of Cos and the southern shore of the Ceramic Gulf as far as Cape Krio. In front of the town a broad square rock projects into the bay, on which stands the citadel. The walls of the ancient city may be here and there discerned; and several fragments of columns, mutilated sculpture, and broken inscriptions, are scattered in different parts of the bazaar and streets. Above the town are the remains of a theatre.” (Karamania, p. 95-98.)