Ada of Caria
| Ada | |
|---|---|
| Reign | 344–340 BC; 334-326 BC |
| Satrap of Caria | |
| Predecessor | Idrieus |
| Successor | Pixodarus |
| Queen of Caria | |
| Predecessor | Orontobates |
| Successor | Alexander III (the Great) of Macedon |
| Consort | Idrieus |
| House | Hecatomnids |
| Father | Hecatomnus |
Ada of Caria (Ancient Greek: Ἄδα) (fl. 377 – 326 BC)[1] was a ruler of Caria in the 4th century BC, first the nominal Persian Satrap, who enjoyed the status of queen or dynast by virtue of the powerful position her predecessors of the House of Hecatomnus (the Hecatomnids) created when they succeeded the assassinated Persian Satrap Tissaphernes in the Carian satrapy, and later the nominal Queen of Caria under the auspices of Alexander III (the Great) of Macedon.
Ada was the daughter of Hecatomnus, satrap of Caria, and sister of Mausolus, Artemisia, Idrieus, and Pixodarus. She was married to her brother Idrieus, who succeeded Artemisia in 351 BC and died in 344 BC. On the death of her husband Ada became satrap of Caria, but was expelled by her brother Pixodarus in 340 BC; and on the death of the latter in 335 BC his son-in-law Orontobates received the satrapy of Caria from the Persian Great King.
When Alexander the Great entered Caria in 334 BC, Ada, who was in possession of the fortress of Alinda, surrendered the fortress to him. After taking Halicarnassus (modern Bodrum), Alexander committed the government of Caria to her; she, in turn, formally adopted Alexander as her son, ensuring that the rule of Caria passed unconditionally to him upon her eventual death; Ada's popularity with the populace in turn ensured the Carians' loyalty to Alexander.
According to Turkish archaeologists, the tomb of Ada has been discovered. Her remains are on display in the archaeological museum of Bodrum.
Notes
- ↑ 377 BC is the date of her father's death: Gardner, Percy (1918). A History of Ancient Coinage, 700-300 B.C. Clarendon Press: Oxford University. p. 303.
References
- E.D. Carney, "Women and Dunasteia in Caria", American Journal of Philology 126 (2005), pp. 65–91.
- W. Heckel, Who’s Who in the Age of Alexander the Great, Oxford (Blackwell), 2006, p. 3
- Attilio Mastrocinque, La Caria e la Ionia meridionale in epoca ellenistica, 323-188 a. C. (Rome, 1979)
- Stephen Ruzicka, Politics of a Persian dynasty : the Hecatomnids in the fourth century B.C. (1992)
- Simon Hornblower, Mausolus (1982)
- George E. Bean (1971). Turkey beyond the Maeander ISBN 0-87471-038-3. Frederick A. Praeger, London.
- Wiki Classical Dictionary: Ada
- Livius, Ada by Jona Lendering
- Ada from Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1867)
- Photos of Halicarnassus Includes a picture of the skeleton of Ada.
- The Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology [1]