Leagues of Carians as Local Rather Than Imperial Structures

This article reevaluates the evidence for the Carian and Chrysaorean leagues, arguing against the view that they were imperially driven political institutions. Rather than serving as mechanisms for ruler-subject relations, a role already filled by the polis, these leagues suggest a desire by inhabitants of Caria to maintain and renegotiate regional religious and ethnic commonality in the face of a broader cultural discourse that associated “Carian” with the barbarian.