Ada of Caria
{{Short description|4th-century BC Satrap and Queen of Caria}}
{{Infobox royalty
| type = monarch
| name = Ada
| image = Head of a colossal statue BM 1857.12-20.259.jpg
| caption = Portrait of a young woman from the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, sometimes identified as Ada. British Museum.
| coronation =
| succession = Satrap of Caria (first reign)
| reign = 344–340 BC
| predecessor = Idrieus
| successor = Pixodarus
| succession1 = Queen of Caria (second reign)
| reign1 = 334-326 BC
| predecessor1 = Orontobates
| successor1 = Alexander III (the Great) of Macedon
| suc-type = Successor
| reg-type =
| regent =
| spouse = Idrieus
| issue =
| issue-link = #Issue
| full name =
| house = Hecatomnids
| father = Hecatomnus
| mother =
| birth_date = 4th century BC
| birth_place = Mobolla, Persian Empire
(modern-day Muğla, Turkey)
| death_date = 326 BC
| death_place = Halicarnassus, Caria
(modern-day Bodrum, Muğla, Turkey)
| religion =
| signature =
| signature_alt =
}}
{{Hecatomnid dynasty}}
Ada of Caria ({{langx|grc|Ἄδα}}) (fl. 377 – 326 BC)377 BC is the date of her father's death: {{cite book | title=A History of Ancient Coinage, 700-300 B.C.| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_s6ZUeMRJEMC| last=Gardner| first=Percy| year=1918| publisher=Oxford University| location=Clarendon Press| page=303}} was a member of the House of Hecatomnus (the Hecatomnids) and ruler of Caria during the mid-4th century BC, first as Persian Satrap and later as Queen under the auspices of Alexander III (the Great) of Macedon.{{cite book |last1=Fabre-Serris |first1=Jacqueline |author-link=Jacqueline Fabre-Serris |last2=Keith |first2=Alison |author2-link=Alison Keith |title=Women and War in Antiquity |date=2015 |publisher=JHU Press |isbn=9781421417622 |page=236 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X0H_CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA236 |language=en}}
History
Ada was the daughter of Hecatomnus, satrap of Caria, sister of Mausolus, Pixodarus, Artemisia, and Idrieus.Sears, Matthew A. (2014). p.213
While Ada's father is known to have been Hekatomnos, the identity of her mother is less clear. There is a possibility that her mother might have been Aba,{{Cite book |last1=Cadwallader |first1=Alan H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RKPkEAAAQBAJ&dq=hyssaldomos+sister+aba&pg=PA70 |title=Colossae in Space and Time: Linking to an Ancient City |last2=Trainor |first2=Michael |date=2011-12-07 |publisher=Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht |isbn=978-3-647-53397-1 |language=en}} daughter of Hyssaldomos and a sister of Hekatomnos. This view however is challenged by scholars who believe either that the sibling marriages of the Hecatomnids were purely symbolic in nature and that while Ada was attested as his consort, it is not known if she was the mother of Hekatomnos children.{{Cite book |last1=Carney |first1=Elizabeth D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZJb-DwAAQBAJ&dq=hyssaldomos+sister&pg=PT229 |title=The Routledge Companion to Women and Monarchy in the Ancient Mediterranean World |last2=Müller |first2=Sabine |date=2020-11-09 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-429-78398-2 |language=en}}
Four of the siblings intermarried: Mausolus wed Artemisia, while Ada was married to her brother Idrieus. Pixodarus married outside of the family. Every child of Hecatomnus would govern over Caria at some point. Mausolus and Artemisia first ruled together, and after Mausolus' death, Artemisia ruled alone until she died in 351 BC.
Idrieus and Ada ruled together for seven years, until his death. During their rule, they kept close ties to the Hellenic world.Sears, Matthew A. (2014). p.217 The joint regents were mentioned as donors to the Temple of Athena in Tegea, and seem to have also been major patrons of Delphi. After the death of her husband, Ada became the sole satrap of Caria, but was expelled by her brother Pixodarus in 340 BC. Upon his death in 335 BC, was succeeded by his own son-in-law, the Persian Orontobates. Ada fled to the fortress of Alinda, where she maintained her rule in exile.{{cite book |last1=McNicoll |first1=Milner |last2=McNicoll |first2=Anthony |last3=Milner |first3=N. P. |title=Hellenistic Fortifications from the Aegean to the Euphrates |date=1997 |publisher=Clarendon Press |isbn=9780198132288 |page=26 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qmYEKxjV5bIC&pg=PA26 |language=en}}
When Alexander the Great entered Caria in 334 BC, Ada adopted Alexander as her son and surrendered Alinda to him.{{Cite journal|last=Sears|first=Matthew A.|date=2014|title=Alexander and Ada Reconsidered|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/676285|journal=Classical Philology|volume=109|issue=3|pages=211–221|doi=10.1086/676285|jstor=10.1086/676285 |s2cid=170273543 |issn=0009-837X|url-access=subscription}} Alexander accepted her offer and, in return, gave Ada formal command of the Siege of Halicarnassus.{{cite web|title=Geography|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0198%3Abook%3D14%3Achapter%3D2%3Asection%3D17|website=Perseus.org|access-date=1 May 2015}} After the fall of Halicarnassus, Alexander returned Alinda to Ada and made her queen of all of Caria.{{Cite book|last=Arrian|url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Anabasis_of_Alexander/Book_I/Chapter_XXIII|title=The Anabasis of Alexander|chapter=Chapter XXIII }} Ada's popularity with the populace in turn ensured the Carians' loyalty to Alexander.
{{blockquote|"Ada meanwhile held only Alinda, the strongest fortress in Caria; and when Alexander entered Caria she went to meet him, surrendering Alinda and adopting Alexander as her son. Alexander gave Alinda to her charge, and did not reject the title of son, and when he had taken Halicarnassus and became master of the rest of Caria, he gave her command of the whole country."|Arrian, Anabasis, 1.23.8}}
She was under the protection of Asander, Hellenistic satrap of Lydia.
File:Alinda Agora.JPG|Agora of Alinda, Ada's Stronghold.
File:Obsidio et expugnatio Halicarnassi urbis totius cariae capitis.jpg|The siege and capture of Halicarnassus under Alexander the Great
Ada sarcophagus
According to Turkish archaeologists, the tomb of Ada has been discovered, although this claim remains unresolved. Her remains are on display in the archaeological museum of Bodrum.{{cite web|title=Carian Princess Hall|url=http://www.bodrum-museum.com/museum/depts/carian_princess.htm|website=Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology|access-date=1 May 2015}}
Skeleton of Ada, Caria.jpg|Purported skeleton of Ada, Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology
File:Ada Bodrum Museum.jpg|Reconstruction of Ada, Bodrum Museum. She was 1.62m tall, and about 40 years old when she died.
File:Bodrum Museum Carian Princess 3664.jpg|Wreath of Ada, Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology
File:Bodrum Museum Carian Princess 3656.jpg|Room dedicated to the Carian Princess in the Bodrum Museum.
File:Bodrum Museum Carian Princess 3661.jpg|Jewelry worn by the princess in the sarcophagus.
File:Bodrum Museum Carian Princess 3659.jpg|Jewelry worn by the princess in the sarcophagus.
File:Bodrum Museum Carian Princess 3665.jpg|Reconstruction of the head of the deceased, aged about 40.
Cultural depictions of Ada
Ada appears as a character in the young adult book Voice of Gods (2015) by Eleanor Herman.{{Cite book |last=Herman |first=Eleanor |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eTs6CQAAQBAJ |title=Voice of Gods |date=2015-07-15 |publisher=Harlequin |isbn=978-1-4603-9126-6 |language=en}}
Notes
{{Commons category}}
References
- Elizabeth 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)
- {{cite book | last=Bean | first=George E. | title=Turkey beyond the Maeander | author-link1=George E. Bean | publisher=Praeger | location=London | year=1971 | isbn=0-87471-038-3 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/turkeybeyondmaea0000bean }}
- [http://www.livius.org Livius], [https://www.livius.org/he-hg/hecatomnids/ada.html Ada] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130501091254/http://www.livius.org/he-hg/hecatomnids/ada.html |date=2013-05-01 }} by Jona Lendering
- {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20091018153354/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0027.html Ada]}} from Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1867)
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20080510153536/https://www.livius.org/a/turkey/halicarnassus/halicarnassus.html Photos of Halicarnassus] Includes a picture of the skeleton of Ada.
- {{cite Q|Q115290624|editor1=Henry Gardiner Adams}}
{{Achaemenid rulers}}
{{Hellenistic satraps}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ada of Caria}}
Category:Achaemenid satraps of Caria
Category:Satraps of the Alexandrian Empire