HALICARNAS'SUS (Lat., from Gk. '.0.4 Kapvaceoe). A Greek city of Carla, in the south west of Asia Minor, on the north shore of the Ceramic Gulf. It was founded by a colony from Trcezen, and was one of the cities of the so-called Doric Hexapolis, from which confederacy, how ever, it was eventually excluded. The Ionian element in the population seems to have been large, for in the fifth century B.c. the official dialect was Ionic. Close to Halieamassus was the Carian city Salmacis, which formed with it one community, and later became its chief and almost impregnable citadel. Under the Persian rule it passed to the dominion of the tyrant Lygdamis, whose daughter Artemisia (q.v.), while ruling for her infant son, commanded a squadron in the fleet of Xerxes (Lc. 480). With help from Samos the city threw off the Persian rule, and became, with other Carian cities, for a time a member of the Athenian League. Later
it again fell under Persian control, and in the fourth century we find it the capital of the rulers of Caria. The most celebrated of these was Mausolus, son of Hecatoinnus, in whose honor his sister and wife, Artemisia, erected the great mausoleum (q.v.). Alexander the Great de stroyed the lower town, but could not capture Salmacis. From that time the town was com paratively insignificant. Halicarnassus was the birthplace of two of the most eminent of the Greek historians, Herodotus and Dionysius. Early in the fifteenth century the Knights of Saint John erected here a strong citadel, to which they gave the name of the Petronion, in honor of Saint Peter. From this is derived the modern name Budrun. For an account of the discovery of the ancient remains of the city, and of the disentomb ment of the mausoleum, see NIAUSOLEUM.