In
Greek mythology, Car or Kar (
Ancient Greek: Κάρ) of the
Carians, according to
Herodotus, was the brother of
Lydus and
Mysus. He was regarded as the eponymous and ancestral hero of the Carians who would have received their name from the king. He may or may not be the same as
Car of Megara[1]
Car was also said to have founded the city
Alabanda, which he named after
Alabandus, his son by
Callirhoe (the daughter of the river god
Maeander). In turn, Alabandus's name is said to have been chosen in commemoration of his Car's victory in a horse fight— according to the scholar
Stephanus of Byzantium, "Alabandos" was the
Carian word for "winner in a horse fight".[4] Another son of Car,
Idrieus, had the city
Idrias named after himself.[5]
The tomb of Car was in the Carian city
Souangela, giving that city its name— according to Stephanus, "Souangela" meant "tomb of the king" in Carian.[6]
Notes
^Smith, p. 607. CAR (Καρ), a son of
Phoroneus, and king of
Megara, from whom the acropolis of this town derived its name
Caria. (Paus. i. 39. § 4, 40. § 5). His tomb was shown as late as the time of
Pausanias, on the road from Megara to
Corinth, (i. 44. § 9). Another mythical personage of the name of Car, who was a brother of
Lydus and
Mysus, and was regarded as the ancestral hero of the
Carians, is mentioned by
Herodotus, (i. 171.) [L. S.]
Stephanus of Byzantium, Stephani Byzantii Ethnicorum quae supersunt, edited by August Meineike (1790-1870), published 1849. A few entries from this important ancient handbook of place names have been translated by Brady Kiesling.
Online version at the Topos Text Project.