Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/406

 390 MYSIUS. civilisation. Their langua.se was, according to Strabo (xii. p. 572), a mixture of Lydian and Phrygian, that is, perhaps, a dialect akin to both of them. Their comparatively low state of civilisation seems also to be indicated by the araiour attributed to them by Herodotus (vii. 74), which consisted of a common helmet, a small shield, and a javelin, the pomt of which was hardened by fire. At a later time, the influence of the Greeks by whom they were surrounded seems to have done away with everything that was peculiar to them as a nation, and to have drav, n them into the sphere of Greek civilisation. (Comp. Forbiger, Handbuch der alien Geographie, vol. ii. p. 110, &c. ; Cramer, Asia Minor, i. p. 30, &c. ; Niebuhr, Led. on Anc. Hist. vol. i. p. 83, &c.) [L- S.] JIY'SIUS (Muo-ios), a tributary of the Caicus, on the frontiers of Mysia, having its sources on Mount Temnus, and joining the Caicus in the neighbour- hood of Pergamum. (Strab. xiii. p. 616.) Ac- cording to Ovid {Met. xv. 277) Mysius was only another name for Caicus, whence some have inferred that the upper part of the Caicus was actually called Jlysius. It is generally believed that the Mysius is the same as the modern Bergma. [L. S.] MYSOCARAS (MutroKopay, Ptol. iv. 1. § 3), a harbour on the W. coast of jMauretania, near the Phuth, probably the same as the Caricus Murcs (KapiKhv Te?xos) of Hanno (p. 2, ed. Hudson; comp. Ephor. ap. Stepk. B. s. v.), now Aghovs, near the Wad Tensift, where Eenou's map of Marocco marks ruins. (^Geog. Graec. Min. vol. i. p. 4, ed. Miiller, Paris, 1855.) [E. B. J.] MYSOMACE'DONES (MuirojuaKe'So^'es), a tribe of the Jlysians, probably occupying the district about the sources of the small river Mysics. (Ptol. v. 2. § 15; Plin. v. 31.) In the time of the Komans this tribe belonged to the conventus of Ephesus; but further particulars are not known of them. [L.S ] MY'STIA (Muo-Tia: Eth. Mucttiovo?: Monaste- race), a town of Bruttiuui, which seems to have been situated on the E. co;ist of that province, be- tween Scylacium and the Zephyrian promontory, apparently not far from Cape Cocinthus {Capo di Stilo'). (Mela, ii. 4. § 8 ; Plin. iii. 10. s. 15.) Stephanus of Byzantium cites Philistus as calling it a city of the Samnites, by which he must evidently mean their Lucanian or Bruttian descendants. (Steph. B. s. I'.) Its position cannot be more exactly deter- mined, but it is placed conjecturally at Monastemce, near the Capo di Stilo. (Cluver. Ital. p. 1305; Romanelli, vol. i. p. 175.) [E. H. B.] MYTHE'POLIS or MYTHO'POLIS {Mve-hiroAts, MudoTToAis), a town of Bithynia, of uncertain site, though it was probably situated on the north-west side of the Lacus Ascania. It is said that during the winter all the artificial wells of the place were completely drained of water, but that in summer they became filled again to the brim. (Aristot. Mir. Ausc. 55; Antig. Caryst. 188.) Stephanus Byz. (s. v. nu0o7roAis) and Pliny (v. 43) mention a town of the name of Pythcipolis in Mysia, which may pos- sibly be the same as Mythopohs. [L. S.] MYTILE'NE orMITYLE'NE (Uvtivvv or M(- TvKrivi] : Eth. MvTiT]va'ios or MiTvr]vaios'), the most important city in the island of Lesbos. There is some uncertainty about the orthography of the name. Coins are unanimous in favour of VluTiArivr]. Inscriptions vary. Greek manuscripts have gene- rally, but not universally, MtTuA-qi'-q. Latin inanu- MYTILENE. scripts have generally Mitylene; but Velleius Pa- terculus, Pomponius Mela, and sometimes Pliny, have Mytilene. In some cases we find the Latiu plural form Mitylenae. (Suet. Cues. 2, Tib. 10 ; Liv. Epit. 89.) Tacitus has the adjective Myti- lenensis {Ann. xiv. 53). It is generally agreed now that the word ought to be written Mytilene; but it does not seem necessary to alter those pas- sages where the evidence of MSS. preponderates the other way. A full discussion of this subject may be seen in Plehn {Lesbiacorum Liber). The modern city is called Mitglen, and sometimes Castro. The chief interest of the history of Lesbos is concentrated in Jlytilene. Its eminence is evident from its long series of coins, not only in the auto- nomous period, when they often bore the legend nPHTH AECBOT MTTIAHNH, but in the im- perial period down to the reign of Galhenus. Lesbos, from the earliest to the latest times, has been the most distinguished city of the island, whether we consider the history of poetry or politics, or the annals of naval warfare and commercial enterprise. One reason of the continued pre-eminence of Mytilene is to be found in its situation, which (in common with that of Methyjlna) was favourable to the coasting trade. Its harbours, too, appear to have been excellent. Originally it was built upon a small island ; and thus (whether the small island were united to the maui island by a causeway or not) two harbours were formed, one on the north and the other on the south. The former of these was the harbour for ships of war, and was capable ^ of being closed, and of containing fifty triremes, iB the latter was the mercantile harbour, and was larger and deeper, and defended by a mole. (Strab. xiii. p. 617; Pans. viii. 30.) The best elucidation of its situation in reference to the sea will be found in the narratives contained in the 3rd book of Thucy- dides and the 1st book of Xenophon's Hellenics. The northeni harbour seems to have been called MaAo'eix [Malea]. This harmonises with what we find in Thucydidcs, and with what Aristotle says concerning the action of the NE. wind (Koi/cias) on Mytilene. The statements of Xenophon are far from clear, unless, with Mr. Grote {Hist, of Greece, vol. viii. p. 230), we suppose the Euripus of Mytilene to be that arm of the sea which we have mentioned, in the article Lesbos, under the name of Portus Hieraeus, and which runs up into the interior of the island, to the very neighbour- hood of Mytilene. A rude plan is given by Toume- fort; but for accurate informal ii'U the Enghsh Ad- miralty charts must be consulted. The beauty of the ancient city, and the strength of its forti- fications, are celebrated both by Greek and Roman writers. (See especially Cic. c. Hull. ii. 1 6.) Plutarch mentions a theatre {Pomp. 42), and Athenaeus a Prytaneium (x. p. 425). Vitruvius says (i. 6) that the winds were very troublesome in the harbour and in the streets, and that the changes of weather were injurious to health. The products of the soil near Mytilene do not seem to have been distin- guished by any very remarkable peculiarities. Theophrastus and Pliny make mention of its mush- rooms : Galen says that its wine was inferior to that of Jlethymna. In illustration of the appeanmce of Mytilene, as seen from the sea, we may refer to a view in Choiseul-Goirffier ; and to another, which shows the fine fonns of the mountains immediately behind, in Conybeare and Howson's Life and Epp. of St. P-aul.