Midea, a town of Argolis. Pausanias, bk. 6, ch. 20.——Of Lycia. Statius, Thebiad, bk. 4, li. 45.——Of Bœotia, drowned by the inundations of the lake Copais. Strabo, bk. 8.——A nymph, who had Aspledon by Neptune. Pausanias, bk. 9, ch. 38.——A mistress of Electryon. Apollodorus.
Milānion, a youth who became enamoured of Atalanta. He is supposed by some to be the same as Meleager or Hippomanes. Ovid, Ars Amatoria, bk. 2, li. 188.——A son of Amphidamas.
Mīlēsii, the inhabitants of Miletus. See: [Miletus].
Milesiorum murus, a place of Egypt, at the entrance of one of the mouths of the Nile.
Milesius, a surname of Apollo.——A native of Miletus.
Milētia, one of the daughters of Scedasus, ravished with her sister by some young Thebans. Plutarch & Pausanias.
Milētium, a town of Calabria, built by the people of Miletus of Asia.——A town of Crete. Homer, Iliad, bk. 2, li. 154.
Mīlētus, a son of Apollo, who fled from Crete to avoid the wrath of Minos, whom he meditated to dethrone. He came to Caria, where he built a city which he called by his own name. Some suppose that he only conquered a city there called Anactoria, which assumed his name. They further say, that he put the inhabitants to the sword, and divided the women among his soldiers. Cyanea, a daughter of the Mæander, fell to his share. Strabo, bk. 14.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 9, li. 446.—Pausanias, bk. 7, ch. 2.—Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 1.——A celebrated town of Asia Minor, the capital of all Ionia, situate about 10 stadia south of the mouth of the river Mæander, near the sea coast on the confines of Ionia and Caria. It was founded by a Cretan colony under Miletus, or, according to others, by Neleus the son of Codrus, or by Sarpedon, Jupiter’s son. It has successively been called Lelegeis, Pithyusa, and Anactoria. The inhabitants, called Milesii, were very powerful, and long maintained an obstinate war against the kings of Lydia. They early applied themselves to navigation, and planted no less than 80 colonies, or, according to Seneca, 380, in different parts of the world. Miletus gave birth to Thales, Anaximenes, Anaximander, Hecatæus, Timotheus the musician, Pittacus, one of the seven wise men, &c. Miletus was also famous for a temple and an oracle of Apollo Didymæus, and for its excellent wool, with which were made stuffs and garments, held in the highest reputation, both for softness, elegance, and beauty. The words Milesiæ fabulæ, or Milesiaca, were used to express wanton and ludicrous plays. Ovid, Tristia, bk. 2, li. 413.—Capitolinus, Life of Albinus, ch. 11.—Virgil, Georgics, bk. 3, li. 306.—Strabo, bk. 15.—Pausanias, bk. 7, ch. 2.—Mela, bk. 1, ch. 17.—Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 29.—Herodotus, bk. 1, &c.—Seneca, de Consolatione ad Helviam.
Milias, a part of Lycia.
Milichus, a freedman who discovered Piso’s conspiracy against Nero. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 15, ch. 54.