MYUS
MYUS (
Μυοῦς: Eth.
Μυούσιος), an Ionian town in Caria, on the southern bank of the Maeander, at a distance of 30 stadia from the mouth of that river. Its foundation was ascribed to Cydrelus, a natural son of Codrus. (
Strab. xiv. p.633.)
It was the smallest among the twelve Ionian cities, and in the days of Strabo (
xiv. p.636) the population was so reduced that they did not form a political community, but became incorporated with Miletus, whither in the end the Myusians transferred themselves, abandoning their own town altogether.
This last event happened, according to Pausanias (
7.2.7), on account of the great number of flies which annoyed the inhabitants; but it was more probably on account of the frequent inundations to which the place was exposed.
(Vitr. 4.1.) Myus was one of the three towns given to Themistocles by the Persian king (
Thuc. 1.138;
Diod. 11.57;
Plut. Them. 29;
Athen. 1.29;
Nep. Them. 10.) During the Peloponnesian War the Athenians experienced a check near this place from the Carians. (
Thuc. 3.19.) Philip of Macedonia, who had obtained possession of Myus, ceded it to the Magnesians.
Athen. 3.78.)
The only edifice noticed by the ancients at Myus was a temple of Dionysus, built of white marble. (Paus.
l.c.) The mmense quantity of deposits carried down by the Maeander have considerably removed the coast-line, so that even in Strabo's time the distance between Myus and the sea was increased to 40 stadia (xii. p. 579), while originally the town had no doubt been built on the coast itself.
There still are some ruins of Myus, which most travellers, forgetting the changes wrought by the Maeander, have mistaken for those of Miletus, while those of Heracleia have been mistaken for those of Myus. (Comp. Leake,
Asia Minor, p. 239, &c.)
The mistake is repeated by Sir C. Fellows (
Journal of a Tour in As. Min. p. 263), though it had been pointed out long before his time,
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