MITYLENE, or MYTELENE, in Ancient Geogra-
phy, a celebrated, powerful, and affluent city, capital of
the island of Lesbos. It received its name from Mitylene,
the daughter of Macareus, a king of the country. It is
greatly commended by the ancients for the neatness
of its buildings and the fruitfulness of its soil, but
more particularly for the great men it produced: Pit-
tacus, Alcaeus, Sappho, Terpander, Theophanes, Hel-
lanicus, &c. were all natives of Mitylene. It was long
a seat of learning; and, with Rhodes and Athens, it
had the honour of having educated many of the great
men of Rome and Greece. In the Peloponnesian war,
the Mitylenians suffered greatly for their revolt from
the power of Athens; and in the Mithridatic wars,
they had the boldness to resist the Romans, and disdain
the treaties which had been made between Mithridates
and Sylla. See METELIN.