or Mytilene, in Ancient Geography, 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 stateliness of its buildings and the fruitfulness of its soil, but more particularly for the great men it produced: Pitacius, Alcaeus, Sappho, Terpander, Theophanes, Helianicus, &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 Metellus.