or Mytilene, in Ancient Geography, a celebrated, powerful, and affluent city, the 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 fertility of its soil; but more especially for the great men it produced, particularly Pittacus, Alcaeus, Sappho, Terpander, Theocles, Hellanicus, and others. It was long a seat of learning; and, with Rhodes and Athens, it had the honour of educating many of the great men of Rome and Greece. In the Peloponnesian war, the Mitylenians suffered greatly for their revolt against Athens; and in the Mithridatic wars they had the boldness not only to resist the Romans, but to disdain the treaties which had been concluded between Mithridates and Sylla.