city state · Greece and the Aegean

Myus

1000 BCE – 200 BCE (approx.) · capital Myus

The smallest of the twelve Ionian cities, near the mouth of the Maeander, eventually abandoned as silt turned its harbour into marsh.

Origins

Myus was founded, by tradition, by Cydrelus, a son of Codrus of Athens, c. 1000 BCE on the Latmian Gulf near the mouth of the Maeander. Though small, it ranked as one of the twelve members of the Ionian League.

Rule and society

Myus lived from fishing and the farmland of the Maeander valley. It sent three ships to the Battle of Lade in 494 BCE. Later the Persian king Artaxerxes I granted the exiled Themistocles the revenues of Myus to supply him with relish. It then paid tribute in the Delian League.

Decline and legacy

The silting of the Maeander turned the gulf into a lake and marsh, and Pausanias says mosquitoes drove the people to move to Miletus, which absorbed the city by c. 200 BCE. Only a temple of Dionysus and scattered ruins remain.

Lineage

MyusMiletus 1000 BCE – 133 BCE

Connections (2)

More states of Greece and the Aegean →

Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Myus. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/myus
MLA
“Myus.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/myus. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Myus.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/myus.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Myus’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/myus (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻