View source for Mytilos

{{Short description|Illyrian king}}
{{Infobox royalty
|name            = Mytilos
|title           = King
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|reign           = {{circa}} 270{{spaced ndash}}231 BC
|coronation      =
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|predecessor     = [[Monunios]]
|successor       =
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|royal house     =
|dynasty         =
|father          = [[Monunios]] (probable)
|mother          =
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}}
'''Mytilos''' or '''Mytilus''' ({{langx|grc|Μύτιλος}}; {{langx|la|Mytilus}}; ruled {{circa}} 270{{spaced ndash}}231 BC{{sfn|Mesihović|Šačić|2015|p=137}}) was an [[Illyrians|Illyrian]] [[List of rulers in Illyria|king]] who reigned in southern [[Illyria]], around the hinterland of [[Dyrrhachion]] and [[Apollonia (Illyria)|Apollonia]].<ref name=Crawford/> He was the successor of [[Monunios]], and probably his son.<ref name="Šašel Kos, 2005"/> Mytilus is mentioned by [[Pompeius Trogus]] (1st century BC) and [[Frontinus]] (1st century AD) reporting the events of the military conflict between the Illyrians and the [[Epirus (ancient state)|Epirotes]] under [[Alexander II of Epirus|Alexander II]], son of [[Pyrrhus of Epirus|Pyrrhus]].<ref name="Šašel Kos 2002 109">{{harvnb|Šašel Kos|2002|p=109}}; {{harvnb|Mesihović|Šačić|2015|p=133}}.</ref> From around 270 BC Mytilus minted in [[Dyrrhachion]] his own bronze coins bearing the king's name and the symbol of the city.<ref>{{harvnb|Mesihović|Šačić|2015|p=133}}; {{harvnb|Šašel Kos|2005|p=258}}; {{harvnb|Crawford|1985|pp=220–221}}.</ref>
== Biography ==
Mytilus reigned in the hinterland of [[Dyrrachion]] and [[Apollonia (Illyria)|Apollonia]].<ref name=Crawford>{{harvnb|Crawford|1985|pp=220–221|ps=: "Some of the native communities also began to produce coinage, in the Hellenistic period, two 'kings' called Monounios and Mytilos reigning in the hinterland of Apollonia and Dyrrhachium (the former silver, the latter bronze), Rhizon (silver as well as bronze), Lissus, Scodra, Olumpa and Lychnus, and the Daorsi and the Labeatae, in the late third or early second centuries."}}</ref> Mytilus minted his own bronze coins dating back to around 270 BC, with the symbols of [[Dyrrhachion]] and the king's name.{{sfn|Mesihović|Šačić|2015|p=133}} The fact that his coins were struck in the city mint of [[Dyrrhachion]] stresses that he exercised to some extent his authority over the city, as had done his predecessor [[Monunios]].{{sfn|Šašel Kos|2002|p=109}} After Monunios, Mytilus is the second Illyrian king to have struck coins bearing his name.<ref name="Šašel Kos, 2005">{{harvnb|Šašel Kos|2005|p=258|ps=: "Around 270 BC, soon after Pyrrhus' death, and obviously also after the death of Monunios, the name of king Mytilus appears on bronze coins of Dyrrhachium. He may have been Monunios' son and in any case he was his successor, of whom nothing else is known in the sources."}}</ref><ref name=Crawford/> Coinage of [[Apollonia (Illyria)|Apollonia]] from the same period bore only his monogram, as well as symbols similar to those of the Aetolian League, an adversary of [[Epirus (ancient state)|Epirus]].<ref>{{harvnb|Wilkes|1992|p=129|ps=: "No Illyrian production of coins is known before King Monunios struck his coins at Dyrrhachium (see figure 11), followed by Mytilus around ten years later."}}</ref> Copies of the Illyrian coins are kept at the [[Archaeological Museum in Zagreb]], [[Croatia]].<ref>Duje Rendić-Miočević, Illyrian rulers' coins from the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb.</ref> The bronze coins had the head of Hercules on the obverse and on the reverse, Heracles' symbols: quiver, bow and mace with the words ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΜΥΤΙΛ.{{sfn|Mesihović|Šačić|2015|p=133}}
The Illyrian king Mytilus also appears in the historical accounts of ancient writers  [[Pompeius Trogus]] (1st century BC) and [[Frontinus]] (1st century AD), which describe the war he waged around 270 BC against the successor of [[Pyrrhus of Epirus|Pyrrhus]], [[Alexander II of Epirus]].<ref name="Šašel Kos 2002 109"/> Mytilus, presumably, retained his authority in Durrës after Alexander II invaded his territory in or around 270 BC. On one occasion, some Epirotes were dressed in Illyrian clothes and were put them to plunder their own sites. Unsuspecting, the Illyrians relaxed their defences and rushed to emulate them, believing that men in front of them were just their own probes.{{Clarify|reason=These sentences do not make sense.  Need to be rewritten by a subject matter expert.|date=August 2017}} So they were easy victims of Epirus.<ref>Justin, Prol. XXV</ref><ref>Papazoglu, Les Origines ...</ref> The control of Durrës and [[Apollonia, Illyria|Apollonia]] means that at the time of Mytilus, the Illyrians had regained the extent and authority it enjoyed in the time of [[Glaucias of Taulantii|Glaucias]]. Mytilus had even taken an excursion into the territory of Epirus.<ref>Frontinius II 5,10</ref> It is during this time that [[Rome]] was first invited to intervene against the Illyrians, Epirotes and the Aetolians in the [[Balkans]].<ref>Cass. Dio. Fr 42.1</ref>
== See also ==
*[[List of rulers of Illyria]]
*[[Illyrian coinage]]
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
== Bibliography ==
*{{cite book|last=Crawford|first=Michael Hewson|author-link=Michael Crawford (historian)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=84_G_8q6WQcC|title=Coinage and Money under the Roman Republic: Italy and the Mediterranean Economy|series=The Library of Numismatics|editor= Philip Grierson |display-editors=0 |publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|date=1985|isbn=0-520-05506-3}}
*{{Cite book|last=Dzino|first=Danijel|title=Illyricum in Roman Politics, 229 BC–AD 68|year=2010|publisher=Cambridge University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7vvjB_DKQNIC|isbn=978-0-521-19419-8}}
*{{cite book|last1=Mesihović|first1=Salmedin|author-link1=Salmedin Mesihović|last2=Šačić|first2=Amra|title=Historija Ilira|trans-title=History of Illyrians|publisher=Univerzitet u Sarajevu [University of Sarajevo]|place=Sarajevo|year=2015|language=bs|isbn=978-9958-600-65-4}}
*{{cite journal|last=Šašel Kos|first=Marjeta|title=Pyrrhus and Illyrian Kingdom(s?)|journal=Greek Influence Along the East Adriatic Coast|series=Knjiga Mediterana|volume=26|year=2002|isbn=9531631549|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QeKAAAAAMAAJ|pages=101–119}}
*{{cite book|last1=Šašel Kos|first1=Marjeta|title=Appian and Illyricum|year=2005|publisher=Narodni muzej Slovenije|isbn=961616936X|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=opBpAAAAMAAJ}}
*{{cite book|last=Wilkes|first=John|title=The Illyrians|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|year=1992|isbn=0-631-19807-5}}
*{{cite book|last=Winnifrith|first=Tom|title= Nobody's Kingdom: A History of Northern Albania|year= 2020|publisher=Signal Books|isbn=9781909930919|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QL3VzQEACAAJ}}
{{Illyrians}}
[[Category:Illyrian kings]]
[[Category:3rd-century BC monarchs in Europe]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Year of death unknown]]