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Milas in History

The name Milas comes from the name of the Carian city of Mylasa. The name Mylasa in turn came from the son of Khrysaor called Mylasos who was the grandson of Sisyphos and Aiolos.

According to the historian and geographer Strabon, Mylasa was one of the important settlements of the inner ring of Carian cities. The other two were Alabanda and Stratonikeia.

In the 5th century BC, Mylasa joined the uprising of Ionia against the invading Persian army. In 446 BC, it overthrew Persian rule following the Berymdon War and joined the Attica Delos League. Mylasa, like other Carian cities, surrendered to the army of Alexander the Great in 334 BC but Alexander left the city to be ruled by the Carian Queen Ada. In 143 BC, Mylasa played the role of a judge in a dispute over the classes at the request of the Roman Emperor Acmilius and then became a centre of courthouses ruled by governors. After 129 BC, it became part of the Roman Empire.

During the Byzantine era, Mylasa became a centre of bishopric. In the 13th century it was taken over by the Menteşeoğulları Turks.