View source for Mysians

{{Short description|Anatolian ethnic group (c. 1300–100 BCE)}}
{{Distinguish|Moesians}}
[[Image:Mysia map ancient community.jpg|thumb|200px|Land of the Mysians, who were at the origin of the historic name of the region (''[[Mysia]]'') in northwest [[Anatolia]]]]
'''Mysians''' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|iː|ʒ|ə|n|z|,_|ˈ|m|ɪ|ʒ|ə|n|z}} ({{langx|la|Mysi}}; {{langx|grc|Μυσοί}}, ''Mysoí'') were the inhabitants of [[Mysia]], a region in northwestern [[Asia Minor]].

==Origins according to ancient authors==
Their first mention is by [[Homer]], in his list of [[Troy|Trojan]]s allies in the [[Iliad]], and according to whom the Mysians fought in the [[Trojan War]] on the side of [[Troy]], under the command of Chromis and [[Ennomus]] the  [[Augur]], and were ''lion-hearted spearmen who fought with their bare hands''.<ref>{{cite book | title = The Iliad| url = https://archive.org/details/theiliad02199gut| author = Homer | section = II, 858}}</ref>

[[Herodotus]] in his [[Histories (Herodotus)|''Histories'']] wrote that the Mysians were brethren of the [[Carians]] and the [[Lydians]], originally Lydian colonists in their country, and as such, they had the right to worship alongside their relative nations in the sanctuary dedicated to the [[Carian Zeus]] in [[Mylasa]].<ref>{{cite book | title = Histories| url = https://archive.org/details/histories00hero_1| author = Herodotus | year = 1907| section = I, 171}}</ref> He also mentions a movement of Mysians and associated peoples from [[Asia]] into [[Europe]] still earlier than the Trojan War, wherein the Mysians and [[Teucrians]] had crossed the [[Bosphorus]] into Europe and, after conquering all of [[Thrace]], pressed forward till they came to the [[Ionian Sea]], while southward they reached as far as the river [[Pineios River (Thessaly)|Peneus]].<ref>{{cite book | title = Histories| url = https://archive.org/details/histories00hero_1| author = Herodotus | year = 1907| section = VII, 20}}</ref> Herodotus adds an account and description of later Mysians who fought in [[Darius the Great|Darius]]' army.

[[Strabo]] in his [[Geographica]] informs that, according to his sources, the Mysians in accordance with their religion abstained from eating any living thing, including from their flocks, and that they used as food honey and milk and cheese.<ref>{{cite book | title = Geography| url = https://archive.org/details/strabogeographyb00stra| author = Strabo | year = 1917| section = I, 171}}</ref> Citing the historian [[Xanthus (historian)|Xanthus]], he also reports that the name of the people was derived from the Lydian name for the [[beech tree|oxya tree]].

==Mysian language==
{{main|Mysian language}}

Little is known about the [[Mysian language]]. Strabo noted that their language was, in a way, a mixture of the [[Lydian language|Lydian]] and [[Phrygian language]]s. As such, the Mysian language could be a language of the [[Anatolian languages|Anatolian group]]. However, a passage in [[Athenaeus]] suggests that the Mysian language was akin to the barely attested [[Paeonian language]] of [[Paeonia (kingdom)|Paeonia]], north of [[Macedon]].

A short inscription which could be in Mysian and which dates from between the 5th and 3rd centuries BC was found in ''Üyücek'', near [[Kütahya]], and seems to include [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] words, but it has not been deciphered.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://epigraphy.packhum.org/inscriptions//main?url=oi%3Fikey%3D272813%26bookid%3D619 | title = Epigraphical database: Native 'Mysian' inscription|publisher = [[Packard Humanities Institute]]}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Mysia]]
* [[Mysian language]]
* [[Ctistae]]
* [[Kapnobatai]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Anatolian peoples}}

[[Category:Mysia]]
[[Category:Ancient peoples of Anatolia]]
[[Category:Ancient peoples of the Near East]]
[[Category:Members of the Delian League]]