Myndus

Myn'dus

(Μύνδος), a town on the coast of Caria,, between Miletus and Halicarnassus, the convenient position of which in regard to trade was probably the reason why we find in 1 Macc. 15:23 that it was the residence of a Jewish population. Its ships were well, known in very early times (Herod. 5:33), and its harbor is specially mentioned by Strabo (14, 658). It was originally a Dorian colony of Troezene, and was protected by strong walls (Pausan. 2:30, 8), so that it successfully resisted Alexander the Great (Arrian, Alex. 1:21). Its wine was famous as an aid to digestion (Athen. 1:32). Diogenes Laertius (6, 2, 57) records a bon mot of Diogenes, the cynic, of which it is the theme. Seeing, its huge gates, while the city itself was but small, he exclaimed, "Men of Myndus, shut the gates, lest the city walk out of them!" The name still lingers in the modern Mentesche, though the remains of the city are' probably at Gumishlu, where admiral Beaufort found an ancient pier and other ruins (Smith, Dict. of Class. Geog. s.v.).

⇒See also the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia.