Mycale

MY´CALE(Μυκάλη), the westernmost branch of Mt. Mesogis in Lydia; it forms a high ridge and terminates in a promontory called Trogylium, now cape S. Maria. It runs out into the sea just opposite the island of Samos, from which it is separated only by a narrow channel seven stadia in breadth. It was in this channel, and on the mainland at the foot of Mount Mycale, that the Persians were defeated, in B.C. 479. It is probable that at the foot of Mount Mycale there was a town called Mycale or Mycallessus, for Stephanus Byz. (s. v.) and Scylax (p. 37) speak of a town of Mycale in Caria or Lydia. The whole range of Mount Mycale now bears the name of Samsum. (Hom. Il. 2.869; Hdt. 1.148, 7.80, 9.96; Thuc. 1.14, 89; 8.79; Diod. 9.34; Paus. 5.7.3, 7.4.1; Strab. xiii. pp. 621, 629; Ptol. 5.2.13; Agathem. p. 3.)
[L.S]