MYTI´STRATUS(Μυτίστρατος, Steph. B., Diod.; Μουτίστρατος, Zonar.; τὸ Μυττίστρατον, Pol.: Eth. Mutustratinus, Plin.), a town in the interior of Sicily, the position of which is wholly uncertain. It was probably but a small town, though strongly fortified, whence Philistus ( ap. Steph. B. s. v. ) called it a fortress of Sicily.It is conspicuously mentioned during the First Punic War, when it was in the hands of the Carthaginians, and was besieged by the Romans, but for some time without success, on account of the great strength of its position; it was at length taken by the consul A. Atilius Calatinus in B.C. 258. The inhabitants were either put to the sword or sold as slaves, and the town itself entirely destroyed. (Plb. 1.24; Diod. 23.9, Exc. Hoesch. p. 503; Zonar. viii.) It was, however, again inhabited at a later period, as we find the Mutustratini mentioned by Pliny among the municipal towns of the interior of Sicily; (Plin. Nat. 3.8. s. 14.) But no notice of its name occurs in the interval, and Cluverius (who has been followed by many modern geographers) would, therefore, identify Mytistratus with Amestratus; an assumption for which there are certainly no sufficient grounds, both names being perfectly well attested. [AMESTRATUS] (Cluver. Sicil. p. 383.)
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