Mytilus

Mytilos or Mytilus (; ; ruled 270231 BC) was an Illyrian king who reigned in southern Illyria, around the hinterland of Dyrrhachion and Apollonia. He was the successor of Monunios, and probably his son. Mytilus is mentioned by Pompeius Trogus (1st century BC) and Frontinus (1st century AD) reporting the events of the military conflict between the Illyrians and the Epirotes under Alexander II, son of Pyrrhus. From around 270 BC Mytilus minted in Dyrrhachion his own bronze coins bearing the king's name and the symbol of the city.

== Biography == Mytilus reigned in the hinterland of Dyrrachion and Apollonia. Mytilus minted his own bronze coins dating back to around 270 BC, with the symbols of Dyrrhachion and the king's name. The fact that his coins were struck in the city mint of Dyrrhachion stresses that he exercised to some extent his authority over the city, as had done his predecessor Monunios. After Monunios, Mytilus is the second Illyrian king to have struck coins bearing his name. Coinage of Apollonia from the same period bore only his monogram, as well as symbols similar to those of the Aetolian League, an adversary of Epirus. Copies of the Illyrian coins are kept at the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb, Croatia. The bronze coins had the head of Hercules on the obverse and on the reverse, Heracles' symbols: quiver, bow and mace with the words ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΜΥΤΙΛ.