Milesian fleeces, most valuable wools; for Miletus is a city of Asia, where the best wools are dyed. The ancient Greek version of Ezekiel (xxvii. 18.) enumerates Milesian fleeces among the articles of Tyrian importation. Columella (vii. 2.) and Pliny (viii. 48.) assert the celebrity of the flocks of Miletus in former times, although in their time they were surpassed by the sheep of some other countries. In soft Milesian wool as fine as possible.--Hippocrates, vol. i. p. 689. ed. _Fœsii_. Ye are hairs of sheep, although Miletus may boast of you, and Italy be in high repute, and though the hairs be guarded under skins.--Clemens Alexandrinus, Pæd. ii. 30. Lying on Milesian carpets.--Aristoph. Ranæ, l. 548. Nor do I speak of the sheep of Miletus and Selge and Altinum, nor of those, for which Tarentum and Bætica are famous, and which are colored by nature.--Tertullian de Pallio, 3. If, from the beginning the Milesians were occupied _in shearing sheep_, the Seres _in spinning the produce of trees_, the Tyrians _in dyeing_, the Phrygians _in embroidering_, and the Babylonians _in weaving_.--Tertullian de Habitu Muliebri. We may now notice Samos, as being near the Ionic coast. Athenæus (xii. p. 540. D.) cites two ancient authors who assert that, when Polycrates was introducing into Samos the most excellent of the different breeds of animals, he chose the dogs of Laconia and Molossis, the goats of Scyros and Naxos, and the sheep of Miletus and Attica. Respecting the breeding of sheep in _Samos_ it may be proper to quote the remark of Ælian (Hist. Anim. xii. 40.), that the Samians gave some religious honor to this animal, because a consecrated utensil of gold, which had been stolen from one of their temples, was discovered by a sheep. It appears probable, that the shepherd life was established in Thrace as early as in any part of Europe; for in the Homeric poems it is called “the mother of flocks” (Il. v. 222.). In a much later age the sheep of Thrace are mentioned by Nicander (Nicand. Ther. 50.). We learn from Plato (De Legibus, l. vii. p. 36. ed. Bekker) that in Thrace the flocks were entrusted to the care of the women, who were there compelled like slaves to work out of doors. Aristotle speaks of the sheep of Magnesia, and says that they brought forth young twice a year[268]. [268] Problem. cap. x. sec. 46. A little further south we find sheep from the earliest times in Thessaly near the river Amphrysus. Here was Iton, which Homer also calls “the mother of flocks[269].” It was celebrated for a temple of Minerva, who was called from it _Itonis_, or _Itonia_[270], and whose worship was transferred from hence to Bœotia. [269] Il. B. 696. [270] Strabo, l. ix. c. 2. § 29. p. 458; and c. 5. § 14. p. 614. ed. Siebenkees. Apollonius Rhodius, Argon. i. 551; and Schol. ad locum. Alcæi Reliquiæ, a Maththiæ, No. 54.