In Irish mythology, the Milesians were the descendants of Míl Espáine, the final invaders of Ireland who defeated and displaced the semi-divine Tuatha Dé Danann.
In the history of Hellenic civilization, the Milesians were the people of Miletus, a city in the Anatolia province of modern-day Turkey, who formed their own maritime empire throughout Turkey and into the Crimea.
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In Irish mythology the Milesians or Sons of MÃl Espáine were the final inhabitants of Ireland, representing the Goidelic Celts.
O'Rahilly the descent of the kings of Ireland from the sons of MÃl is a fiction intended to provide legitimacy for the Goidels, who invaded Ireland in the 1st or 2nd century BC, giving them the same ancient origin as the indigenous peoples they dominated.
Geoffrey Keating's Foras Feasa ar Eirinn (written c.1634) used the myth to promote the legitimacy of the Stuart claim to royal authority in Ireland (related to the origin of the Lia Fáil), demonstrating that Charles I was descended, through Brian Ború, Éber and Galamh, from Noah and, ultimately, from Adam.
On their way they met the goddesses Ériu, Banba and Fodla, promising them that the land would be named after the one whose advice could help the invaders in their conquest of the country.
Eremon, a son of Míl Espáine, received the rule of the northern half of Ireland, and Eber Finn, one of the chiefs of the Milesians, was granted the rule of the southern half.
The Milesians of Hellenic (Greek) civilization were the inhabitants of Miletus, a city in the Anatolia province of modern-day Turkey, near the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and at the mouth of the Meander River.
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