Mycenaeans had assumed control of such places on the western coast of Anatolia as Miletus, which Minoans had colonized before them.

Greek myths relate that the city was founded by a hero named Miletus, who fled Crete to avoid being forced to become the eromenos of King Minos (according to Antoninus Liberalis, after Nicander (Metamorphoses XXX 1-2).

These myths further relate that the hero Miletus found the city only after slaying a giant named Asterius, son of Anax; and that the region known as Miletus was originally called 'Anactoria'.

Miletus is first mentioned in the Hittite Annals of Mursili II as Millawanda, which supports the rebellion of Uhha-Ziti of Arzawa in about 1320 BCE.

Mursili orders his generals Mala-Ziti and Gulla to raid Millawanda, and they proceeds to burn parts of it (damage from LHIIIA:2 has been found on site: Christopher Mee, Anatolia and the Aegean in the Late Bronze Age, p. 142).

In addition the town is fortified according to a Hittite plan (ibid, p. 139).