 According to Herodotus, the earliest known name for the area was Milyas, and its original inhabitants, who spoke the Milyan language, were the Milyae (), or Milyans, also known by the exonyms (), Solymi, and Solymians

In Greek mythology, Solymus or Solymos was the ancestral hero and eponym of the Solymi.He was a son of either Zeus or Ares; his mother's name is variously given as Chaldene, Caldene ("daughter of Pisidus"), Calchedonia, or Chalcea "the nymph".Meanwhile, Europa had (at least) two sons, Sarpedon and Minos, who vied for the kingship of their native land, Crete.