Leandrios, the Milesian historian of the early Hellenistic period, claims that Cleochos, the grandfather of the founding hero of the city of Miletus, was buried in the Didymaion, the Apolline oracular sanctuary near the city. Despite the recent interpretation by Polito, based on Sourvinou-Inwood's theory, it is unlikely that either Cleochos or his grand son, Miletos, the eponymous founding hero, was regarded as autochthonous by the ancient Milesians. The story reported by Leandrios must be a version of accounts of the Cretan foundation of Miletus, not an episode of a myth of autochthony. While the name of Cleochos was plausibly already known in the 5th century BC, his burial in Didyma had not been mentioned before Leandrios, as far as we know. The burial of the grandfather of the founding hero in the famous sanctuary was plausibly invented in the early Hellenistic period or, if not invented out of thin air, paid much more attention to than before. The fresh start for Miletus in this period would have created among the citizens a lively sense of communal identity and interest in local myths. Moreover, the revival of the Didymaean Oracle, the foundation of the gigantic temple and Miletus' diplomatic negotiations with the Seleucid kings and Greek cities, especially their own 'colonies', must have made the Milesians highly conscious of the importance of Didyma, one of the most valuable elements of their symbolic capital. Besides, among other newly founded or re-founded Ionian cities, the Milesians may have tried to distinguish themselves from the others by claiming a mythical origin for their own city and their important mantic sanctuary dating back to the heroic age.
