Λιμὸς Μηλιαῖος

[A phrase used] in reference to hardships. For during the Peloponnesian War the Athenians dispatched Nikias¹ against everyone² and laid siege to them so strenuously as to make them perish by starvation. And in the first year Nikias brought Melos↗ to terms not only by bringing up siege engines but also by starvation, because of their revolt; this had previously been a tribute-paying subject-community.³ Or standing for "enormous."⁴ Melos↗ [is] a city of Thessaly.⁵ The Melians, besieged by the Athenians to the point of starvation, were persuaded⁶ and surrendered themselves.
Also [sc. attested is] "with Melian starvation",⁷ a proverb. Since the Athenians afflicted the Melians by besieging them to the point of starvation. So Thucydides in the fifth [book].⁸