Miletus^[a] was anancient Greek city on the western coast ofAnatolia, near the mouth of theMaeander River in ancientIonia.^[3][4][5] Its ruins are located near the modern village ofBalat inAydın Province,Turkey. Before thePersian rule that started in the 6th century BC, Miletus was considered among the greatest and wealthiest ofGreek cities.^[6][7]

Miletus

Μῑ́λητος Milet
Shown within Turkey
Location	Balat,Didim,Aydın Province,Turkey
Region	Aegean Region
Coordinates	37°31′49″N27°16′42″E / 37.53028°N 27.27833°E /37.53028; 27.27833
Type	Settlement
Area	90 ha (220 acres)
History
Builder	Minoans (laterMycenaeans) and thenIonians (the later on a former Anatolian site)[1][2][3]
Site notes
Public access	Yes
Website	Miletus Archaeological Site

Evidence of the first settlement at the site has been made inaccessible by the rise of sea level and deposition of sediments from the Maeander. The first available evidence is of theNeolithic. In the early and middleBronze Age the settlement came underMinoan influence. Recorded history at Miletus begins with the records of the Hittite Empire, and theMycenaean records ofPylos andKnossos, in the Late Bronze Age. Miletus was a Mycenaean stronghold on the coast of Asia Minor fromc. 1450 to 1100 BC.

The 13th century BC saw the arrival ofLuwian language speakers from south central Anatolia calling themselves theCarians. Later in that century other Greeks arrived. The city at that time rebelled against theHittite Empire. After the fall of that empire the city was destroyed in the 12th century BC and starting about 1000 BC was resettled extensively by theIonian Greeks. Legend offers an Ionian foundation event sponsored by a founder named Neleus from thePeloponnesus.

TheGreek Dark Ages were a time of Ionian settlement and consolidation in an alliance called theIonian League. TheArchaic Period of Greece began with a sudden and brilliant flash of art and philosophy on the coast ofAnatolia. In the 6th century BC, Miletus was the site of origin of the Greek philosophical (and scientific) tradition, whenThales, followed byAnaximander andAnaximenes (known collectively, to modern scholars, as theMilesian school), began to speculate about the material constitution of the world, and to propose speculative naturalistic (as opposed to traditional, supernatural) explanations for various natural phenomena.

The earliest available archaeological evidence indicates that the islands on which Miletus was originally placed were inhabited by aNeolithic population in 3500–3000 BC.^[8] Pollen in core samples from Lake Bafa in theLatmus region inland of Miletus suggests that a lightly grazed climax forest prevailed in theMaeander valley, otherwise untenanted. Sparse Neolithic settlements were made atsprings, numerous and sometimesgeothermal in this karst, rift valley topography. The islands offshore were settled perhaps for their strategic significance at the mouth of the Maeander, a route inland protected byescarpments. Thegraziers in the valley may have belonged to them, but the location looked to the sea.

The prehistoric archaeology of the Early and Middle Bronze Age portrays a city heavily influenced by society and events elsewhere in the Aegean, rather than inland.

The earliest Minoan settlement of Miletus dates to 2000 BC.^[9] Beginning at about 1900 BC artifacts of theMinoan civilization acquired by trade arrived at the site.^[8] For some centuries the location received a strong impulse from that civilization, an archaeological fact that tends to support but not necessarily confirm the founding legend—that is, a population influx fromCrete. According toStrabo:^[10]

Ephorus says: Miletus was first founded and fortified above the sea by Cretans, where the Miletus of olden times is now situated, being settled by Sarpedon, who brought colonists from the Cretan Miletus and named the city after that Miletus, the place formerly being in possession of theLeleges.

According toPausanias, however, Miletus was a friend of Sarpedon fromCrete, after whom the city was named.^[11] Miletus had a son named Kelados, and the heroon of Kelados has been found at Panormos, a port of Miletus nearDidyma.^[12]

The legends recounted as history by the ancient historians and geographers are perhaps the strongest; the late mythographers have nothing historically significant to relate.^[13]

Recorded history at Miletus begins with the records of theHittite Empire and the Mycenaean records ofPylos andKnossos, in the Late Bronze Age.

Miletus was aMycenaean stronghold on the coast of Asia Minor fromc. 1450 to 1100 BC.[14] Inc. 1320 BC, the city supported an anti-Hittite rebellion ofUhha-Ziti of nearbyArzawa.Muršili ordered his generalsMala-Ziti andGulla to raid Millawanda, and they proceeded to burn parts of it; damage fromLHIIIA found on-site has been associated with this raid.^[15] In addition the town was fortified according to a Hittite plan.^[16]

Miletus is then mentioned in the "Tawagalawa letter", part of a series including theManapa-Tarhunta letter and theMilawata letter, all of which are less securely dated. The Tawagalawa letter notes that Milawata had a governor,Atpa, who was under the jurisdiction ofAhhiyawa (a growing state probably inLHIIIBMycenaean Greece); and that the town ofAtriya was under Milesian jurisdiction. The Manapa-Tarhunta letter also mentions Atpa. Together the two letters tell that the adventurerPiyama-Radu had humiliated Manapa-Tarhunta before Atpa (in addition to other misadventures); a Hittite king then chased Piyama-Radu into Millawanda and, in the Tawagalawa letter, requested Piyama-Radu's extradition toHatti.

The Milawata letter mentions a joint expedition by the Hittite king and aLuwian vassal (probablyKupanta-Kurunta of Mira) against Miletus, and notes that the city (together with Atriya) was now under Hittite control.^{[citation needed]}

Homer mentions that during the time of theTrojan War, Miletus was an ally of Troy and was city of theCarians, under Nastes andAmphimachus.^[17]

In the last stage of LHIIIB, the citadel of Bronze AgePylos counted among its female slaves a mi-ra-ti-ja,Mycenaean Greek for "women from Miletus", written inLinear B syllabic script.^[18]

During the collapse of Bronze Age civilization, Miletus was burnt again, presumably by theSea Peoples.

Mythographers told that Neleus, a son ofCodrus the lastKing of Athens, had come to Miletus after the "Return of the Heraclids" (so, during theGreek Dark Ages). Aheroon for Neleus was allegedly located outside of the city wall of Roman Miletus, which probably marks the former city center contemporary to Neleus.^[19][12] The Ionians killed the men of Miletus and married theirCarian widows. This is the mythical commencement of the enduring alliance between Athens and Miletus, which played an important role in the subsequentPersian Wars.

The city of Miletus became one of the twelveIonian city-states ofAsia Minor to form theIonian League.

Miletus was one of the cities involved in theLelantine War of the 8th century BC.

Miletus is known to have early ties withMegara in Greece. According to some scholars, these two cities had built up a "colonisation alliance". In the 7th/6th century BC they acted in accordance with each other.^[20]

Both cities acted under the leadership and sanction of anApollo oracle. Megara cooperated with that ofDelphi. Miletus had her own oracle of ApolloDidymeus Milesios inDidyma. Also, there are many parallels in the political organisation of both cities.^[20]

According toPausanias, the Megarians said that their town owed its origin toCar, the son ofPhoroneus, who built the city citadel called 'Caria'.^[21] This 'Car of Megara' may or may not be one and the same as the 'Car of the Carians', also known asCar (King of Caria).

In the late 7th century BC, the tyrantThrasybulus preserved the independence of Miletus during a 12-year war fought against theLydian Empire.^[22] Thrasybulus was an ally of the famousCorinthian tyrantPeriander.

Miletus was an important center of philosophy and science, producing such men asThales,Anaximander andAnaximenes. Archaic streetReferring to this period,religious studies professorF. E. Peters describedpan-deism as "the legacy of the Milesians".^[23] As well as a philosopher,Thales was also suggested to have initiated the famous grid plan of the city.^[12] Archaic orthogonal street system at Miletus has been confirmed by archaeological survey, but this system would not cover the entire urban center of Miletus until the classical period.^[24]

By the 6th century BC, Miletus had earned a maritime empire with many colonies, mainly scattered around theBlack Sea. Miletus and its numerous colonies were culturally tied by, for example, the cult ofAphrodite, a deity associated with seafaring in the cultural context of Miletus. However, its maritime hegemony declined as a result of the Persian occupation in the early fourth century BC, and the vacuum of power was later replaced byAthens.^[25]

WhenCyrus of Persia defeatedCroesus of Lydia in the middle of the 6th century BC, Miletus fell underPersian rule. In 499 BC, Miletus'styrantAristagoras became the leader of theIonian Revolt against the Persians, who, underDarius the Great, quashed this rebellion in theBattle of Lade in 494 BC and punished Miletus by selling all of the women and children into slavery, killing the men, and expelling all of the young men as eunuchs, thereby assuring that no Miletus citizen would ever be born again. A year afterward,Phrynicus produced the tragedyThe Capture of Miletus in Athens. The Athenians fined him for reminding them of their loss.^[26]

In 479 BC, the Greeks decisively defeated the Persians on the Greek mainland at theBattle of Plataea, and Miletus was freed from Persian rule. With many sanctuaries of Miletus having been destroyed by Persians. the restoration of them, however, was prohibited by the "Oath of the Ionians", which aims to retain the ruins as memorials. This oath was only partially practiced by Milesians, with some sanctuaries restored back to their Archaic appearances.^[27] The city's gridlike layout was also constructed across all the area within the city wall, designed byHippodamus of Miletus. It later became famous and labeled as the "Hippodamian plan", serving as the basic layout for the new foundations of Hellenistic andRoman cities.^[24]

In 387 BC, thePeace of Antalcidas gave the PersianAchaemenid Empire under kingArtaxerxes II control of the Greek city-states ofIonia, including Miletus.

In 358 BC, Artaxerxes II died and was succeeded by his sonArtaxerxes III, who, in 355 BC, forced Athens to conclude a peace, which required its forces to leave Asia Minor (Anatolia) and acknowledge the independence of its rebellious allies.^{[citation needed]}

In 334 BC, theSiege of Miletus by the forces ofAlexander the Great of Macedonia conquered the city. The conquest of most of the rest of Asia Minor soon followed. In this period, the city reached its greatest extent, occupying within its walls an area of approximately 90 hectares (220 acres).^[28]

When Alexander died in 323 BC, Miletus came under the control of Ptolemy, governor ofCaria, and his satrap of Lydia,Asander, who had become autonomous.^[29] In 312 BC, Macedonian generalAntigonus I Monophthalmus sent Docimus and Medeius to free the city and grant autonomy, restoring the democratic patrimonial regime. In 301 BC, after Antigonus I was killed in theBattle of Ipsus by the coalition ofLysimachus,Cassander, andSeleucus I Nicator, founder of theSeleucid Empire, Miletus maintained good relations with all the successors after Seleucus I Nicator made substantial donations to the sanctuary of Didyma and returned the statue of Apollo that had been stolen by the Persians in 494 BC.

In 295 BC, Antigonus I's sonDemetrius Poliorcetes was the eponymous archon (stephanephorus) in the city, which allied withPtolemy I Soter of Egypt, while Lysimachus assumed power in the region, enforcing a strict policy towards the Greek cities by imposing high taxes, forcing Miletus to resort to lending.

Around 287/286 BC Demetrius Poliorcetes returned, but failed to maintain his possessions and was imprisoned in Syria. Nicocles of Sidon, the commander of Demetrius' fleet surrendered the city. Lysimachus dominated until 281 BC, when he was defeated by the Seleucids at theBattle of Corupedium. In 280/279 BC the Milesians adopted a new chronological system based on the Seleucids.

In 279 BC, the city was taken from Seleucid kingAntiochus II by Egyptian kingPtolemy II Philadelphus, who donated a large area of land to cement their friendship, and it remained under Egyptian sway until the end of the century.^[30]

Aristides of Miletus, founder of the bawdyMiletian school of literature, flourished in the 2nd century BC.

After an alliance with Rome, in 133 BC the city became part of the province of Asia.

Miletus benefited from Roman rule and most of the present monuments date to this period.

TheNew Testament mentions Miletus as the site where the ApostlePaul in 57 AD met the elders of thechurch ofEphesus near the close of his Third Missionary Journey, as recorded inActs of the Apostles (Acts 20:15–38). It is believed that Paul stopped by the Great Harbour Monument and sat on its steps. He might have met the Ephesian elders there and then bade them farewell on the nearby beach. Miletus is also the city where Paul leftTrophimus, one of his travelling companions, to recover from an illness (2 Timothy 4:20). Because this cannot be the same visit as Acts 20 (in which Trophimus accompanied Paul all the way to Jerusalem, according to Acts 21:29), Paul must have made at least one additional visit to Miletus, perhaps as late as 65 or 66 AD. Paul's previous successful three-year ministry in nearbyEphesus resulted in the evangelization of the entire province of Asia (see Acts 19:10, 20;1 Corinthians 16:9). It is safe to assume that at least by the time of the apostle's second visit to Miletus, a fledgling Christian community was established in Miletus.

In 262 new city walls were built.

However the harbour was silting up and the economy was in decline. In 538 emperorJustinian rebuilt the walls but it had become a small town.

During theByzantine age thesee of Miletus was raised to an archbishopric and later ametropolitan bishopric. The small Byzantine castle called Palation located on the hill beside the city, was built at this time. Miletus was headed by acurator.^[31][32]

Seljuk Turks conquered the city in the 14th century and used Miletus as a port to trade withVenice.

In the 15th century, theOttomans utilized the city as a harbour during their rule inAnatolia. As the harbour became silted up, the city was abandoned. Due to ancient and subsequentdeforestation,^[33]overgrazing (mostly by goat herds),erosion andsoil degradation, the ruins of the city lie some 10 km (6.2 mi) from the sea withsediments filling the plain and bare hill ridges without soils and trees, amaquis shrubland remaining.

TheIlyas Bey Complex from 1403 with its mosque is aEuropa Nostra awarded cultural heritage site in Miletus.

The first excavations in Miletus were conducted by the French archaeologistOlivier Rayet in 1873, followed by the German archaeologistsJulius Hülsen andTheodor Wiegand^[34][35][36] between 1899 and 1931.Excavations, however, were interrupted several times by wars and various other events.Carl Weickart excavated for a short season in 1938 and again between 1955 and 1957.^[37][38][39]He was followed by Gerhard Kleiner and then by Wolfgang Muller-Wiener.Today, excavations are organized by theRuhr University ofBochum,Germany.

One remarkable artifact recovered from the city during the first excavations of the 19th century, theMarket Gate of Miletus, was transported piece by piece to Germany and reassembled. It is currently exhibited at thePergamon Museum inBerlin. The main collection of artifacts resides in theMiletus Museum inDidim,Aydın, serving since 1973.

Archaeologists discovered a cave under the city's theatre and believe that it is a "sacred" cave which belonged to the cult ofAsklepius.^[40][41]

• Artifacts
•  
  The name Fikellura derives from a site on the island of Rhodes to which this fabric has been attributed. It is now established that the center of production was Miletus.
•  
•  
  Milesian Vase
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  Milesian Vase
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  Milesian Vase
•  
  Milesian Vase

The ruins appear on satellite maps at 37°31.8'N 27°16.7'E, about 3 km north ofBalat and 3 km east ofBatıköy inAydın Province,Turkey.

In antiquity the city possessed aharbor at the southern entry of a large bay, on which two more of the traditional twelve Ionian cities stood:Priene andMyus. The harbor of Miletus was additionally protected by the nearby small island of Lade. Over the centuries the gulf silted up withalluvium carried by theMeander River. Priene and Myus had lost their harbors by the Roman era, and Miletus itself became an inland town in the early Christian era; all three were abandoned to ruin as their economies were strangled by the lack of access to the sea. There is a Great Harbor Monument where, according to the New Testament account, the apostle Paul stopped on his way back to Jerusalem by boat. He met the Ephesian Elders and then headed out to the beach to bid them farewell, recorded in the book of Acts 20:17-38.

During thePleistocene epoch the Miletus region was submerged in theAegean Sea. It subsequently emerged slowly, the sea reaching a low level of about 130 meters (430 ft) below present level at about 18,000 BP. The site of Miletus was part of the mainland.

A gradual rise brought a level of about 1.75 meters (5 ft 9 in) below present at about 5500 BP, creating severalkarst block islands of limestone, the location of the first settlements at Miletus. At about 1500 BC the karst shifted due to small crustal movements and the islands consolidated into a peninsula. Since then the sea has risen 1.75 m but the peninsula has been surrounded by sediment from theMaeander river and is now land-locked. Sedimentation of the harbor began at about 1000 BC, and by 300 ADLake Bafa had been created.^[42]

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  Sculpture from Baths of Faustina
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  Faustina Baths in Miletus
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  The Sacred Way from Miletus with the remains of the stoa
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  The Ionic Stoa on the Sacred Way
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  Remains of the stoa connecting the main Bath of Faustina to the Palaestra
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  Illustration of Miletus
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  Right entrance of the ancient Greek theatre
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  Ancient Greek theatre

Miletus became known for the great number of colonies it founded. It was considered the greatest Greek metropolis and founded more colonies than any other Greek city.^[43]Pliny the Elder (Natural History, 5.112) says that Miletus founded over 90 colonies. Among them are:^[44]

• Arctinus of Miletus (775 BC – 741 BC), epic poet
• Thales (c. 624 BC – c. 546 BC),Pre-Socratic philosopher
• Anaximander (c. 610 BC – c. 546 BC), Pre-Socratic philosopher and geographer
• Cadmus (fl. c. 550 BC), writer
• Anaximenes (c. 585 BC – c. 525 BC), Pre-Socratic philosopher
• Aristagoras (fl. 6th-5th century BC), Tyrant of Miletus
• Phocylides (born c. 560 BC), Greek gnomic poet
• Hecataeus (c. 550 BC – c. 476 BC), Greek historian
• Histiaeus (died 493 BC), ruler of Miletus
• Leucippus (fl. first half of 5th century BC), philosopher and originator of Atomism (his association with Miletus is traditional, but disputed)
• Hippodamus (c. 498 – 408 BC), urban planner
• Aspasia (c. 470 – 400 BC) courtesan, and mistress ofPericles, was born in Miletus
• Aristides (fl. 2nd century BC), writer
• Monime (died 72/71 BC), a Greek noblewoman and one of the wives ofMithridates VI Eupator
• Alexander Polyhistor (fl. 1st century AD), Greek scholar, born in Miletus before being taken as a slave to Rome
• Aeschines of Miletus (fl. 1st century AD), a distinguished orator in the Asiatic style
• Isidore (fl. 6th century AD), Greek architect
• Hesychius (fl. 6th century AD), Greek chronicler and biographer
• Timagenes or Timogenes, historian and rhetor^[45]
• Philiscus of Miletus, rhetor. Teacher ofNeanthes of Cyzicus^[46]
• Hellanicus, historian^[47]
• Dionysicles (Ancient Greek:Διονυσικλῆς) of Miletus, sculptor. One of his famous works was a statue, atLeonidaion, of Democrates ofTenedos who was anancient Olympic winner at wrestling^[48]
• Baccheius or Bacchius of Miletus (Βακχεῖος), a writer. He wrote a work on agriculture.^[49]

• Cities of the ancient Near East

References

Sources

• Crouch, Dora P. (2004).Geology and Settlement: Greco-Roman Patterns. New York: Oxford University Press.ISBN 9780195083248.

• Greaves, Alan M. (2002).Miletos: A History. London: Routledge.ISBN 9780415238465.
• Gorman, Vanessa B. (2001).Miletos, the Ornament of Ionia: A History of the City to 400 B.C.E. Ann Arbor, MI: Michigan University Press.ISBN 9780472111992.

• Official website
• Ausgrabungen in Milet official site of the excavations in Miletus by Ruhr-Universität Bochum(in German)
• Ancient Coins of Miletus
• Livius picture archive: Miletus
• Some 250 pictures of site and museum
• Greek Inscriptions of Miletus in English translation
• The Theatre at Miletus, The Ancient Theatre Archive, Theatre specifications and virtual reality tour of theatre
• Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913)."Miletus" .Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
• Details about most of the monuments
• Walking the sacred pagan path from Ancient Miletus to Didim