Everything about Miletus totally explained
Miletus (
Ancient Greek:
Μίλητος transliterated Milētos,
Latin Miletus) was an
ancient city on the western coast of
Anatolia (in what is now
Aydin Province,
Turkey), near the mouth of the
Maeander River in ancient
Caria. Evidence of 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 the
Neolithic.
In the early and middle
Bronze age the settlement came under
Minoan influence. Legend has it that an influx of Cretans occurred displacing the indigenous
Leleges. The site was renamed Miletus after a place in
Crete.
The Late Bronze Age, 13th century BCE, saw the arrival of
Luwian language speakers from south central Anatolia calling themselves the
Carians. Later in that century the first Greeks arrived, calling themselves
Achaeans. The city at that time rebelled against the
Hittite Empire. After the fall of that empire the city was destroyed in the 12th century BCE and starting about 1000 BCE was resettled extensively by the
Ionian Greeks. Legend offers an Ionian foundation event sponsored by a founder named Neleus from the
Peloponnesus.
The
Greek Dark Ages were a time of Ionian settlement and consolidation in an alliance called the
Ionian League. The
Archaic Period of Greece began with a sudden and brilliant flash of art and philosophy on the coast of
Anatolia. The first Greek science was devised by the
Milesian School of philosophy.
Geography
Miletus is south of
Söke. The ruin lies 5 km north of
Akkoy and near to Balat village.
The city also once possessed a
harbor, before it was clogged by
alluvium brought by the
Meander river.
Geology
During the
Pleistocene epoch the Miletus region was submerged in the
Aegean Sea. It subsequently emerged slowly, the sea reaching a low level of about 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 below present at about 5500 BP, creating several
karst block islands of limestone, the location of the first settlements at Miletus. At about 1500 BCE 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 the
Maeander river and is now land-locked. Sedimentation of the harbor began at about 1000 BCE and by 300 CE Lake Bafa had been created.
History
Neolithic
The earliest available archaeological evidence indicates that the islands on which Miletus was originally placed were tenanted by a
Neolithic population in the 2nd half of the 4th millennium BCE (3500-3000 BCE). Pollen in core samples from Lake Bafa in the
Latmus region inland of Miletus suggest that a lightly-grazed climax forest prevailed in the
Maeander valley, otherwise untenanted. Sparse Neolithic settlements were made at springs, numerous and sometimes geothermal 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 by escarpments. The grazers in the valley may have belonged to them, but the location looked to the sea.
Bronze Age
Recorded history at Miletus begins with the records of the
Hittite Empire in the Late Bronze Age. The prehistoric archaeology of the Early and Middle Bronze Age portray a city heavily influenced by society and events elsewhere in the Aegean, rather than inland.
Cretan period
Beginning at about 1900 BCE artifacts of the
Minoan civilization acquired by trade arrived at Miletus.
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 the Leleges.
The legends recounted as history by the ancient historians and geographers are perhaps the strongest; the late mythographers have nothing historically significant to relate.
Luwian and Greek period
Miletus is first mentioned in the
Hittite Annals of
Mursili II as
Millawanda. In ca.
1320 BC, Millawanda supported the rebellion of
Uhha-Ziti of
Arzawa. Mursili ordered his generals
Mala-Ziti and
Gulla to raid Millawanda, and they proceeded 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 was fortified according to a Hittite plan (ibid, p. 139).
Millawanda is then mentioned in the "
Tawagalawa letter", part of a series including the
Manapa-Tarhunta letter and the
Milawata letter, all of which are less securely dated. The Tawagalawa letter notes that Milawata had a governor,
Atpa, who was under
Ahhiyawan (today known as
Achaean) jurisdiction; and that the town of
Atriya was under Milesian jurisdiction. The Manapa-Tarhunta letter also mentions Atpa. Together the two letters tell that the adventurer
Piyama-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 to
Hatti.
The Milawata letter mentions a joint expedition by the Hittite king and a
Luwiyan vassal (probably
Kupanta-Kurunta of Mira) against Milawata (apparently its new name), and notes that Milawata (and Atriya) were now under Hittite control.
Homer records that during the time of the
Trojan War, it was a
Carian city (
Iliad, book II).
In the last stage of
LHIIIB, the citadel of
Pylos counted among its female slaves "Mil[w]atiai", women from Miletus.
During the collapse of Bronze Age civilisation, Miletus was burnt again - presumably by the
Sea Peoples.
Dark Age
Mythographers told that
Neleus son of Codrus of Athens had come to Miletus after the return of the Heraclids (so, during the Greek Dark Age). The Ionians killed the men of Miletus and married their widows.
Archaic period
The city of Miletus became one of the
twelve Ionian cities of
Asia Minor.
Miletus was one of the cities involved in the
Lelantine War of the 8th century BCE.
Miletus was an important center of philosophy and science, producing such men as
Thales,
Anaximander and
Anaximenes.
By the
6th century BC, Miletus had earned a maritime empire but brushed up against powerful
Lydia at home.
When
Cyrus of Persia defeated
Croesus of Lydia, Miletus fell under
Persian rule. In
502 BC, the
Ionian Revolt began in
Naxos; and when Miletus's
tyrant Aristagoras failed to recapture the island, Aristagoras joined the revolt as its leader. Persia quashed this rebellion and punished Miletus in such a fashion that the whole of Greece mourned it. A year afterward,
Phrynicus produced the tragedy
The Capture of Miletus in Athens. The Athenians fined him for reminding them of their loss.
Classical period
Its gridlike layout, planned by
Hippodamos, became the basic layout for
Roman cities.
In
479 BC, the Greeks decisively defeated the Persians at the Greek mainland, and Miletus was freed of Persian rule. During this time several other cities were formed by
Milesian settlers, spanning across what is now Turkey and even as far as
Crimea.
The courtesan
Aspasia, mistress of
Pericles, was also born in Miletus as was the eponymous founder of the bawdy Miletian school of literature
Aristides of Miletus.
Alexandrian period
In
334 BC, the city was liberated from Persian rule by
Alexander the Great.
Roman period
The
New Testament mentions Miletus as the site where the apostle
Paul met with the elders of the
church of
Ephesus before his capture and travel to
Rome for trial, as well as the city where
Trophimus, one of Paul's travelling companions, recovered while sick.
It is believed that Paul stopped by Great Harbour Monument and sat on its steps, on his way back to Jerusalem by boat. He may have met the Ephesian Elders there and then bid them farewell on the nearby beach, which was recorded in the book of Acts.
Byzantine period
During the
Byzantine age Miletus became a residence for archbishops. The small Byzantine castle called Castro Palation located on the hill beside the city, was built at this time.
Turkish rule
Seljuk Turks settled into the city in the 12th century A.D. and used Miletus as a port to trade with
Venice.
Finally,
Ottomans utilized the city as a harbour during their rule in
Anatolia. As the harbour became silted up, the city was abandoned. Today the ruins of city lie some 10 kilometres from the sea.
Archaeological excavations
The first excavations in Miletus were conducted by the French archaeologist
Olivier Rayet in
1873, followed by the German archaeologist
Theodor Wiegand. But these were interrupted several times by wars and various other events. Today, excavations are organized by the
Ruhr University of
Bochum,
Germany.
One remarkable artifact recovered from the city during the first excavations of the
19th century, the Market Gate of Miletus, was transported piece by piece to
Germany and currently exhibited at the
Pergamon museum in
Berlin. The main collection of artifacts resides in the
Miletus Museum in
Didim,
Aydın, serving since
1973.
Colonies of Miletus
Pliny the Elder mentions 90 colonies founded by Miletus in his
Natural History (5.112).
Notable people
Anaximander (c. 610 BC–c. 546 BC) Pre-Socratic Greek philosopher
Anaximenes, Pre-Socratic philosopher
Aristides of Miletus
Hecataeus of Miletus, historian
Hesychius (6th century) Greek chronicler and biographer
Isidore (4th-5th century) Greek architect
Thales, Pre-Socratic philosopherFurther Information
Get more info on 'Miletus'.
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