Where is miletus

The first Greek colonies arrived at Miletus as early as the tenth century BC. In BC the city of Miletus was destroyed by the Persians, along with the nearby sanctuary of Didyma.

Miletus was rebuilt and quickly regained much of its former status and prosperity. During that period, Ephesus surpassed Miletus as the most important city in the region. After the conquest of Anatolia by Alexander the Great, Miletus was rebuilt under the direction of famous Greek architect Hippodamos, who was a native of Miletus.

Other famous citizens are Thales, Anaximander and Anaximenes, the philosophers of nature of the so-called Milesian school. After the death of Alexander the Great, his kingdom was divided among the Diadochoi. All users of the website agree that any information provided is being stored in a database including IP address. This information will not be disclosed to any third party or be used for marketing reasons.

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To learn more about how to do this, visit the help pages of your chosen browser. In the ancient gulf stood a little island called Lade; the island now appears as a mound in the marshy malarial plain, and Palatia, the modern village which stands on the site of Miletus, is 6 miles from the coast.

Without taking into account the great changes in the coast line it would be difficult to understand Acts , for in the days of Paul, Ephesus could be reached from Miletus by land only by making a long detour about the head of the gulf. To go directly from one of these cities to the other, one would have been obliged to cross the gulf by boat and then continue by land. This is what Paul's messenger probably did.

Soon, the harbour was completely silted up, and the city declined. Today, its ruins are situated about 7 km away from the seashore. The Turkish village was relocated to the south and called Yeni Balat after the great earthquake of Thales was, most probably, the most famous Milesian.

He was a philosopher and a mathematician and was considered to be one of the so-called Seven Sages of Greece. Seven Sages were prominent activists and reformers active in areas belonging to ancient Greece in the 7th and the 6th centuries BCE. Thales was recognized by Aristotle as the first philosopher in the Greek tradition. Strabo described Thales as "the first to begin the science of natural philosophy and mathematics among the Greeks.

The main achievement of Thales as a philosopher was his attempt to explain natural phenomena without recoursing to mythology. Nowadays the most famous legacy of Thales are his achievements as a mathematician. Thales applied his findings in geometry to solve practical problems, such as the determination of the height of the pyramids or the calculation of the distance of the ship from the shore.

There is a story that tells how Thales became rich from an olive harvest by prediction of the weather. Apparently, he bought all the olive presses in Miletus after predicting the weather and a good harvest for a particular year.

Aristotle explains that Thales did not want to enrich himself but to prove to his fellow Milesians that philosophy could be useful. Alternatively, Thales went into olive oil business because of a personal challenge of a person who had asked him why, if Thales was a famous philosopher, he was still poor.

Thales also spared the Milesians much trouble when he advised them not to enter into an alliance with the Lydians. Thus, when the Lydian king Croesus was defeated by the Persians, Miletus was spared the destruction because it had taken no action in an ill-fated expedition of Croesus.

Thales' work was continued by his Milesian successors: Anaximander, who dealt with the origins of the universe, and his student, Anaximenes. Another famous Milesian was Hecataeus — a historian and a geographer, also known from his opposition to the anti-Persian uprising of the Ionian cities.

He was the author of two works: the historical book Genealogiai , in which he presented a critical review of Greek mythology, and the geographical book Ges Periodos , a sailing guide to the ports of the eastern Mediterranean. Hippodamus, another Milesian, was a philosopher and an urban planner. He was the possible author and the namesake of the Hippodamian plan of city layout grid plan.

It was a system that helped to plan the layout of the city in a rational way. A city, built according to this system, was divided into districts by transport routes in the east-west and north-south directions, and streets intersecting at right angles, forming a grid. Many Greek cities, including Miletus, Priene , and Piraeus — the port of Athens, were built in accordance with this idea. Isidore of Miletus was an architect, a physicist, and a mathematician.

The first archaeological excavations in Miletus were conducted in by a French researcher, Olivier Rayet. Successive seasons of excavations in , and after World War II, were also led by the German teams. Currently, the works at Miletus are conducted under the leadership of the Ruhr University of Bochum. The exhibits unearthed during the excavations in Miletus are scattered across numerous museums.

One of the most interesting objects - the Market Gate - was transported in pieces to Germany and reconstructed in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. In Turkey, the finds from Miletus are on display in the local museum in Miletus , but also in archaeological museums in Izmir and Istanbul. Before taking a tour of Miletus, one should realize that in the ancient times this city was situated on a peninsula, extending far into the waters of the Latmian Gulf.

The most important strategically harbor was the so-called Lions Bay, located in the northern part of the city. The isthmus leading to the bay was guarded by the statues of two lions.

The isthmus was so narrow that it was possible to close it with a chain. The ruins of Miletus cover an extensive area, but the lower areas are frequently flooded making the tour difficult or even impossible. Most of the visitors are happy to visit only a small section of the city, including the theatre and the Baths of Faustina that are situated close to the entrance. However, there is much more to see in Miletus and the visitors are encouraged to explore the ruins if the water level is low.

Due to deforestation, overgrazing, erosion, and soil degradation the ruins of the city are hidden among a maquis shrubland and there aren't many trees to provide shelter from the sun. Thus, the former Miletus Peninsula can still be identified as its barren rocks are in stark contrast to the irrigated green lands of the Maeander floodplain below. Plan at least three hours for the extended tour, and bring your own supplies of drinking water.

The descriptions of the ancient structures of Miletus presented below follow the suggested sightseeing route, starting at the theatre. Understanding the layout of Miletus is difficult as one needs to remember about several issues. First of all, the site's topography has changed dramatically from the prehistoric times to the modern era. When the area was settled for the first time, in the Neolithic period, there were several islands of limestone there, surrounded by the Aegean Sea.

About BCE these islands consolidated into a peninsula that was subsequently settled by the Greek colonists. The classical Graeco-Roman Miletus was situated on the narrow peninsula, almost completely surrounded by water.

Since then the sea has risen by about 1. The second issue that complicates the layout of Miletus is its long period of existence. Therefore, the visitors can see the mixture of Graeco-Roman architecture, with Byzantine and Turkish structures.

While the Greek city was organised according to the grid plan, the Byzantine and Seljuk buildings were erected in the places dictated by other reasons, such as the safety and the gradual siltation of the terrain. The largest and best-preserved monument of Miletus is the great theater that welcomes the travelers coming to see the ruins of the ancient city. Its origins were much more modest than the preserved building.

In Hellenistic times, the theater was rebuilt four times, but it could accommodate only 3, spectators. The theatre was built in the 4th century BCE, and then enlarged in the Hellenistic period. The Romans greatly extended the theater so that it could sit as many as 15 thousand people.

The two-storey skene with a luxurious facade was erected of colourful marble. The orchestra was covered with red marble slabs and turned into an arena for gladiatorial fights. Therefore, to protect the spectators, the first tiers of seats were removed and a parapet was constructed. The structure preserved to the present day is meters wide and 30 meters high. There is no upper gallery, which in the past extended the theatre to the height of 40 meters.

While strolling through the audience keep in mind that in antiquity the theater stood on the seafront and overlooked a beautiful panorama. The spectators could see the Theatre Harbour in front of them, and the West Agora across the water. It could be closed off with a chain in Geometric-Archaic times. Nowadays, the Theatre Harbour area is scattered with ancient architectural remains.

There is also the building of the Seljuk-era caravanserai there, serving as a restaurant for the visitors. The exploration of the theatre requires time, as the structure is huge and labyrinth-like, with covered passages and steep staircases. Many seats are still marked with the inscriptions informing where various groups of citizens were seated.

For instance, the seat on the 5th row in the second section from the right bears the information that it was "the place of the Jews who are also God-worshipers". Other visible inscriptions include a Christian invocation of the archangels.

There are also decorative reliefs, depicting erotes fighting animals and griffins. The front seats were reserved for the most important officials, and the Roman emperors sat there when they visited the city. This section is marked with the columns that supported a baldachin stretched over the imperial section during the performances. Under the facade of the theater, the archeologists have found the remains of the city walls from the Hellenistic Period.

Actually, the Byzantine-era city walls ran directly over the stage but they were removed by the German archaeologists. Above the theater, there are walls from the Byzantine Castro Palation. The fragments of these walls have been preserved on the hillside. The archaeologists suspect that the fortress was erected on the remains of the phrourion — a military post, built by the Persian satrap Tissaphernes in BCE.

The theatre was incorporated into the new city walls in the 7th century CE. Most of these Byzantine fortifications were dismantled during the excavations in the early 20th century, but the castle of the last refuge remains standing above the theatre's third tier of seats. It was a citadel of a new town of the hilltop that was built in the 11th century, in the time of the Turkish tribal invasions.

This town had a gate flanked with towers, on the eastern slope of the hill, above the Mosque with Four Columns. The new town replaced the ancient settlement below that was being slowly buried under fluvial sediments. This settlement was called Ta Palatia because of the palatial appearance of those ancient ruins that were still visible above the ground. From the top of the fortress, the area of the ancient Lion Harbour can be seen, in the eastern direction.

During the tour of Miletus, it is possible to visit the harbour area if the water levels are low. Looking in the northern direction, the distant massif of Dilek, which in ancient times was known as Mykale, looms over the horizon.

It's hard to imagine, but in the ancient times all the area between Miletus and the slopes of these mountains was covered with the waters of the Latmian Gulf. Today, it is just a flat grassland — the floodplain of the Meander River that was a part of the Karian Sea in ancient times. Turning to the south-west, one can glimpse the hill called Kalabak Tepe — one of the sites where the traces from the archaic period were discovered. The walls of ancient Miletus almost reached the slopes of this hill.

Descending from the top of the hill in the south-eastern direction, the visitors come across the ruined Mosque with Four Columns. This building consisted of a single room on the square plan, with the sides 15 meters long. The ruins were identified as a mosque because of the still recognizable mihrab niche in the southern wall.

The name comes from four ancient columns, reused as the roof support. This early-Turkish building is located far away from other Turkish structures of the city, and it is possible that it served the garrison stationed in the citadel above. The simple design suggests an early construction date, possibly the 13th century. A minaret with a spiral staircase is a later addition. The scant remains of a large building, situated just to the north-east of the mosque have been identified as a Hellenistic-era heroon — a cult place of a hero or an important personality.

This building is called Heroon I for easier identification as three heroa have been discovered in the area of Miletus. The heroon on the eastern slope of the theatre was built of marble in the late 2nd or early 1st century BCE. The complex consisted of a spacious central courtyard — the actual heroon — and two series of rooms on its narrow sides.

These rooms, some equipped with pipes, served as the spaces for funeral banquets. The burial structure stood in the courtyard, it had an ellipsoidal plan, and was built of large limestone slabs surrounding the vaulted chamber. The burial chamber could be accessed through a passageway, and there were five tombs inside.

In the centre of the chamber, there was a pit covered with marble slabs, but its function is unknown. Descending from the theatre hill along the path in the south-eastern direction, the visitors come across a complex of buildings consisting of early Christian and early Turkish structures.

On the right side of the path, there is a building of the Turkish baths, and on the left — the Mosque with Forty Steps. The mosque dates back to the 14th century.

Its rectangular prayer room had the inner dimensions of 16 to 20 meters. The name of the mosque came from a high stepped platform at the southwest corner of the building. The bath opposite the mosque was probably built in the same time, as a part of the religious pious foundation. It was erected on the plan of a cross, with the arms crossing in the domed hot-water section. The entrance was through the vestibule in the north, and three additional rooms on the east could possibly be the women's section.

Further to the north, there is a complex of Byzantine buildings, consisting of the Church of St. Michael and the bishop's palace.

They were erected on the remains of the Dionysus Temple from the 3rd century BC. An inscription informs that at the beginning of the 7th century, the earlier Church of St. Michael was demolished and replaced with as a three-aisled basilica with a baptistery and galleries. The floor was covered with mosaics and tiles while the whole building was covered with a tile roof. Today, the three aisles of the basilica are still visible, separated by the rows of columns. The northern and western walls of the church stood on ashlar foundations that had previously been a part of the small Dionysus Temple.

The bishop's palace, on the rectangular plan of 30 by 7 meters, stands to the north of the church. Following extensive investigations carried out during the s and s, the Church of St. Michael was believed to have been the episcopal basilica, with a palatial residence for the bishop directly to the north. He suggested that this church played the role of a private oratory for the bishop. If this explanation is correct the location of the episcopal basilica of Miletus remains unknown.

Moreover, only three basilicas of Byzantine Miletus have been discovered so far: the so-called Large Church and the Church of St. Michael, both in the city centre, and a huge basilica in the cemetery next to the Kalabaktepe — the probable acropolis of the ancient city — to the south.

Moving in the north-eastern direction, the visitors can reach the Lion Harbour. It was Miletus' most prominent harbour during antiquity. Strabo mentioned it in the following words: "The present city has four harbours, one of which is large enough for a fleet. The extremely narrow entrance to the harbour was closed off with a chain, creating a protected naval base.

This harbour was also exceptionally deep — more than 20 meters and thus protected against early siltation. Two stone lions guarded both sides of the entrance. These Hellenistic-era sculptures can still be seen in Miletus, however not in their original positions and they are partly buried in the ground. One of them the eastern one is in a very good shape, but the other one was found broken into pieces. The eastern lion is four meters long, over two meters high, and weighs around 23 tons.

These impressive dimensions make the Milesian stone lions one of the largest Greek lion sculptures known to date. The eastern lion was re-excavated in the ties of the 20th century. The studies of the sculpture revealed the inscription on its shoulders, stating that "For after I had given up raw meat in the mountains, I lie here now, a guard for the public harbour".

The statue was subsequently buried for the protection, in the location next to the so-called Lion Gate, where it had been moved from the harbour during the Roman period. It is worth remembering that the lion in antiquity was perceived as the holy animal of Apollo and these animals were often depicted on the coins minted in Miletus along with the laureate head of Apollo Didymeus.

Other lion sculptures, from the Archaic and Classical periods, can be seen in the garden of the Museum in Miletus. In the Roman era, two monuments were erected in the southwestern corner of the harbour: the Large and the Small Monument.

The scholars, such as Alexander Herda, suppose that the monument must have celebrated a naval victory of the Milesian fleet. It is possible that the Large Monument was initially dedicated to Pompeius, the famous Roman general who cleared the Mediterranean waters of the pirates ravaging the cities of the Asia Minor coast around 63 BCE.

The fleet of Miletus was involved in both of these victories. It is even probable that the monument is older and it was erected after the Milesian naval victory around BCE, when the local admiral Hegemon, son of a Philodemos, defeated the pirates. This theory is supported by the existence of his statue in the Delphinion "because of his virtue and goodwill.

For certain, the structure was dedicated to Octavian Augustus, commemorating his victory in the naval battle of Actium in 31 BCE. The appearance of the Large Harbour Monument is known thanks to the convincing reconstructions based on the recovered fragments. It stood in front of the west wing of the Harbour Stoa.

The structure had four levels, reaching the height of approximately 18 metres. The decoration showed a monumental tripod standing on lions, a clear allusion to Apollo, the main deity of Miletus. It was also decorated in a low relief depicting Tritons and dolphins, ending in sculpted ship prows. Nowadays, it is possible to see the three-stepped base of the structure and the sculpted reliefs of the tritons.

The Small Harbour Monument was built later, most probably during the reign of the Flavian dynasty, and it was clearly modelled on the Large Monument. Its dimensions were more modest as it only reached the height of 5. The structure was three-sided with a pyramidal roof, finished with a Corinthian capital. It stood on the south-west pier of the Harbour of Lions, in front of the west wing of the Harbour Stoa.

Today, only a part of its base can be seen. Just next to the monuments, there are the traces of a basilica-type building from the Roman period, identified as a synagogue by Armin von Gerkan, a renowned German classical archaeologist.

He made this assumption on the basis between the architectural similarity of this building and the ancient synagogues found in Palestine. The building was erected in the 3rd or the 4th century CE, but if it really functioned as a synagogue is doubtful.