Miletus

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For the butterflies with the same name, see Miletus (genus).

The lower half of the benches and the remnants of the scene building of the theater of Miletus (August 2005)

Miletus (Hittite: Milawata or Millawanda, Greek: Μίλητος transliterated Miletos, Turkish: Milet) was an ancient Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia (in what is now the Aydin Province of Turkey), near the mouth of the Maeander River in ancient Caria. The site was inhabited since the Bronze age. The city was a part of the Ionian League.

1 Legend
2 History
3 Inhabitants
4 Colonies of Miletus
5 Archaeological excavations
6 See also
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Legend

Homer records that during the time of the Trojan War, it was a Carian city (Iliad, book II). Other Greek myths relate that the city was founded by a hero named Miletus, who fled Crete to avoid being forced to become the eromenos of King Minos (according to Antoninus Liberalis, after Nicander (Metamorphoses XXX 1-2)). These myths further relate that the hero Miletus found the city only after slaying a giant named Asterius, son of Anax; and that the region known as Miletus was originally called 'Anactoria'.

[edit] History

[edit] Bronze Age

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.

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.

[edit] Mythology

During the Classical period, the women of Miletus retained a tradition of never sitting at table with their husbands.^{[citation needed]}

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.

[edit] Historical Period

The city of Miletus became one of the twelve Ionian cities of Asia Minor. Its gridlike layout, planned by Hippodamos, became the basic layout for Roman cities. The city also once possessed a harbor, before it was clogged by alluvium brought by the Meander.

Miletus was one of the cities involved in the Lelantine War of the 8th century BCE. By the 6th century BC, Miletus had earned a maritime empire but brushed up against powerful Lydia at home.

Map of Miletus and Other Cities within the Lydian Empire

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.

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.

Miletus was an important center of philosophy and science, producing such men as Thales, Anaximander and Anaximenes. The courtesan Aspasia, mistress of Pericles, was also born in Miletus.

In 334 BC, the city was liberated from Persian rule by Alexander the Great.

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.

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.

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.

[edit] Inhabitants

Important Pre-Socratic philosophers are said to originate from Miletus. These include Thales, Anaximander and Anaximenes.

[edit] Colonies of Miletus

Pliny the Elder mentions 90 colonies founded by Miletus in his Natural History (5.112).

[edit] 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.