Miletus

Miletus (Hittite Milawanda/Milawata, Ionian Μίλητος, in the middle ages Palatia, today Balat/Turkey) was an ancient city in the southwest of Asia Minor. It extended across a peninsula on the southern shore of the Latmian Gulf on the border of the historical landscapes of Ionia and Caria. Due to the progressive silting up of the Gulf, its ruins are now located about 9 km inland from the coast. Miletus has a long history. The earliest traces of settlement date back to the Chalcolithic (fourth millennium). The Archaic period (7th–6th century bce) is considered the city’s heyday. It was the center of Ionian natural philosophy as well as the metropolis of numerous colonies in the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions. The territory of the city included the peninsula of Didyma, areas on the southern slope of the Mykale Mountains, and the northern Islands of the Dodecanese complex. The city was destroyed by the Persians after the so-called Ionian Revolt in 494 bce. In the Classical (5th–4th century bce) and Hellenistic (3rd–1st century bce) periods, Miletus was again expanded on a large scale. One of the characteristic features of its urban structure is its grid plan, sometimes attributed to Hippodamos of Miletus (5th-century bce). On the territory of Miletus was the supraregionally important sanctuary of Apollo of Didyma, which was connected to the city by a processional road. Miletus remained a major city until Late Antiquity. Its urban structure changed radically and was reduced, as in most places of Asia Minor, in the 7th century ce, but in the Emirates period (13th–14th century ce), Miletus gained new importance as a port city of the emirate of Menteşe. Afterwards, there existed only a minor village at the site. Miletus has been visited by most of the early travelers to the Levant, while systematic research was first undertaken by Olivier Rayet in 1873, followed by excavations under Theodor Wiegand from 1899 on. The excavations continue to this day. Important finds are exhibited in major museums in Turkey (Istanbul, Izmir) as well as in Western Europe (Paris, Berlin), and in a local museum on the site. Short annual reports appear in the series Kazı Sonuçları Toplantısı, edited by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The final results of the excavations are being published in the series Milet—Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen und Untersuchungen seit 1899 and Milesische Forschungen. Specific groups of findings are presented in the series Funde in Milet, published at irregular intervals in the journal Archäologischer Anzeiger.