Miletus (Ancient Greek: Μίλητος, romanised: Mílētos) was an influential ancient Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia, near the mouth of the Maeander River in present day Turkey. Renowned in antiquity for its wealth, maritime power, and extensive network of colonies, Miletus was a major center of trade, culture, and innovation from the Bronze Age through the Roman period. The city played a foundational role in the development of early Greek philosophy and science, serving as the home of the Milesian school with thinkers such as Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes. Miletus's prosperity was closely linked to its strategic coastal location and the productivity of its surrounding rural hinterland, which supported thriving agriculture and facilitated wide-ranging commercial activity. The city established dozens of colonies around the Mediterranean and Black Sea, significantly shaping the Greek world's expansion. Archaeological investigations have revealed a rich material culture, including the sanctuary of Apollo at Didyma, remnants of the city's distinctive grid plan, and evidence of long-term agricultural and rural management. Throughout its history, Miletus experienced periods of autonomy and foreign rule, serving as a cultural crossroads between Greek, Anatolian, and later Persian and Roman spheres. The city's enduring legacy is reflected in its contributions to philosophy, urban planning, and the spread of Greek civilization.
History
Neolithic The earliest available archaeological evidence indicates that the islands on which Miletus was originally placed were inhabited by a Neolithic population in 3500–3000 BC. Pollen in core samples from Lake Bafa in the Latmus region inland of Miletus suggests 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 graziers in the valley may have belonged to them, but the location looked to the sea.
Middle Bronze Age 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.
Minoan period The earliest Minoan settlement of Miletus dates to 2000 BC. Beginning at about 1900 BC artifacts of the Minoan civilization acquired by trade arrived at the site. 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 from Crete. According to Strabo: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.According to Pausanias, however, Miletus was a friend of Sarpedon from Crete, after whom the city was named. Miletus had a son named Kelados, and the heroon of Kelados has been found at Panormos, a port of Miletus near Didyma. The legends recounted as history by the ancient historians and geographers are perhaps the strongest; the late mythographers have nothing historically significant to relate.
Late Bronze Age Recorded history at Miletus begins with the records of the Hittite Empire and the Mycenaean records of Pylos and Knossos, in the Late Bronze Age.
Mycenaean period Miletus was a Mycenaean stronghold on the coast of Asia Minor from c. 1450 to 1100 BC. In c. 1320 BC, the city supported an anti-Hittite rebellion of Uhha-Ziti of nearby Arzawa. Muršili ordered his generals Mala-Ziti and Gulla to raid Millawanda, and they proceeded to burn parts of it; damage from LHIIIA found on-site has been associated with this raid. In addition the town was fortified according to a Hittite plan. Miletus 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 the jurisdiction of Ahhiyawa (a growing state probably in LHIIIB Mycenaean Greece); 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 Luwian vassal (probably Kupanta-Kurunta of Mira) against Miletus, and notes that the city (together with Atriya) was now under Hittite control. Homer mentions that during the time of the Trojan War, Miletus was an ally of Troy and was city of the Carians, under Nastes and Amphimachus. In the last stage of LHIIIB, the citadel of Bronze Age Pylos counted among its female slaves a mi-ra-ti-ja, Mycenaean Greek for "women from Miletus", written in Linear B syllabic script.
Fall of Miletus During the collapse of Bronze Age civilization, Miletus was burnt again, presumably by the Sea Peoples.
Dark Age Mythographers told that Neleus, a son of Codrus the last King of Athens, had come to Miletus after the "Return of the Heraclids" (so, during the Greek Dark Ages). A heroon for Neleus was allegedly located outside of the city wall of Roman Miletus, which probably marks the former city center contemporary to Neleus. The Ionians killed the men of Miletus and married their Carian widows. This is the mythical commencement of the enduring alliance between Athens and Miletus, which played an important role in the subsequent Persian Wars.
Archaic period
The city of Miletus became one of the twelve Ionian city-states of Asia Minor to form the Ionian League. Miletus was one of the cities involved in the Lelantine War of the 8th century BC.
Ties with Megara Miletus is known to have early ties with Megara 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.
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