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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: MIC-MOL |
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MILETUS (mod. Palatia) , an ancient city of Asia Minor, on the southern shore of the Latmic Gulf near the mouth of the Maeander. Before the Ionic migration it was inhabited by Carians (Iliad ii. 876; Herod. i. 146), and pottery, found by Th. Wiegand on the spot proves that the site was inhabited, and had relations with the Aegean world, in the latest Minoan age. The Greek settlers from Pylos under Neleus are said to have massacred all the men in the old city, and built for themselves a new one on the coast. Miletus occupied a very favourable situation at the mouth of the rich valley of the Maeander, and was the natural outlet for the trade of southern Phrygia (Hipponax, Fr. 45). It had four harbours, one of considerable size, and its power extended inland for some distance up the valley of the Maeander, and along the coast to the south, where it founded the city of Iasus. Its enterprise extended to Egypt, where it had much to do with the settlement of Naucratis (q.v.). Very little " Naucratiti " pottery, however, was found on the site by Wiegand, and only in the Athena temple. The Black Sea trade, however, was the greatest source of wealth to the Ionian cities. Miletus, like the rest, turned its attention chiefly to the north, and succeeded in almost monopolizing the traffic. Along the Hellespont, the Propontis and the Black Sea coasts it founded more than sixty citiesamong them Abydus, Cyzicus, Sinope, Dioscurias, Panticapaeum and Olbia. All these cities were founded before the middle of the 7th century; and before 500 B.C. Miletus was decidedly the greatest Greek city. During the time when the enterprise of the seafaring population raised Miletus to such power and wealth nothing is known of its internal history, though the analogy of all Greek cities, and some casual statements in later writers, suggest that the usual struggles took place between oligarchy and democracy, and that tyrants sometimes raised themselves to supreme power. Miletus was equally distinguished at this early time as a seat of literature. The Ionian epic and lyric poetry indeed had its home farther north; philosophy and history were more akin to the practical race of Miletus, and Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes and Hecataeus all belonged to this city. The poet Timotheus and the famous Aspasia were also natives. The three Ionian cities of CariaMiletus, Myus and Prienespoke a peculiar dialect of Ionic. The Mermnad kings of Lydia
IONIA
special
interest
town of commercial importance throughout the Graeco-Roman period, and received special
Since 1899 Miletus has been the scene of extensive excavations directed by Dr Th. Wiegand for the Berlin Academy. The ruins lie about the base of a hillock projecting north-east into a bend of the Maeander. On the north is a well-preserved theatre of Roman times on the site of an older Greek building. When complete it had 54 rows of seats. It was as large as any theatre in Asia Minor, and is still imposing, the auditorium, though deprived of its upper ranks and colonnade, rising nearly loo ft. Cyriac of Ancona described the building as practically complete in his day (1446). The front is over 15o yds. long. East of this was the ancient north harbour, now silted up, and on the hillside above it stood a large heroon of Hellenistic time remarkable for being, like the tomb of Brasidas at Amphipolis, within the walls. South of the harbour head lies the Hellenistic agora with ruins of large magazines of Doric style. South of these again lie a nymphaeum of the age of Titus, and a senate- house
hall
wall
chief
See O. Rayet and A. Thomas, Milet et le golfe Latmique (1877) ; Th. Wiegand, " Vorlaufige Berichte fiber die Ausgrabungen in Milet," in Sitzungsberichte of the Berlin Academy (1900, foil.); A. von Salis, " Die Ausgrabungen in.Milet and Didyma " in Neue Jahrb. f. d. k. Alt., xxv. 2, 1910. (D. G. H.) End of Article: MILETUS (mod. Palatia) If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
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