Miletus | Ancient Greek City, Turkey, & Map

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Introduction </span> <a class="toc-extra-link link-gray-900" href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Miletus/additional-info">References & Edit History</a> <a class="toc-extra-link link-gray-900" href="/facts/Miletus">Quick Facts & Related Topics</a> </div> <div class="tlr-media-slider pb-10 mb-30"> <a class="section-header link-gray-900 font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mb-10 mx-10" href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Miletus/images-videos">Images</a> <div class="slider js-slider position-relative d-inline-flex align-items-center mw-100 "> <div class="slider-container js-slider-container overflow-hidden d-flex overflow-hidden text-nowrap ml-15"> <a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/48/126748-004-B530FCF7/theatre-Greco-Roman-Miletus-Tur-Soke.jpg" data-href="/media/1/382219/121269" class="media-overlay-link d-inline-block mr-5"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/48/126748-004-B530FCF7/theatre-Greco-Roman-Miletus-Tur-Soke.jpg" alt="Miletus: Greco-Roman theatre" height="50" /> </a> <a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/77/244677-050-5655D15A/Locator-map-Miletus.jpg" data-href="/media/1/382219/286292" class="media-overlay-link d-inline-block mr-5"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/77/244677-004-6AC2034D/Locator-map-Miletus.jpg" alt="Miletus, western Anatolia" height="50" /> </a> </div> <button disabled class="prev-button js-prev-button position-absolute btn btn-circle shadow btn-blue " aria-label="Previous"> <span class="material-icons md-24" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_left"></span> </button> <button disabled class="next-button js-next-button position-absolute btn btn-circle shadow btn-blue " aria-label="Next"> <span class="material-icons md-24" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></span> </button> </div> </div> <div class="mb-30 tlr-related-quizzes"> <div class="text-gray-900 p-5 font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mx-10 mb-10"> Quizzes </div> <div class="imagelink-with-image-on-the-side card card-horizontal tlr-img-with-side-link 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src="https://cdn.britannica.com/58/159658-131-6562599E/Alexander-the-Great-marble-bust-British-Museum.jpg?w=200&h=200&c=crop" alt="Marble bust of Alexander the Great, in the British Museum, London, England. 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It lies near the mouth of the B眉y眉kmenderes (Menderes) River.</p><span class="marker MOD1 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD2 mod-inline"></span><div class="assemblies"><div class="w-100 assembly-container"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="286292" data-asm-type="image"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media" data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/77/244677-050-5655D15A/Locator-map-Miletus.jpg" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center media-overlay-link card-media" data-href="/media/1/382219/286292"><picture><source media="(min-width: 680px)" srcset="https://cdn.britannica.com/77/244677-050-5655D15A/Locator-map-Miletus.jpg"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/77/244677-050-5655D15A/Locator-map-Miletus.jpg?w=300" alt="Miletus, western Anatolia" data-width="2000" data-height="1200" loading="eager"></picture><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/77/244677-050-5655D15A/Locator-map-Miletus.jpg" data-href="/media/1/382219/286292">Miletus, western Anatolia</a><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div></div><p class="topic-paragraph">Before 500 <span class="text-smallcaps">bce</span>, Miletus was the greatest Greek city in the east. It was the natural outlet for products from the interior of Anatolia and had a considerable wool trade with Sybaris, in southern Italy. Miletus was important in the founding of the Greek colony of Naukratis in Egypt and founded more than 60 colonies on the shores of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Black-Sea" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Black Sea</a>, including Abydos, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Cyzicus-ancient-Turkey" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Cyzicus</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Sinop" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Sinope</a> (now Sinop), Olbia, and Panticapaeum. In addition to its commerce and colonization, the city was distinguished for its literary and scientific-philosophical figures, among them Thales, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Anaximander" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Anaximander</a>, Anaximenes, and Hecataeus. Together with the people of the other two <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ionian" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Ionian</a> cities of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Caria" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Caria</a>, Myus and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Priene" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Priene</a>, the Milesians spoke a distinctive Ionian <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="dialect" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dialect" data-type="MW">dialect</a>. Little is known about Milesian government before 500 <span class="text-smallcaps">bce</span>. At the beginning and end of the 6th century <span class="text-smallcaps">bce</span>, however, the city was ruled by the tyrants Thrasybulus and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Histiaeus" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Histiaeus</a>, respectively.</p><span class="marker MOD2 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD3 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">In the 7th century <span class="text-smallcaps">bce</span> Miletus came into conflict with the neighbouring state of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Lydia-ancient-region-Anatolia" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Lydia</a>, and it probably acknowledged Lydian overlordship in the mid-6th century. In the latter part of the 6th century, it came under Persian rule, along with the other Greek cities of Anatolia. About 499 <span class="text-smallcaps">bce</span> the Milesians led the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Ionian-revolt" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Ionian revolt</a> that marked the beginning of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Greco-Persian-Wars" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Greco-Persian Wars</a>. The city was stormed and sacked by the Persians in 494. After the Persian defeat by the Greeks (479), Miletus joined the Athenian-dominated Delian League. By the mid-5th century the city had been weakened and impoverished by internal divisions, and in 442 it was defeated in war by neighbouring <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Samos-island-Greece" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Samos</a>.</p><a class="link-module shadow-sm d-block qa-quiz-module" href="/quiz/history-buff-quiz" data-link-module-iframe-link=""> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/19/153419-131-91ADC6E8/Ruins-statues-Karnak-Egypt.jpg" alt="Temple ruins of columns and statures at Karnak, Egypt (Egyptian architecture; Egyptian archaelogy; Egyptian history)" class="rounded-sm mr-15" width="70" /> <div class="line-clamp clamp-5"> <div class="module-title bg-green">Britannica Quiz</div> <div class="font-weight-semi-bold mt-5">History Buff Quiz</div> </div> </a><span class="marker MOD3 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD4 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Its fortunes soon <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="revived" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/revived" data-type="EB">revived</a>, however, and the Milesians set about rebuilding their city on a new grid plan of the type invented in this period by <span id="ref243065"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hippodamus-of-Miletus" class="md-crosslink ">Hippodamus of Miletus</a>. In 412 the city sided with <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Sparta" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Sparta</a> against Athens; before 350 Mausolus of Caria ruled it, and it fell to Alexander in 334 after a siege. Hellenistic rulers who competed for influence at Miletus included the Seleucid <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Antiochus-IV-Epiphanes" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Antiochus IV Epiphanes</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Eumenes-II" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Eumenes II</a> of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Pergamum" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Pergamum</a>, both about 170 <span class="text-smallcaps">bce</span>. Miletus retained its commercial importance and received special attention from the Roman emperors Augustus and Trajan. By the 6th century <span class="text-smallcaps">ce</span>, however, its two harbours had silted up, and it was eventually abandoned.</p><div class="one-good-fact-module"> </div><span class="marker MOD4 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD5 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The ruins occupy the former peninsula crowned by the hill of Kalabak Tepe. The total area of the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="archaic" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/archaic" data-type="MW">archaic</a> city is unknown, but Hellenistic town walls and foundations have been uncovered. There also are extensive remains of the classical city from the 5th century <span class="text-smallcaps">bce</span> to Roman imperial times. The Greco-Roman theatre and its adjoining <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="Byzantine" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Byzantine" data-type="MW">Byzantine</a> castle are the most visible of the site鈥檚 ruins.</p><span class="marker MOD5 mod-inline"></span></section> <span class="md-signature font-12"><a href="/editor/The-Editors-of-Encyclopaedia-Britannica/4419">The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</a></span> <span class="md-signature font-12">This article was most recently revised and updated by <a href="/editor/Amy-Tikkanen/6393">Amy Tikkanen</a>.</span><span class="marker end-of-content"></span><span class="marker after-article"></span></div> <div id="chatbot-simplify-root"></div> <div id="chatbot-root"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ai-dialog-placeholder"></div> </div> </div> <aside class="col-md-da-320"></aside> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article> </div> </div> </div> </div> </main> <div id="md-footer"></div> <noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-5W6NC8" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript>  <script> window.ap3c = window.ap3c || {}; var ap3c = window.ap3c; ap3c.cmd = ap3c.cmd || []; ap3c.cmd.push(function() { ap3c.init('ZO4siT4cLwnykPnzZWJtd3Byb2Q', 'https://engage.email.britannica.com/'); ap3c.track({v: 0}); }); ap3c.activity = function(act) { ap3c.act = (ap3c.act || []); ap3c.act.push(act); }; var s, t; s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = "https://engage.email.britannica.com/app.js"; t = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); </script> <script class="marketing-page-info" type="application/json"> {"pageType":"Topic","templateName":"DESKTOP","pageNumber":1,"pagesTotal":1,"pageId":382219,"pageLength":467,"initialLoad":true,"lastPageOfScroll":false} </script> <script class="marketing-content-info" type="application/json"> [] </script> <script src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-134/js/libs/jquery-3.5.0.min.js?v=3.134.26"></script> <script type="text/javascript" data-type="Init Mendel Code Splitting"> (function() { $.ajax({ dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: 'https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-134/dist/topic-page.js?v=3.134.26' }); })(); </script> <script class="analytics-metadata" type="application/json"> {"leg":"B","adLeg":"B","userType":"ANONYMOUS","pageType":"Topic","pageSubtype":null,"articleTemplateType":"MEDIUM","gisted":false,"pageNumber":1,"hasSummarizeButton":false,"hasAskButton":true,"hasAiTopQuestions":false,"hasSimplifyButton":false} </script> <script type="text/javascript"> EBStat={accountId:-1,hostnameOverride:'webstats.eb.com',domain:'www.britannica.com', json:''}; </script> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function() { $.ajax( { dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: '//www.britannica.com/webstats/mendelstats.js?v=1' } ) .done( function() { try {writeStat(null,EBStat);} catch(err){} } ); })(); </script> <div id="bc-fixed-dialogue"></div> </body> </html>

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Miletus | Ancient Greek City, Turkey, & Map | Britannica