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MILETUS (mod. Palatia)

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Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 443 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MILETUS (mod. Palatia) , an See also:ancient See also:city of See also:Asia See also:Minor, on the See also:southern See also:shore of the Latmic Gulf near the mouth of the Maeander. Before the Ionic See also:migration it was inhabited by Carians (Iliad ii. 876; See also:Herod. i. 146), and pottery, found by Th. Wiegand on the spot proves that the site was inhabited, and had relations with the See also:Aegean See also:world, in the latest Minoan See also:age. The See also:Greek settlers from See also:Pylos under See also:Neleus are said to have massacred all the men in the old city, and built for themselves a new one on the See also:coast. Miletus occupied a very favourable situation at the mouth of the See also:rich valley of the Maeander, and was the natural outlet for the See also:trade of southern See also:Phrygia (Hipponax, Fr. 45). It had four harbours, one of considerable See also:size, and its See also:power extended inland for some distance up the valley of the Maeander, and along the coast to the See also:south, where it founded the city of Iasus. Its enterprise extended to See also:Egypt, where it had much to do with the See also:settlement of See also:Naucratis (q.v.). Very little " Naucratiti " pottery, however, was found on the site by Wiegand, and only in the See also:Athena See also:temple.

The See also:

Black See also:Sea trade, however, was the greatest source of See also:wealth to the Ionian cities. Miletus, like the See also:rest, turned its See also:attention chiefly to the See also:north, and succeeded in almost monopolizing the See also:traffic. Along the See also:Hellespont, the Propontis and the Black Sea coasts it founded more than sixty cities—among them Abydus, See also:Cyzicus, See also:Sinope, Dioscurias, Panticapaeum and See also:Olbia. All these cities were founded before the See also:middle of the 7th See also:century; and before 500 B.C. Miletus was decidedly the greatest Greek city. During the See also:time when the enterprise of the seafaring See also:population raised Miletus to such power and wealth nothing is known of its See also:internal See also:history, though the See also:analogy of all Greek cities, and some casual statements in later writers, suggest that the usual struggles took See also:place between See also:oligarchy and See also:democracy, and that tyrants sometimes raised themselves to supreme power. Miletus was equally distinguished at this See also:early time as a seat of literature. The Ionian epic and lyric See also:poetry indeed had its See also:home farther north; See also:philosophy and history were more akin to the See also:practical See also:race of Miletus, and Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes and Hecataeus all belonged to this city. The poet See also:Timotheus and the famous See also:Aspasia were also natives. The three Ionian cities of See also:Caria—Miletus, Myus and See also:Priene—spoke a See also:peculiar See also:dialect of Ionic. The Mermnad See also:kings of See also:Lydia found in Miletus their strongest adversary. See also:War was carried on for many years, till See also:Alyattes III. concluded a See also:peace with See also:Thrasybulus, See also:tyrant of Miletus; the Milesians afterwards seem to have acknowledged peaceably the See also:rule of See also:Croesus.

On the See also:

Persian See also:conquest Miletus passed under a new See also:master; it headed the Ionian revolt of 500 B.C., and was taken by See also:storm after the See also:battle of Lade (see See also:IONIA). See also:Darius massacred most of the inhabitants, transported the rest to Ampe at the mouth of the See also:Tigris, and gave up the city to the Carians. This disaster was See also:long remembered in See also:Greece and made the theme of a tragedy by Phrynichus. Henceforth the history of Miletus has no See also:special See also:interest. It revived indeed when the Persians were expelled from the coast in 479 B.C., became a member of the Delian See also:League (q.v.), revolted to See also:Sparta in 412, passed into Carian hands, and opposed See also:Alexander on his southward See also:march, succumbing only to a See also:siege in See also:form (334 B.C.). It was a443 See also:town of commercial importance throughout the Graeco-See also:Roman See also:period, and received special attention from See also:Trajan. Its hash See also:hours, once protected by Lade and the other Tragasaean islands, were gradually silted up by the Maeander, and Lade is now a See also:hill some See also:miles from the coast. See also:Ephesus took its place as the See also:great Ionian See also:harbour in Hellenistic and Roman times. Miletus became the seat of a See also:Christian bishopric and was strengthened by a See also:Byzantine See also:castle (Kaa•Tpov TWV Ha\aTiwv) built above the See also:theatre; but its decay was inevitable, and its site is now a See also:marsh. Since 1899 Miletus has been the See also:scene of extensive excavations directed by Dr Th. Wiegand for the See also:Berlin See also:Academy. The ruins See also:lie about the See also:base of a hillock projecting north-See also:east into a See also:bend of the Maeander.

On the north is a well-preserved theatre of Roman times on the site of an older Greek See also:

building. When See also: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 See also:colonnade, rising nearly See also:loo ft. Cyriac of See also:Ancona described the building as practically complete in his See also: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 See also:tomb of See also:Brasidas at See also:Amphipolis, within the walls. South of the harbour See also:head lies the Hellenistic See also:agora with ruins of large magazines of Doric See also:style. South of these again lie a See also:nymphaeum of the age of See also:Titus, and a See also:senate-See also:house of theatral form. On the east opens a great See also:hall surrounded by porticoes and enclosing a high See also:altar of See also:Artemis, once richly adorned with reliefs. The Roman agora lies beyond this again. A straight See also:street leads south-See also:west from the north harbour to the Didyma See also:Gate in the See also:wall, which runs across the See also:neck of the See also:peninsula and was rebuilt by Trajan, when he under-took to raise the level of the See also:outer quarters of the city; and streets See also:cross this at right angles in the geometric Hellenistic manner. A Sacred Way lined with tombs, led to See also:Didymi.

Two temples have been discovered by Dr Wiegand, one, on the south-east, being a large See also:

sanctuary of See also:Apollo Delphinius with triple colonnade enclosing a See also:court with central See also:tripod. This seems to have been the See also:chief temple of the city and the place where public records, See also:treaties, &c., were engraved. The other temple, an archaic sanctuary of Athena, lies west of the See also:stadium. See O. Rayet and A. See also:Thomas, Milet et le golfe Latmique (1877) ; Th. Wiegand, " Vorlaufige Berichte fiber See also:die Ausgrabungen in Milet," in Sitzungsberichte of the Berlin Academy (1900, See also:foil.); A. von Salis, " Die Ausgrabungen in.Milet and Didyma " in Neue Jahrb. f. d. k. Alt., See also:xxv. 2, 1910. (D. G.

End of Article: MILETUS (mod. Palatia)

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