Site Catalog Name: Miletus

Physical Description:

The original topographical position of Miletus was on a peninsula at the S side of the opening to the Latmian Gulf. The natural harbors of the site gained additional shelter from the offshore island of Lade to the W. In contrast to Ephesus, Smyrna, and other Anatolian ports situated at the opening of broad valleys leading to the interior, Miletus had mountainous terrain at its back. The city was therefore more completely maritime in character and when silt deposited by the Maeander River closed the gulf and extended the shore line (today it is ca. 10 km beyond Miletus), the economy collapsed.

The early Archaic city of Miletus appears to have been centered around the temple of Athena, located between the southwestern Athena harbor and the central Theater harbor. After the Persian destruction in the beginning of the 5th century B.C. the city rebuilt and made extensive use of the grid system developed by the Milesian architect Hippodamos. The city center moved toward the NE, to the area between the base of the Lions harbor and E of the Theater harbor.

The remains of the Hellenistic and Roman city cover all of the flat area of the peninsula N of the Kalabak Tepe and were enclosed by a city wall completed in the 4th century B.C. The larger Athena and Theater harbors were backed by the city wall, but the narrower, more defendable Lion harbor allowed an opening in the city wall. This was sealed by a chain in time of danger.

In addition to the three W harbors at Miletus ships could also be landed on the east side of the city. The Lion harbor was the principal port of the city and was surrounded on three sides by quays, warehouses, and shops. At the S base of the Lion harbor is the North agora and the sanctuary of Apollo. Below the North agora is the South agora (the largest agora in the Greek world: 164 x 196 m) and the civic center of the city. Located here are the bouleuterion, major temples and hero shrines, the nymphaeum, and the starting point of the Didyma sacred way.

West of the South agora are the Baths of Faustina (the only structure not aligned to the city grid system) and the West gymnasium. Farther W, between the Athena and Theater harbors is the West agora, the latest of the city's three market places. The West agora is immediately N of the temple of Athena. North of the Theater harbor is the theater of Miletus, originally built in the 4th century B.C. and enlarged in the Hellenistic and Roman periods to a final capacity of 15,000 seats.

German excavations began at Miletus at the end of the 19th century and continue to the present.

McDonagh 1989, 299-307; PECS, 578-582; Bean 1979, 181-191

T. Wiegand, Milet, Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen und Untersuchungen seit dem Jahre 1899 (1906 onward, 18 vols.). A.G. Dunham, The History of Miletus down to the Anabasis of Alexander (1915). G. Kleiner, AltMilet (1966); Die Ruinen von Milet (1968); IstMitt (1969/70) 113-23; Das Römische Milet, Bilder aus der griechischen Stadt in römischer Zeit (1970). G. Kleiner and W. Müller-Wiener, IstMitt (1972) 45-92. C. Weickert et al., IstMitt (1959/60) 1-96. P. Hommel, IstMitt (1967) 115-27. A. Mallwitz and W. Schiering, IstMitt (1968) 87-160.

(Donald R. Keller)

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