Ancient City of Miletus – Didim, Aydın Province
The ancient city of Miletus was one of the most influential Ionian Greek cities on the western coast of Anatolia, located near the mouth of the Maeander River, close to the modern village of Balat in the district of Didim, Aydın Province. In antiquity it stood directly on the sea with several harbours; today, due to the silting of the Maeander, the ruins lie about 10 km inland amidst fields and wetlands.
(Source: Wikipedia – “Miletus”; Turkish Archaeological News – “Miletus”) :contentReference[oaicite:5]{index=5}
Archaeology shows that the area was occupied from the Bronze Age, with Minoan and Mycenaean phases, before becoming an Ionian polis and a leading member of the Ionian League. By the 7th–6th centuries BC, Miletus had grown into a powerful maritime city, founding dozens of colonies around the Mediterranean and especially the Black Sea – ancient authors even credit it with over ninety colonies, making it one of the greatest “mother cities” of the Greek world.
(Source: Wikipedia – “Miletus – History”; Pliny, via Wikipedia – “Miletus – Colonies”) :contentReference[oaicite:6]{index=6}
Miletus is particularly renowned as the cradle of early Greek philosophy and science. The Milesian school – Thales, Anaximander and Anaximenes – pioneered rational inquiry into nature, earning Miletus a reputation as the “birthplace of Western philosophy”. Another Milesian, Hippodamus of Miletus, became famous as an urban planner; the city’s orthogonal street grid, later known as the Hippodamian plan, became a model for many Hellenistic and Roman cities.
(Source: Wikipedia – “Miletus – Philosophy”; Thales of Miletus – Wikipedia; Turkish Archaeological News – “Miletus — The Birthplace of Western Philosophy?”; Wikipedia – “Hippodamus of Miletus”) :contentReference[oaicite:7]{index=7}
Most of the visible monuments date to the Hellenistic and Roman Imperial periods, with later Byzantine and Turkish additions. Key structures include the large theatre (later converted into a fortress on its upper tiers), the bouleuterion (council house), the North and South agoras, the Faustina Baths and palaestra, long stoas leading towards the harbour, and domestic quarters laid out on the grid. In Late Antiquity, Miletus became a bishopric, and within the site and its vicinity stand a Byzantine church, baths and, from the Turkish period, the İlyas Bey Mosque and complex at the former harbour.
(Source: Turkish Museums – “Aydın Miletus Archeological Site”; Kültür Portal – “Milet Ören Yeri”; Wikipedia – “Miletus – Monuments”) :contentReference[oaicite:8]{index=8}
Religiously, Miletus was closely linked to the great Sanctuary of Apollo at Didyma, about 18 km to the south. An impressive Sacred Way, lined with statues and monuments, connected the city to this oracle centre, which was second in prestige only to Delphi. Archaeological work, conducted since the late 19th century by French and German teams and now by the Ruhr University Bochum, continues to refine our picture of this metropolis whose influence on colonisation, philosophy and urban planning shaped the wider Greek world.
(Source: Wikipedia – “Miletus – Religion and the Sacred Way”; Turkish Archaeological News – “Miletus”) :contentReference[oaicite:9]{index=9}