"MILETUS – BEFORE EPHESUS, THERE WAS MILETUS" Balat by mtncorg

Before its destruction - Miletus was on the wrong side of a revolt - by the Persians in 494 BC, Miletus with its two harbors was one of the most important cities found along the west coast of Asia Minor. The city would recover from this calamity, as well as being besieged by Alexander the Great – 334 BC – and it was only the silting of its harbors by the Meander River that would finally destroy the city. Founded by Minoans from Crete in about 1400 BC, the city saw others come and go through the years. By the 6th Century CE, with its harbors gone and malaria festering in the neighboring marshes, the town faded into a small village that was finally abandoned by the 17th Century.

Besides being a famous city in its own right, Miletus is famous for its pre-Socratic school of philosophy: Thales, Anaximander and Anaximenes. The city was also the home of the architect Isidore who was responsible for building the Haghia Sophia in Constantinople as well as the Basilica of St John in nearby Ephesus.