Search the new site:


Miletos 275 pictures 13:10 minutes HQ video Miletos is located near the village Balat of Yenihisar township. In Antiquity, Miletos was located at the southern edge of the gulf called Latmus, where it opened to the Aegean Sea, but today it is about 4 km far from the sea. Miletos was the most important city in Ionia, a coastal city with four harbours. Hippodamos and Isidoros, two of the most famous architects were all native Milesians. Towards the end of the 5^th century B.C., the Milesian alphabet was officially adopted by Athens and so became the standard writing system of the Greeks. In 546 B.C. the city of Miletos, together with the Lydian center of Sardis, passed into Persian hands. After the Ionian revolt, Miletos invaded and burnt a part of Sardis in 499 B.C. Miletos regained its liveliness with the arrival of Alexander the Great in 334 B.C. Miletos had dwindled in importance in Classical times. In the Hellenistic period it is known to have been one of the main centers of commerce and art in Ionia. Miletos came under the Roman sovereignty in 133 B.C., and was one of the principal metropolises of Asia. In the 3^rd century A.D. Miletos gradually lost its splendor. The gulf Of Latmus started to be silted up, the area, to turn to a marshland and to be invaded by mosquitos due the alluvium carried away by the river Meander. Theater The theater built on a natural hillside, is one of the most important and the most intact theaters in west Anatolya. The theater is estimated to have seated 25,000 spectators. The auditorium is divided into three sections, each consisted of 19 rows, from the bottom to the top. 6 staircases are available to give access from the first section to the second one. The first construction was conducted in the 4^th century B.C. and later the theater was enlarged in the Hellenistic era. In the Roman period the theater attained its present-day proportions. Hellenistic Heroon The building has a gate in the east front. Inside there are five burial chambers. There are two cisterns in the south and a well in the north. Harbour Monument This point was one of the entrances to the harbours. On this round foundation was a base of which the corners are reminiscent of ship's ends. On the monument there are reliefs of tritons (half man and half fish). This monument was erected to commemorate the victory of Augustus at Actium in 31 B.C. Roman Bath Located next to the Pireli Han, the baths are estimated to have been built in the late 1-2 centuies A.D. Ionic Stoa It was built around 50 A.D to decorate the processional road by V. Capito, who was a high ranked official of the Roman emperor Claudius. A portico was established by arranging a row of columns in the Ionic order on a six stepped podium. Capito Baths The name Capito was inscribed on an architrave block of the palaestra. This is the name of Vergilius Capito, who had the Ionic stoa built. The baths were built between 41-54 A.D. during the reign of the emperor Claudius. It displays the most orderly plan of the Roman period in Miletos. It extends in the east-west direction. The main bath building was in the east and there was a cold water pool. South Agora The south agora was constructed as a large colonnaded courtyard measuring 164x196 meters in the Hellenistic period. The agora was surrounded by stoas on all four sides in the Hellenistic period. In the southeastern stoa were 19 shops. They were placed irregularly, with one facing outside, and another inside. It was built in the 2^nd century B.C. Bouleuterion Built in the reign of the Syrian king Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175-164 B.C.) by Timarchus and Heracleides of Miltos and dedicated to the same king. On the architrave in the front was inscribed that the Bouleuterion was dedicated to the Syrian king. The Bouleuterion had four gates opening to the courtyard. The auditorium had a seating capacity of 1,500 people. Hellenistic Warehouse Built in the mid 2^nd century A.D., it opens to the south agora through a gate on the east side. The walls were plainly built of hewn stones. Faustina Baths This structure, which is in a very good state of preservation, does not conform to Hippodamos city plan. Inscriptions found during the excavations disclose the fact that these baths were erected by Faustina II, wife of Marcus Aurelius 161-180 A.D. Back to Turkey Index