Miletus was one of the largest cities of ancient Greece. It stood on the western coast of Asia Minor in the district of Ionia. Miletus’s excellent harbor made the city an important trading center. In the 700’s and 600’s B.C., colonists from Miletus settled along the coast of the Hellespont (a channel now called the Dardanelles) and Black Sea. In about 600 B.C., the Greek philosopher Thales founded the famous Milesian school of philosophy.
The city had a privileged position when the Persians took over the area in the mid-500’s B.C. But in 499 B.C., the Milesian ruler Aristagoras led the Ionian Greeks in an unsuccessful revolt. The Persians looted Miletus in 494 B.C. Miletus lost importance when its harbor filled with silt in the A.D. 400’s.
