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| Theatre, Miletus Ancient City |
It is located in Didim district of Aydın Province of Turkey. It is approximately 130 km and 1,5 hours away from Adnan Menderes Airport in İzmir Province of Turkey, one of the twelve Ionians States on Aegean Sea Coast of Western Anatolia and one of the strongest in the ionian States. Carians and Lelegians people lived here before the Greek peoples settled in Miletus. Hittites called it as Millawanda. Miletus was a very advanced city state in maritime. They set up colonies close to a hundred from Egypt to the Black Sea.
It was on the seaside when it was first founded. But, today, it is 10 km away from the sea shore, as a result of filling the sea of the great meander river. Because of Miletus's being away from the sea, the city lost his former splendor, over time his population gradually decreased, eventually the city became a village.
Thales, Hippodamus, Hecataeus, Anaximander and Anaximenes are famous people who grew up in the city. The famous mathematician Thales has laid the foundations of scientific work, suggesting that nature itself should be sought instead of searching for the cause of every event in mythological beings. Thales and his students are referred to as the "school of physicists" in the history of science. Hippodomus is one of the first city planners in history. He has systematized the grid-type city planning, which allows the city-forming structures to be placed on the intersecting streets
The Fauistina (name of Marcus Aurelius's wife) Baths, one of the largest Roman baths in Anatolia, Ionic Stoa and its theatre are worth seeing. The Miletus Archaeological Museum is located a few hundred meters from the ancient city. In addition to the arifacts inside museum, I also recommend you to see the artifacts in the museum garden. The ancient cities of Myus and Priene are the neighboring cities of Miletus. You can also visit them without too much time for transportation.
Miletus has a oracle center like Delphi and Claros, its name is Didymeion which dedicated to Apollo. Temple of Apollo wahich called as Didymeion is 20 km away from Miletus Ancient City, in the center of Didim District of Aydın Province. It is known that the construction of this temple was not completed. If it had been completed, it could be evaluated as one of the seven wonders of the world.