Excavations have revealed that the earliest remains in Miletus date from the second half of the sixteenth century B.

WSJ: 'Aladdin's Lamp'

Miletus also had a trading station at Naucratis, the Greek emporium on the Nile delta founded circa 650 B.

WSJ: 'Aladdin's Lamp'

The Ionian Greeks soon progressed far beyond their predecessors intellectually, particularly in Miletus, which in the last quarter of the sixth century B.

WSJ: 'Aladdin's Lamp'

Miletus greatly surpassed all of the other Ionian cities in its maritime ventures and commerce, founding its first colonies in the eighth century B.

WSJ: 'Aladdin's Lamp'

This comprised one city each on the islands of Chios and Samos and ten on the mainland of Asia Minor opposite, namely, Phocaea, Clazomenae, Erythrae, Teos, Lebedus, Colophon, Ephesus, Priene, Myus, and Miletus.

WSJ: 'Aladdin's Lamp'

Contrast that with the extensive ruins of the city of Miletus, with remains of baths, temples and a theatre, some dating back to the 16th Century BC, and the giant columns at the sanctuary of Apollo at Didyma.

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The Persian king Xerxes took his revenge for this defeat by destroying Miletus, but the city was soon afterward rebuilt and by the middle of the fifth century b.c. it was once again a flourishing port and commercial center.

WSJ: 'Aladdin's Lamp'

During the next two centuries Miletus was far more active in colonization than any other city-state in the Greek world, founding a total of thirty cities around the Black Sea and its approaches in the Hellespont and the Sea of Marmara.

WSJ: 'Aladdin's Lamp'

The site has been under excavation since the late nineteenth century, so that all of its surviving monuments have been unearthed and to some extent restored, though its ancient harbor, the Lion Port, has long been silted up, leaving Miletus marooned miles from the sea.

WSJ: 'Aladdin's Lamp'