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'

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'

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

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'

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

WSJ: 'Aladdin's Lamp'