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Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

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MILETUM*, MILETUS

Important Greek city located at the mouth of the Meander River. It was settled by Crete as early as 1339–1288 BC. Miletus had contact with the Hittite Empire. Her king, in fact, was claimed as a vassal by the Hittite ruler. Excavations indicate that Miletus, once destroyed by fire, was later surrounded by a defensive wall (13th century BC).

Miletus was attacked by the kingdom of Lydia around 650 BC and ruled by a military dynasty headed by King Gyges. Its citizens still managed, however, to colonize Abydos on the narrows of the Dardenelles. Over 70 such colonies were founded by the merchants of Miletus along the Black Sea, the most important being Sinope. Miletus became an important city, therefore, in the ancient world. Her traders carried the furniture and woolens for which she was known to many foreign ports.

The city had its own poet, like many other Greek centers, famous in his own time but known today only in a few verses. Phocylides wrote: “A little city on a rock, with order, is better than madness in Nineveh.” Again, “all virtue is summed up in justice.”

Miletus was also the birthplace of philosophy and scientific speculation. The philosopher Thales predicted an eclipse in 585 BC, and his disciple, Anaximander, propounded evolution from sea creatures. Much of the city’s strength, however, was wasted on bitter civil strife. Two parties, known as the rich and the workers, kept the city torn by inner feuding. In approximately 495 BC, the city was sacked by the Persians and never again regained world importance, though it was retaken by Alexander.

Miletus was, of course, well known in NT times, though it was not an important center to early Christianity. The apostle Paul stopped there on the last missionary journey recorded in the book of Acts (Acts 20:15-17). While there, he called for the Ephesian elders and exhorted them to care for the flock in their charge (vv 28-35). From Miletus he sailed for Tyre. Second Timothy 4:20 says that Paul left Trophimus in Miletus (KJB “Miletum”) because he was sick.