miletus Summary and Overview

(Miletum, 2 Tim. 4:20), a seaport town and the ancient capital of Ionia, about 36 miles south of Ephesus. On his voyage from Greece to Syria, Paul touched at this port, and delivered that noble and pathetic address to the elders ("presbyters," ver. 28) of Ephesus recorded in Acts 20:15-35. The site of Miletus is now some 10 miles from the coast. (See EPHESIANS, EPISTLE TO T0001224.)

#Ac 20:15,17| less correctly called MILETUM in #2Ti 4:20| It lay on the coast, 36 miles to the south of Ephesus, a day's sail from Trogyllium. #Ac 20:15| Moreover, to those who are sailing from the north it is in the direct line for Cos. The site of Miletus has now receded ten miles from the coast, and even in the apostles' time it must have lost its strictly maritime position. Miletus was far more famous five hundred years before St. Paul's day than it ever became afterward. In early times it was the most flourishing city of the Ionian Greeks. In the natural order of events it was absorbed in the Persian empire. After a brief period of spirited independence, it received a blow from which it never recovered, in the siege conducted by Alexander when on his eastern campaign. But still it held, even through the Roman period, the rank of a second-rate trading town, and Strabo mentions its four harbors. At this time it was politically in the province of Asia, though Caria was the old ethnological name of the district in which it was situated. All that is left now is a small Turkish village called Melas, near the site of the ancient city.

MILE'TUS (crimson ?), a city and seaport of Ionia, in Asia Minor. Situation. - Miletus was 36 miles south of Ephesus, and stood on the southwestern side of the Latmian Gulf, directly opposite the mouth of the river Meander. The sediment from the river had gradually filled up the gulf, and the city was a considerable distance from the sea. But in Paul's time it had four docks and a large commerce. The site is now some 10 miles inland. History. - Miletus was originally a Carian city; then the capital of Ionia; the mother of no less than 80 cities on various coasts, more particularly in the Euxine and the strait leading to it. Its period of greatest prosperity was 500 years before Christ. The Persians captured it b.c. 494, and Alexander the Great b.c. 334, after which the city never regained its former celebrity. It was the native place of many men renowned in history, among the most distinguished of whom were Thales and Democritus. Luxury and wickedness were characteristic of the inhabitants. Scripture References. - Paul stopped here on his voyage from Greece to Jerusalem returning from his third missionary-tour, and met the elders from Ephesus. Acts 20:15-38. From 2 Tim 4:20 it appears that Paul left Trophimus there sick, but it would appear that this must have been on another occasion, since, at the conclusion of this voyage, Trophimus was with the apostle at Jerusalem. Acts 21:29. This is supposed by many to indicate a later visit, after Paul's first imprisonment at Rome. One of the Epistles was sent to the Ephesians. Present Appearance. - Near the site of the ancient city is a small Turkish village called Melas. The most noteworthy ruins of former grandeur are the theatre, with its many tiers of seats in good preservation, and the temple of Apollo, of which a few columns are yet standing. The wandering channels of the Meander are near by, although the mouth of the river is 10 miles away.

Acts 20:15; Acts 20:17; where Paul on his third missionary journey (A.D. 51) assembled and addressed the elders of Ephesus, 25 miles distant to the N. Miletus was a day's sail from Trogyllium (Acts 20:15) and in the direct course for Cos (Acts 21:1). He visited Miletus again before his last imprisonment, and left Trophimus there sick (2 Timothy 4:20 where it ought to be Miletus not Miletum). On the Maeander, anciently capital and chief seaport of Caria and Ionia, subdued by Croesus, then by Persia. Now, owing to the alluvial deposits of the river, it is ten miles inland; even in Paul's time it was no longer on the sea, as 2 Timothy 4:38 implies, "they accompanied him unto the ship." There are ruins of the theater, one of the largest in Asia Minor. Also of a church building lying in ruins said to have been preached in by John (?). Now Palatia. The coin of Miletus has a lion looking back at a star. Strabo mentions its four harbors. Miletus was for a long period the seat of a bishopric.