NAME - FOUNDATION - HISTORY

The name, which is Miletos in the lonic dialect and Milatos in the Doric one, is said to be related to the city of Milatos situated on the island of Crete.

The idea is widespread that the Kingdom of Ahhiyava, mentioned in written Hittite documents and of which the location is as yet unknown, was founded in the region of Miletus, and the city of Millavanda also mentioned in the same source is dentified with Miletus.

The geographer Strabo and the historian Epheros have written that the city was first founded by Cretans, whereas according to Homer it was founded by Carians. That Miletus was founded in the 10th century BC at the end of the Greek migrations, by lonians under the direction of Neleus, son of King Codros of Athens, is still another hypothesis....

...In 1424 Balat was taken inside the boundaries of the Ottoman Empire by Murat II. During the time that elapsed until the proclamation of the Republic, the city gradually turned into a village and was completely abandoned in the 17th century.

The village of Balat, Iying within the ruins of Miletus, was destroyed completely in the earthquake of 1955 and was moved into the new settlement area, about 1 km to the south of Miletus. A big section of the new village of Balat lies on top of the necropolis.

Research on Miletus began in 1446 with the traveller Cyriacus. Evliya Çelebi who visited the city in 1670, stated in his work "The Book of Travels", that Miletus, which once took its place as being among the most important cities of the ancient world, was completely in ruins.

Almost in every building characteristics of different periods can be seen.