MILETOS in IONIA 260BC Apollo Lion Star RARE Authentic Ancient Greek Coin i57658

Item: i57658

Authentic Ancient 

Coin of:

Greek city of 

Ionia
Bronze 16mm (3.75 grams) Struck circa 260-220 B.C. Uncertain magistrate.
Reference: Cf. Deppert Period IV 595-9
Laureate bust of Apollo facing three-quarters left.
Lion standing right, head left; star above, [two monograms to right], 
[magistrate’s name] below.

 You are bidding on the exact item pictured, 

Authenticity.

In
Greek
and
Roman mythology
,
Apollo, is one of the most 
important and diverse of the
Olympian deities
. The ideal of the
kouros
(a beardless youth), Apollo has been 
variously recognized as a god of light and the sun; truth and prophecy;
archery
; medicine and healing; music, poetry, 
and the arts; and more. Apollo is the son of

Zeus and Leto
, and has a
twin
sister, the chaste huntress
Artemis
. Apollo is known in Greek-influenced
Etruscan mythology
as Apulu. Apollo was 
worshiped in both
ancient Greek
and
Roman religion
, as well as in the modern
Greco
–Roman
Neopaganism
.

As the patron of Delphi
(Pythian Apollo), Apollo was an
oracular
god — the prophetic deity of the
Delphic Oracle
. Medicine and healing were 
associated with Apollo, whether through the god himself or mediated through his 
son Asclepius
, yet Apollo was also seen as a god 
who could bring ill-health and deadly
plague
as well as one who had the ability to 
cure. Amongst the god’s custodial charges, Apollo became associated with 
dominion over
colonists
, and as the patron defender of herds 
and flocks. As the leader of the

Muses (Apollon Musagetes) and director of their choir, Apollo 
functioned as the patron god of music and
poetry
.
Hermes
created the

lyre for him, and the instrument became a common
attribute
of Apollo. Hymns sung to Apollo were 
called paeans
.

In Hellenistic times, especially during the third century BCE, as Apollo 
Helios he became identified among Greeks with
Helios
,
god of the sun
, and his sister Artemis 
similarly equated with
Selene
,
goddess of the moon
. In Latin texts, on the 
other hand, Joseph Fontenrose declared himself unable to find any conflation of 
Apollo with
Sol
among the
Augustan poets
of the first century, not even 
in the conjurations of
Aeneas
and
Latinus
in
Aeneid
XII (161–215). Apollo and Helios/Sol 
remained separate beings in literary and mythological texts until the third 
century CE.

Miletus (mī lē’ təs) (Ancient 

Greek: Μίλητος, literally

transliterated

Milētos,

Latin

Miletus) was an

ancient

city on the western coast of

Anatolia
 

(in what is now

Aydin Province

, Turkey

), near the mouth of the

Maeander River

in ancient

Caria
. Evidence 

of first settlement at the site has been made inaccessible by the rise of sea 

level and deposition of sediments from the Maeander. The first available 

evidence is of the

Neolithic
.

In the early and middle

Bronze age

the settlement came under

Minoan

influence. Legend has it that an influx of Cretans occurred 

displacing the indigenous

Leleges
. The 

site was renamed Miletus after a place in

Crete
.

The Late Bronze Age, 13th century BCE, saw the arrival of

Luwian language

speakers from south central Anatolia calling themselves the

Carians
. 

Later in that century the first Greeks arrived, calling themselves

Achaeans
. 

The city at that time rebelled against the

Hittite Empire

. After the fall of that empire the city was destroyed in the 

12th century BCE and starting about 1000 BCE was resettled extensively by the

Ionian Greeks
. 

Legend offers an Ionian foundation event sponsored by a founder named Neleus 

from the

Peloponnesus

.

The

Greek Dark Ages

were a time of Ionian settlement and consolidation in an 

alliance called the

Ionian League

. The

Archaic Period

of Greece began with a sudden and brilliant flash of art and 

philosophy on the coast of

Anatolia
. 

In the

6th Century BC

, Miletus was the site of origin of the Greek philosophical 

(and scientific) tradition, when

Thales
, 

followed by

Anaximander

and

Anaximines

(known collectively, to modern scholars, as the

Milesian School

) began to speculate about the material constitution of the 

world, and to propose speculative naturalistic (as opposed to traditional, 

supernatural) explanations for various natural phenomena.

//

 Geography

The ruins lies about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) north of

Akkoy
.

The city also once possessed a

harbor
, before 

it was clogged by

alluvium
 

brought by the

Meander

River. There is a Great Harbour Monument where it is believed that 

Paul stopped by and sat on its steps, on the way back to Jerusalem by boat. He 

may have met the Ephesian Elders and then headed out to the beach to bid them 

farewell, recorded in the book of Acts.

 Geology

During the

Pleistocene

epoch the Miletus region was submerged in the

Aegean Sea
. 

It subsequently emerged slowly, the sea reaching a low level of about 130 meters 

(430 ft) below present level at about 18,000 BP. 

The site of Miletus was part of the mainland.

A gradual rise brought a level of about 1.75 meters (5 ft 9 in) below present 

at about 5500 BP, creating several

karst

block islands of limestone, the location of the first settlements at 

Miletus. At about 1500 BCE the karst shifted due to small crustal movements and 

the islands consolidated into a peninsula. Since then the sea has risen 1.75 m 

but the peninsula has been surrounded by sediment from the

Maeander

river and is now land-locked. Sedimentation of the harbor began at 

about 1000 BCE, and by 300 CE Lake Bafa had been created.^[1]

 History

 Neolithic

The earliest available archaeological evidence indicates that the islands on 

which Miletus was originally placed were inhabited by a

Neolithic
 

population in the 2nd half of the 4th millennium BCE (3500–3000 BCE).^[2] 

Pollen in core samples from Lake Bafa in the

Latmus
 

region inland of Miletus suggests that a lightly-grazed climax forest prevailed 

in the

Maeander

valley, otherwise untenanted. Sparse Neolithic settlements were 

made at springs, numerous and sometimes geothermal in this karst, rift valley 

topography. The islands offshore were settled perhaps for their strategic 

significance at the mouth of the Maeander, a route inland protected by 

escarpments. The grazers in the valley may have belonged to them, but the 

location looked to the sea.

 Bronze 

Age

Recorded history at Miletus begins with the records of the

Hittite Empire

in the Late Bronze Age. The prehistoric archaeology of the 

Early and Middle Bronze Age portrays a city heavily influenced by society and 

events elsewhere in the Aegean, rather than inland.

 Cretan 

period

Beginning at about 1900 BCE artifacts of the

Minoan civilization

acquired by trade arrived at Miletus.^[2] 

For some centuries the location received a strong impulse from that 

civilization, an archaeological fact that tends to support but not necessarily 

confirm the founding legend—that is, a population influx, from

Crete
. According 

to Strabo
:^[3]

Ephorus says: Miletus was first founded and fortified above the sea by 

Cretans, where the Miletus of olden times is now situated, being settled by 

Sarpedon, who brought colonists from the Cretan Miletus and named the city 

after that Miletus, the place formerly being in possession of the

Leleges
.

The legends recounted as history by the ancient historians and geographers 

are perhaps the strongest; the late mythographers have nothing historically 

significant to relate.^[4]

 Luwian 

and Greek period

Miletus is first mentioned in the

Hittite
 

Annals of Mursili II

as Millawanda. In ca. 1320 BC, Millawanda supported the 

rebellion of Uhha-Ziti

of Arzawa

. Mursili ordered his generals

Mala-Ziti

and

Gulla

to raid Millawanda, and they proceeded to burn parts of it (damage 

from LHIIIA:2 has been found on-site: Christopher Mee, Anatolia and the 

Aegean in the Late Bronze Age, p. 142). In addition the town was fortified 

according to a Hittite plan (ibid, p. 139).

Millawanda is then mentioned in the “Tawagalawa 

letter“, part of a series including the

Manapa-Tarhunta letter

and the

Milawata letter

, all of which are less securely dated. The Tawagalawa letter 

notes that Milawata had a governor,

Atpa

, who was under the jurisdiction of “Ahhiyawa” (a growing state probably 

in

LHIIIB

Mycenaean Greece

); and that the town of

Atriya

was under Milesian jurisdiction. The Manapa-Tarhunta letter also 

mentions Atpa. Together the two letters tell that the adventurer

Piyama-Radu

had humiliated Manapa-Tarhunta before Atpa (in addition to other 

misadventures); a Hittite king then chased Piyama-Radu into Millawanda and, in 

the Tawagalawa letter, requested Piyama-Radu’s extradition to

Hatti
.

The Milawata letter mentions a joint expedition by the Hittite king and a

Luwiyan

vassal (probably

Kupanta-Kurunta

of Mira) against Milawata (apparently its new name), and 

notes that Milawata (and Atriya) were now under Hittite control.

Homer
records 

that during the time of the

Trojan War
, 

it was a

Carian

city (Iliad, 

book II).

In the last stage of LHIIIB, the citadel of

Pylos
counted 

among its female slaves “Mil[w]atiai”, women from Miletus.

During the collapse of Bronze Age civilisation, Miletus was burnt again, 

presumably by the

Sea 

Peoples
.

 Dark 

Age

Mythographers told that

Neleus
son of 

Codrus of Athens had come to Miletus after the return of the Heraclids (so, 

during the Greek Dark Age). The Ionians killed the men of Miletus and married 

their widows.

 Archaic 

period

The city of Miletus became one of the

twelve

Ionian
 

cities of

Asia Minor

.

Miletus was one of the cities involved in the

Lelantine War

of the 8th century

BCE
.

Miletus was an important center of philosophy and science, producing such men 

as Thales
,

Anaximander

and

Anaximenes

.

By the 6th century BCE, Miletus had earned a maritime empire but brushed up 

against powerful Lydia

at home.

When

Cyrus

of Persia defeated

Croesus
of 

Lydia, Miletus fell under

Persian

rule. In 502 BC, the

Ionian Revolt

began in

Naxos
; 

and when Miletus’s tyrant

Aristagoras

failed to recapture the island, Aristagoras joined the revolt as 

its leader. Persia quashed this rebellion and punished Miletus in such a fashion 

that the whole of Greece mourned it. A year afterward,

Phrynicus

produced the tragedy The Capture of Miletus in Athens. The 

Athenians fined him for reminding them of their loss.

 Classical 

period

Its gridlike layout, planned by

Hippodamos

, became the basic layout for

Roman
 

cities.

In 479 BC, the Greeks decisively defeated the Persians at the Greek mainland, 

and Miletus was freed of Persian rule. During this time several other cities 

were formed by

Milesian

settlers, spanning across what is now Turkey and even as far as

Crimea
.

The eponymous founder of the bawdy Miletian school of literature

Aristides of Miletus

taught here.

 Alexandrian 

period

In 334 BC, the city was liberated from Persian rule by

Alexander the Great

.

 Roman 

period

The

New 

Testament
mentions Miletus as the site where the Apostle

Paul

in 57 CE met with the elders of the

church

of Ephesus

near the close of his Third Missionary Journey, as recorded in

Acts of the Apostles

(Acts 20:15–38). It is believed that Paul stopped by 

Great Harbour Monument and sat on its steps. He may have met the Ephesian elders 

there and then bid them farewell on the nearby beach. Miletus is also the city 

where Paul left

Trophimus
, 

one of his travelling companions, to recover from an illness (2 

Timothy 4:20). Because this cannot be the same visit as Acts 20 (in which 

Trophimus accompanied Paul all the way to Jerusalem, according to Acts 21:29), 

Paul must have made at least one additional visit to Miletus, perhaps as late as 

65 or 66 CE. Paul’s previous successful three-year ministry in nearby

Ephesus
 

resulted in the evangelization of the entire province of Asia (see Acts 19:10, 

20;

1 Corinthians

16:9). It is safe to assume that at least by the time of the 

apostle’s second visit to Miletus, a fledgling Christian community was 

established in Miletus. (The rendering of the

King James Version

of

Malta
as “Melita” 

in Acts 28:1 has created confusion between Malta and Miletus among some readers 

of the Bible.)

 Byzantine 

period

During the

Byzantine

age Miletus became a residence for archbishops. The small 

Byzantine castle called Castro Palation located on the hill beside the city, was 

built at this time.

 Turkish 

rule

Seljuk Turks

conquered the city in the 14th century A.D. and used Miletus as 

a port to trade with

Venice
.

Finally,

Ottomans

utilized the city as a harbour during their rule in

Anatolia
. 

As the harbour became silted up, the city was abandoned. Today the ruins of city 

lie some 10 kilometres from the sea.

 Archaeological 

excavations

The first excavations in Miletus were conducted by the French archaeologist 

Olivier Rayet in 1873, followed by the German archaeologist

Theodor Wiegand

. Excavations, however, were interrupted several times by 

wars and various other events. Today, excavations are organized by the

Ruhr University

of

Bochum
,

Germany
.

One remarkable artifact recovered from the city during the first excavations 

of the 19th century, the

Market Gate of Miletus

, was transported piece by piece to

Germany
and 

reassembled. It is currently exhibited at the

Pergamon museum

in

Berlin
. The 

main collection of artifacts resides in the Miletus Museum in

Didim
,

Aydın
, serving 

since 1973.

 Colonies 

of Miletus

Pliny the Elder

mentions 90 colonies founded by Miletus in his

Natural History

(5.112).

• Apolonia
• Odessos

• Tomis

• Histria

• Tyras

• Olbia

• Panticapaeum

• Theodosia
• Tanais
• Phanagoria

• Pityus

• Dioscurias

• Phasis

• Trapezunt

• Amisos

• Sinope

 Notable 

people

• Thales
   

  (c. 624 BC–c. 546 BC)

  Pre-Socratic

  philosopher

• Anaximander

  (c. 610 BC–c. 546 BC) Pre-Socratic philosopher

• Anaximenes

  (c. 585 BC–c. 525 BC) Pre-Socratic philosopher

• Hippodamus of Miletus

  (c. 498—408 BC) urban planner

• Aspasia
   

  (c. 470–400 BC) courtesan , and mistress of

  Pericles
  , 

  was born here

• Aristides of Miletus

  , writer

• Hecataeus of Miletus

  , historian

• Hesychius

  (6th century) Greek chronicler and biographer

• Isidore

  (4th–5th century) Greek architect

• Aristagoras

  (5th–6th century) Tyrant of Miletus

• Leucippus

  (first half of 5th century BC) Philosopher and originator of 

  Atomism (his association with Miletus is traditional, but disputed)