Athena Shrine

Clickable plan of the Temple of Athena at Miletus (Click on the blue arrows to view the corresponding photos.) Plan legend Temple of Athena Roman peristyle house West Agora (marketplace) Heroon (monumental tomb) Home » Museum » Temples Gallery » Temple of Athena at Miletus » Clickable plan of the Temple of Athena at Miletus

The Temple of Athena at Miletus Miletus History Miletus was an ancient city of Asia Minor, on the southern shore of the Latmic Gulf near the mouth of the Maeander river. Ionia map (Click the image for a full screen view) The history of the city dates back to the Bronze Age. The information we can get dates back to the 2nd Millennium BCE. The settlers from Crete came to the city in 1500 BCE. The Minoans abandoned their colony in Miletus by 1400 BCE and were followed by Mycenaeans from Greece. They were the ones who fortified the city. Mycenaean Miletus was a dependency or ally of Ahhiwaya (Achaea) though its population was mostly Carian. Shortly after 1300 BCE the settlement was destroyed by fire -- probably at instigation of the Hittites who knew the city as Millawanda. The Hittites fortified the city against possible naval attacks by the Greeks. In 1000 BCE the city was captured by the Ionians. The Greek settlers from Py...

Clickable Plan of Heracleia under Latmus (Click on the blue arrows to view the corresponding photos.) Home » Museum » Temples Gallery » Temple of Athena at Heracleia under Latmus » Clickable Plan of Heracleia under Latmus

The Temple of Athena at Heracleia under Latmus (Click the image for a full screen view) Location Heracleia is located on the south slopes of Mount Latmus and ca. 25 km west of Miletus (Milas), Turkey. Heracleia under Latmus was originally a port city at the extreme SE corner of the Latmian gulf. As the Meander river silted its delta a swamp developed at Miletus and the freshwater lake of Bafa was formed at the SE. Map of the Latmian gulf, the Meander river, Ephesus, Samos, Miletus and Heracleia (Click the image for a full screen view) Mythology Greek mythology names Heracleia as the home of the handsome shepherd Endymion. He was a beautiful youth who fed his flock on Mount Latmus. Selene, the Moon Goddess, fell in love with Endymion and seduced him while he was sleeping in a cave on the mountain. So enamored of his beauty was she that she came down from heaven to be with him in his dreams. From then on, Selene made nightly sojou...

Erythraean Sibyl by Michelangelo (Click the image for a full screen view) Location Erythrae is one of the twelve cities of Ionia, situated 22 km north-east of Cesme, on a small peninsula stretching into the Bay of Erythrae, at an equal distance from the mountains Mimas and Corycus, and directly opposite the island of Chios ( Herod. 1.142 ). Map of Mysia and Lydia (Click the image for a full screen view) History Bronze Age - Excavations here have shown that the site has been settled since the early bronze age, and as a result the area around the village of Ildiri has been declared a national heritage site. Foundation - According to Pausanias ( Paus. 7.3.7 ), Erythrae was founded by Cretan settlers under the leadership of Erythrus the Red, son of Rhadamanthus, and at the same time inhabited by Lycians, Carians, and Pamphylians. At a later period came Cnopus ( Strab. 14.633 ), son of Codrus, with an Ionian colony, whence the city...