Editing Miletus (section)

== Geography ==
[[File:Miletus Bay silting evolution map-en.svg|thumb|right|250px|Location of Miletus at the [[Büyük Menderes River|Maeander River]]'s mouth]]
The ruins appear on satellite maps at 37°31.8'N 27°16.7'E, about 3&nbsp;km north of [[Balat, Didim|Balat]] and 3&nbsp;km east of [[Batıköy, Didim|Batıköy]] in [[Aydın Province]], [[Turkey]].

In antiquity the city possessed a [[harbor]] at the southern entry of a large bay, on which two more of the traditional twelve Ionian cities stood: [[Priene]] and [[Myus]]. The harbor of Miletus was additionally protected by the nearby small island of Lade. Over the centuries the gulf silted up with [[alluvium]] carried by the [[Büyük Menderes River|Meander]] River. Priene and Myus had lost their harbors by the Roman era, and Miletus itself became an inland town in the early Christian era; all three were abandoned to ruin as their economies were strangled by the lack of access to the sea. There is a Great Harbor Monument where, according to the New Testament account, the apostle Paul stopped on his way back to Jerusalem by boat. He met the Ephesian Elders and then headed out to the beach to bid them farewell, recorded in the book of Acts 20:17-38.

=== 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 {{convert|130|m|sp=us}} below present level at about 18,000&nbsp;[[Before Present|BP]]. The site of Miletus was part of the mainland.

A gradual rise brought a level of about {{convert|1.75|m|sp=us}} below present at about 5500&nbsp;BP, creating several [[karst]] block islands of limestone, the location of the first settlements at Miletus. At about 1500 BC the karst shifted due to small crustal movements and the islands consolidated into a peninsula. Since then the sea has risen 1.75&nbsp;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 BC, and by 300 AD [[Lake Bafa]] had been created.<ref>Crouch (2004) page 180.</ref>