Ruins Of Amphitheater In Milet, Minor Asia, Turkey, Greek Colony Royalty-Free Stock Photo

In antiquity the city possessed a harbour at the southern entry of a large bay, on which two more of the traditional twelve Ionian cities stood: Priene and Myus. The harbour of Miletus was additionally protected by the nearby small island of Lade. Over the centuries the gulf silted up with alluvium carried by the Meander River. Priene and Myus had lost their harbours by the Roman era, and Miletus itself became an inland town in the early Christian era.