MILETUS (anc. geogr.), the capital of Ionia, for-
merly a leading and principal town in the arts of war
and peace, (Mela); of great antiquity, (Nonnus);
built by Miletus the companion of Bacchus, (Apol-
lodorus); famous above all for its colonies, (Hro-
dotus, Strabo). The only town that made head
against Alexander, and with much difficulty taken,
(Arrian). The country of Thales, one of the
seven wise men, and the first who applied himself to
the study of nature. It was also the country of
Anaximander, the scholar and successor of Thales, the
inventor of sun-dials and the gnomon, and the first
that published a geographical map; of Anaximenes,
scholar and successor to the foregoing; and of other
great men. It was famous for its excellent wool,
according to Virgil. Milefii, the people; who, from
being powerful, becoming afterwards opulent and
abandoned to pleasures, lost both their riches and their
power.