MILETUS (Mf)tnros.), a city and seaport of Ionia in Asia Minor, about thirty-six miles south of Ephesus. St. Paul touched at this port on his voyage from Greece to Syria, and delivered to the elders of Ephesus, who had come to meet him there, a remarkable and affecting address (Acts xx. 15-38). Miletus was a place of considerable note, and the ancient capital of Ionia and Caria. It was the birth-place of several men of renown Thales, Timotheus, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Democritus (Pomp. Mela, i. 17 ; Diog. Laert. hit. Philosoph. pp. 15, SS, 89, 650). Ptolemy (Geog. v. 2) places Miletus in Caria by the sea, and it is stated to have had four havens, one of which was capable of holding a fleet. It was noted for a famous temple of Apollo, the oracle of which is known to have been consulted so late as the fourth century (Apollodorus, De Orig.. Dear. iii. 13o). There was, however, a Christian church in the place ; and in the fifth, seventh, and eighth cen turies, we read of bishops of Miletus who were present at several councils (Magdeburg, Ifist.
Eccles. ii. 192 ; iv. 86 ; v. 3 ; vii. 254 ; viii. 4). The city fell to decay after its conquest by the Saracens, and is now in ruins, not far from the spot where the Meander falls into the sea. The site bears, among the Turks, the name of Melas.
Some take the Miletum where Paul left Trophi mus sick (2 Tim. iv. 2o) to have been in Crete, and therefore different from the above ; but there seems no need for this conclusion. [The induce ment to this hypothesis is the desire to escape the difficulty arising from the statement that the apostle left Trophimus at Miletus sick, whereas we find Trophimus with the apostle at the close of that journey at Jerusalem (Acts xxi. 29). But the only valid escape from this difficulty is to be found in the supposition of a journey made by the apostle after his first imprisonment at Rome [TIMOTHY, EPISTLES To]. Miletum in the A. V. is an incor rect form for Miletus.]—J. K.