Timeline for City and Theatre at Miletus, Turkey
dca. 1500 BC
evidence of Mycenaean colony on the acropolis at Kalabak-Tepe to the southwest of Miletus site
ca. 550 BC
Ionian city states including Miletus brought under Persian control
500-494 BC
assisted by Athens, Miletus unsuccessful in revolt of the Ionian cities against Persian rule
494 BC
Miletus occupied by Persia
494 BC
Athenian dramatist Phrynichus presents the play, The Capture of Miletus. Herodotus describes what happened: "the audience in the theatre burst into tears, and the author was fined a thousand drachmae for reminding them of a disaster which touched them so closely. A law was subsequently passed for bidding anybody to put the play on the stage again."
ca. 480 BC
Athens assists in forming Delian League, uniting Greeks in their efforts to resist the Persians; Miletus and Ionian cities free of Persian control
479 BC
- Miletus re-built; using grid plan proposed by Milesian, Hippodamos; this early system of streets intersecting one another at right angles was later to form the basis of town-planning in Roman cities
404 BC
Peloponnesian War ends; Athens defeated by Sparta; Spartans unable to successfully manage Delian League; Persia re-establishes control over Ionian cities
387 BC
- Persian rule of Miletus formally acknowledged by the King's Peace of 387 BC
334 BC
Alexander the Great defeats Persians and gains control of Miletus
300s BC
first phase of Hellenistic theatre construction; skene constructed (possibly two stories with two doors in lower story) and two-tiered cavea constructed (twenty rows each) (Hellenistic)
300-250 BC
second phase of Hellenistic construction; skene lengthened, four doors in lower story of skene, three doors in upper story; possibly added skene façade with 16 columns (Hellenistic)
ca. 150 BC
third phase of Hellenistic construction; skene was further widened by adding paraskenia on either side of skene; five thyromata (wide openings) in upper story of skene, central thyromata added to lower story; dramatic action moved from orchestra to roof of skene in accordance with the requirements of the Hellenistic New Comedy (Hellenistic)
Pre-Roman
final phase of Hellenistic construction; skene widen further; single central thyromata in lower story of skene; lower story of skene now merely used as a support for performance space on roof above (Hellenistic)
133 BC
Miletus incorporated into Roman Empire
Early Roman era
theatre enlarged and adapted; theatre enlarged to seat 15,000 (added third diazomata and third tier to cavea); construction of logeion (stage) and access stairs, thyromata in second stage closed leaving only three openings in first story; orchestra lowered; third story added to skene and entire sceanae frons appointed with colonnades and sculpted decoration (Roman)
164 AD
columns and baldachin constructed in cavea for visit of Roman Empress Faustina
ca. 400 AD
construction of defensive city wall damages theatre skene and cavea; harbors become increasingly inaccessible due to silt deposits; marsh swamps surround city and population diminishes (Byzantine)
ca. 1200 AD
upper tier of theatre cavea removed and used as building material for a citadel which still sits above the theatre
1328
Miletus under Seljuk rule, became the small village of Balat
1899-WWI
excavations under Theodor Wiegand (German)
1988-WWII
excavations under Gerhard Kliener (German)
WWII-present
excavations under Gerhard Kliener, Werner MüllerWiener, and Volkmar von Graeve successively; Germans remove Byzantine city wall to expose skene
Basic Timeline for Turkey Mycenaean Period ca. 1500 - 1200 BC
Late Roman Empire ca. AD 293 - 395
Phrygian, Uratian, Lydian Period ca. 1200 - 542 BC
Early Byzantine Period ca. AD 395 - 610
Persian-Classical Period ca. 542 - 333 BC
Middle Byzantine Period ca. AD 610 - 961
Early Hellenistic Period ca. 333 - 167 BC
Late Byzantine Period ca. AD 961 - 1176
Late Hellenistic Period ca. 167 BC - AD 43
Seljuk Turkish Period ca. AD 1176 - 1299
Early Roman Empire ca. AD 43 - 162
Ottoman Turkish Period ca. AD 1299 - 1922
Middle Roman Empire ca. AD 162 - 293
Modern Turkey ca. AD 1922 - present
Copyright © 2004 Thomas G. Hines, Whitman College. All Rights Reserved - Last Updade: 1/20/04