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Philipp Niewöhner

donment, as was for example the case at Pergamum, where the Hellenistic acropolis is
unusually well preserved because it was abandoned, and the Roman to early Byzantine
city relocated to the plain below.25 At Miletus, such a move is known to have taken
place in the late Byzantine period, when the ancient centre was deserted and a new
town with a new name (Palatia) was established on the Theatre Hill (Fig. 1).26 In the
early Byzantine period a similar move could have been prompted by the flooding that
had affected the low-lying city centre since late antiquity,27 when the siltation of the
Maeander River started to engulf the former peninsula.28 Might the floods, as well as
ensuing abandonment and relocation, explain why the excavations of the ancient cen-
tre have come across few new buildings from the early Byzantine period (for which see
below), even though Miletus became an archbishopric around 53/29 and the number of
sixth-century inscriptions is considerable?30
This question can now be answered thanks to large-scale and long-term archae-
ological field work that has recently been concluded at Miletus. Comprehensive ge-
ophysical surveys and selective excavations throughout the urban area, including the
Theatre Hill and Humeitepe to the north as well as Kaiabaktepe und Zeytintepe Hills
to the south (Fig. 1), have proven beyond reasonable doubt that Miletus did not form
a new centre during the early Byzantine period. To the contrary, parts of the southern
city fell into disrepair and were deserted by the sixth century,31 which leaves little doubt
that the well-preserved ancient centre continued to form the core of the settlement
during the early Byzantine period. This appears to be confirmed by the fact that the
Byzantine city walls of the seventh century concentrated around the ancient centre,
which was obviously still considered the most important part of town (Fig. 1).32 The
many sixth-century inscriptions are offset by a dearth of sixth-century coins,33 which
contrasts with abundant coin finds from the prosperous Theodosian period and sug-
gests that the number of inscriptions reflects epigraphic habit rather than prosperity
and a large population.34
Preservation through neglect?
If, then, the ancient centre of Miletus was not abandoned in the early Byzantine pe-
riod, its preservation could still have been due to neglect rather than intentional con-
servation, as for example in early medieval Rome, where many ancient monuments

25 Grüßinger/Kästner/Scholl (2015).
26 Niewöhner (2013a), pp. 224-231; Niewöhner (2016e).
27 Niewöhner (2015a), p. 205; Niewöhner (2016a), pp. 10-11.
28 Miillenhoff (2005), pp. 199-202; Brückner/Müllenhof/Gehrels/Herda/Knipping/VÖtt (2006), p. 69 fig. 2.
29 von Graeve (1997-2006), vol. 1, pp. 35-36,201 cat. 206.
30 von Graeve (1997-2006), vol. 2, pp. 137-146; vol. 3, pp. 289-296.
31 Niewöhner (2oi6d), pp. 229-240.
32 Niewöhner (2008), pp. 187-193; Niewöhner (2013a), pp. 181-189.
33 Niewöhner (2oi6d), pp. 258-270.
34 Cf. Witschel (2006).