Miletus

Part of speech: noun, proper noun

Definitions

1. A historical city in ancient Ionia known for its contributions to philosophy and science
2. An influential center of learning in the ancient world, particularly for pre-Socratic thinkers
3. The birthplace of several famous philosophers, including Thales and Anaximander, shaping Western thought

Etymology: Long before Greek colonists settled its harbour, the place seems to have carried a name that was not Greek at all. Hittite royal records of the second millennium BCE mention a city called Millawanda, which scholars generally identify with Miletus. The name is probably pre-Greek and Anatolian in origin, and its exact meaning is unknown, so any explanation of it remains guesswork. Greek speakers later reshaped the name into "Miletos" and gave the city a founding myth involving Miletus, a figure they linked to Crete. By the sixth century BCE it was among the richest Greek cities on the Aegean coast. Thales, Anaximander and Anaximenes all worked there, and Herodotus credits Thales with predicting a solar eclipse. Because these thinkers were called "Milesians", the city's name became attached to the earliest philosophers of nature in the Western tradition.