Facing the challenges of the siltation of a sea gulf: the dissimilar cases of Priene and Miletos

The sea coast of south-western Asia Minor experienced some of the most substantial transformations in Antiquity, caused by the shifting sea level and progradation of the deltas of the Maeander and the Kaystros. It left former the maritime cities of Miletos, Priene, Herakleia/Latmos, and Ephesos 10 kilometres or more inland. This paper concentrates on the responses to the changing environment of the cities of the Latmian Gulf area, Miletos and Priene in particular. The traditional view holds that the progradation of the delta of the Maeander resulted in the silting of the harbours of Miletos and in making life there unbearable, which precipitated the decline of the city in the Roman age. The concept of the decline of Miletos in the Imperial age is not congruous with ancient evidence. Monumental architecture and the epigraphic output speak to the early Imperial age as the period of the greatest prosperity in the history of Miletos. The same age brought a decline in the economy, architecture, and inscribing in Priene. The success of Miletos was partly caused by its long-term responses to the progradation of the delta of the Maeander. Dredging kept its harbours accessible by ship, unlike upstream cities of Priene and Herakleia/Latmos. Lagoons filled by sea and fresh water produced abundant fish. In the Hellenistic age, Miletos fought wars with its neighbours for the land created by the Maeander and for the control of sailing on the river. In the early first century CE successful lobbying brought the imperial decision granting Miletos the alluvial land and exclusive fishing rights. Most of this land was occupied by large estates whose owners had sufficient resources and know-how to build and maintain a complex system of channels and dykes removing excessive water from the reclaimed land. The new land exceeded the arable land of the old chora in quality, if not in size, feeding the increased population of Miletos. Only when this system collapsed did the floodplain of the Maeander turn into its natural state of steppe in the summer and swamps in winter.