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Economy
Coinage
The city of Miletus is among the first Greek cities that used electrum coins. The types include the lion’s head on the obverse  and the incuse square on the reverse.
The type of archaic silver coins, with the lion’s head on the obverse and the incuse square on the back, is similar to the previous type. However, the type of the Aeginetic weighing unit (stater of 18.55 gr) was adopted instead of the previous Milesian (22.8 gr) unit. Coinage was possibly stopped or dramatically reduced between 494 and 479 BC.  Amber coins disappeared since then, while silver coins adopted the lion on the obverse and a floral ornament on the reverse.
A permanent numismatic type was adopted in the 4th century BC: the head of Apollo Daphnephoros in profile appeared on the obverse, while a lion turning its head back and a rose or a star on the exergue, with the monogram of the city (M) appeared on the reverse. All coins, both silver and bronze, included the name of an official,  which is helpful for the division of the workshop’s production into seven sub-periods in the Late Classical and Hellenistic period. Between 353 and 333 BC the city minted silver coins according to the Rhodian weighing system (four-drachma coin of 15.3 gr, drachma of 3.7 gr and semi-drachma of 1.8 gr) and bronze coins depicting the lion on the front and the rose on the back. Some silver coins of the city included the initials ΜΑ and ΕΚΑ corresponding to the Carian satraps Mausolus and Hecatomnus respectively.  The second period (313-290 BC) included only bronze coins depicting Apollo and the lion. Between 333 and 313 BC there were a lot of coins according to the type of Alexander the Great. In the third period (290-281 BC) there were silver two-drachma coins weighing about 6.5 grams, while in the fourth period (259-246 BC) the so-called Persian system (two-drachma coins weighing 10.5 gr) was adopted. In the fifth period (225-195 BC) the same system was followed, although with lower weights, while in the sixth period (175-86 BC), when Miletus entered into political relations with Attiki, two names of officials appeared on four-drachma coins  and the city followed the Attic weighing system. This period also included a relatively rare coin depicting the head of Rome on the obverse, which is connected with the introduction of the particular deity circa 130 BC. In the seventh period (39-17 BC) only bronze coins were minted showing the lion on the obverse, while the reverse depicted the archaic cult statue of Apollo in Didyma sculptured by Canachus. A limited series of gold staters, according to the Attic weighing system, which depicted the lion on the obverse and the bow and the quiver of Apollo on the reverse, also belongs to an unknown period before the 2nd century BC.
 In the Roman Imperial period bronze coins were minted from the years of Augustus until the end of the 3rd century AD. The usual types included the statue or bust of Apollo in Didyma, the bust of the personified Senate, a statue representing Artemis and a deer, Leto and her two children, Zeus holding the thunder, Apollo naked and sitting in front of an altar and his statue in the temple of Didyma. A series of games is also reported (DIDYMEIA, COMMODEIA, OLYMPICS, PYTHIANS and PANIONIAN PYTHIANS). The commonest type includes the epithet MILESION (of Miletus) followed by the inscription NEOKORON or NEOKORON SEVASTON (in the years of Elagabalus).
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