More cities of the Ionian league (and Magnesia)

Athena temple at Priene

Wow, after this post I should finally be caught up. It's really easy to get behind when computers keep hating your camera and even spontaneously die in the middle of a post. That and I've been visiting ruins like it's my last chance ever, which could in fact be the case - who knows when I'll ever be back here?
Today I visited three sites - Priene, Miletus and Magnesia. I'll try to keep this one short. Priene and Miletus were both cities in the Ionian league I mentioned in the last post. Magnesia, despite being very much in the same area, was not accepted into the league. This was basically because it was settled by the "wrong kind of people".

Miletus

The area is an interesting one - a wide, incredibly flat valley through which the tail end of the river Meander flows (ever wonder where we get the word "meander"? Google image search the river). Two thousand years ago, the whole valley was filled with water - it was part of the Aegean sea. But over hundreds of years it slowly silted up, first turning into boggy swamps then flat ground, literally leaving these cities high and dry. However important they may have been in the day, Priene, Miletus and Magnesia pretty much died out after this. And let's not forget that swamps bring with them mosquitoes which bring with them malaria...

Magnesia

In short, Priene was the best location - it was possibly the best preserved with the most to see, and it's located on a very stunning forested mountainside. Miletus was depressing and a little creepy - just a handful of ruins on a windswept, sandy, deserty hill in a wide, featureless flat plain. Magnesia didn't even have much of a hill.