The article focuses on the links between Miletus and her Archaic apoikiai in the Black Sea, Cyzicus, Olbia, Istros and Kios, long after their foundation, as documented by four inscriptions (Milet I.3, 136, 137 and 141; ISM I, 62). These decrees granting privileges including politeia (‘citizenship’) have been traditionally dated in the last third of the 4th century BC, although they more probably belong to the 3rd century. Instead of taking them as showing a form of continuous relationship between the mother city and her colonies since their origins, I suggest that they are a manifestation of Gehrke’s ‘intentional history’, i.e. a way to use and manipulate the past in order to serve the present. Therefore the revival of the links between colonies and mother city takes place in a context where we see Miletus seeking to establish or regenerate her regional power and international relations.