1. Geographical Location: description of the area

In Antiquity, Smyrna was considered one of the finest cities in Asia Minor,¹ referred to in the literary sources as "the lovely-the crown of Ionia-the ornament of Asia", as it is reported in the Book of Revelation.² Smyrna was located almost forty miles north of Ephesus, on the Meles River, famous in literature. In fact, the flow of Meles is described by Aelius Aristides and Himerius. The description focuses on the stream which rises from abundant springs east of the city and flows into the southeast extremity of the gulf. There is a tradition which connects Smyrna with Homer who is also known as Melesigenes. Smyrna was also located at the mouth of another river, namely Hermus, which placed the city on an essential trade route between Anatolia and the Aegean and raised Smyrna during the seventh century B.C. to power and splendour.

Smyrna occupied a beautiful territory at the head of a gulf which reaches 30 miles inland. There were two phases of Smyrna: the first city located at the northeastern corner of the Gulf of Smyrna, which is called "Old Smyrna" or Alt-Smyrna (destroyed in the 7th century), while the second Smyrna was the one re-founded at the time of Alexander the Great.³

It is rather difficult to estimate the extent of the entire early city, even though archaeologists identified some of the Cyclopean walls surrounding the city.⁴ The early Greek settlement was initially on a small peninsula and the site is nowadays on a hill, east of the town of Bayraklı, 4 km from modern Izmir.⁵ Strabo in the 1st c. B.C.⁶gave the exact location of the city by reporting that “Old Smyrna” was 20 stadia away from the city of his time. The heart of the new city, in use from the Hellenistic and the Early Roman period, is part of the modern İzmir Agora Open Air Museum.

2. Origin of the name: The Legends

There are a few different theories regarding the origin of the name Smyrna, most of them mythological. According to one version, Smyrna was the mother of Adonis, who conceived him by intercourse with her father.⁷When he found out, he pursued her but the gods felt pity of her and transformed her into a tree, which produced the homonymous incense (smyrna= myrrh). Tacitus wrote about the tradition handed down in ancient times: Smyrna was built either by Tantalus, the offspring of Jove, or by Theseus, himself of divine origin. According to another tradition it was the Amazon Smyrna who founded the city, which was called “Amazonian” too.⁸

3. The History and the development of the City through the literary sources

The first Smyrna was founded in the third millenium B.C., at the same time of Troy’s development. Smyrna was then occupied by the Hittites, but when Troy was destroyed, the power of the Hittites diminished considerably. In the 8th century B.C. Smyrna was controlled by Miletus. Smyrna became an important city, the centre of significant trade. According to the oral tradition, Smyrna was the place where the so-called Leleges, an autochthononous population, used to live. At the beginning of the first millenium B.C. Greeks colonists settled in Asia Minor. Smyrna was then colonized by Aeolians, particularly citizens of Lesbos. Smyrna would become one of the main cities of the Aeolian dodekapolis.⁹According to Strabo and Pliny the inhabitans of Smyrna were expelled by the Aeolians and through the help of Colophon they were re-established in the city.

Herodotus asserts that Smyrna was always Aeolian, but it seems that Smyrna was part of the Aeolian confederation until the 7th century B.C. when, by a treacherous act of the Colophonians it became an Ionian possesion and the thirtheenth city-state of the Panionion. The Ionian dodekapolis, formed by twelve Ionian cities, whose centre was the sanctuary of Poseidon Eliconios at the promontory of Mycale, was afterwards consisting of thirteen cities, when Smyrna was included in the Ionian confederation.¹⁰

In the Archaic period Smyrna, together with Miletus, Ephesus, Teos and Erythrae were poleis (city-states) ruled according to the aristocratic system with a Basileus, a king.¹¹ The poleis played a very important role in the history of Ionia especially in the Archaic period¹² and Smyrna as a polis reached its peak between 650-645 B.C. When the Mermnad dynasty came to power in Lydia, Smyrna was one of the first places they attacked. Gyges (ca. 687 — 652) was, however, defeated near the river Hermus. A strong fortress, the ruins of which ancient and massive walls are still imposing on a hill in the pass between Smyrna and Nymphi, was probably built by the Smyrnaean Ionians to command the valley of the Nymphi in those difficult times.¹³ According to Theognis (about 500 B.C.), it was pride that destroyed Smyrna. The writer Mimnermus from Smyrna, wrote about the degeneration of the citizens of his day, who could no longer oppose the Lydian advance. Finally, Alyattes III (609 — 560 B.C.) conquered the city and sacked it, and though Smyrna did not cease to exist, the Greek way of life and political unity were destroyed, and the polis, which subsisted during that period among the villages in the surrounding country, reorganized itself as a village. Smyrna was mentioned in a fragment of Pindar and in an inscription of 388 B.C., but its greatness was lost.¹⁴

Alexander the Great was the one who restored Smyrna in 334 B.C. and brought the city back to its past splendour. However, the project was only accomplished by his successors Antigonus I, "the One-eyed" ( 316 — 301 B.C.) and Lysimachus (301 — 281 B.C.) who enlarged and fortified the city. In fact, Lysimachos named the city Eurydikeia, after his daughter, a name which it maintained until 281 B.C.¹⁵

In the Hellenistic period there were remarkable architectural works in the city, which was rebuilt in the place where the modern city of Izmir is, partly on the slopes of a rounded hill called Pagus by the Greeks, near the southeast end of the gulf, and partly on the low ground between the hill and the sea. A particularly flourishing period was the end of the 3rd century, when Smyrna came under the sphere of influence of the Pergamene kings. At the end of the Hellenistic period, in 197 B.C., the city suddenly defected from King Eumenes of Pergamon and appealed to Rome for help, together with Lampsacus and Alexandreia Troas.¹⁶ Rome snatched the opportunity and when the Roman cohorts were sent to Asia Minor the city was used as a gateway for Rome's eastern expansion because of its excellent natural port. Thereafter, Smyrna remained a faithful Roman ally.¹⁷

The Roman period was for Smyrna significant from several aspects. After the establishment of the Province of Asia, Smyrna was considered a metropolis, with assizes being organised there and frequent visits by the governor. The city continued to provide aid to the Roman army in all possible ways. The only unfortunate incident was its support to Mithridates VI, but this was done probably under coercion. This must have had as a repercussion a brief loss of its free status.¹⁸ However, this was soon forgotten and the city resumed its prominent position. Through a series of imperial donations and local benefactions in the 2^nd century its beauty competed with that of Ephesus and Pergamon and by some it was considered as “the most beautiful city in Asia”.¹⁹ Although an earthquake destroyed major part of the city in 178 A.D., the mechanism of benefactions, particularly of the local elite, was immediately mobilized and the city was rebuilt very soon thereafter.²⁰ Furthermore, Smyrna was perhaps one of the first cities to introduce the cult of deified Rome and of the Emperor.²¹ The city became three times neokoros: in 26 A.D., under Tiberius, in 123-124, under Hadrian and in 214-215, under Caracalla.²²

A shift towards a more aristocratic government of the city is evident in the inscriptions: although in the Hellenistic period most decrees are signed by “the people”, in the Roman period they are signed by “the council and the people” and some even only by “the council”. This signifies and increased power of the elite.²³

Smyrna was also home to a considerable Jewish community, and this led to its rapid Christianization.

In Late Antiquity, particularly after the foundation of Constantinople by Constantine the Great, Smyrna entered a phase of decline. In 1084 the city was used as base for naval raids and it became a ruin when the Turks ravaged it. The knights of Saint John established themselves in the city but they were not able to conquer the citadel. The Mongols' conquest was temporary, but its subjugation to the local Turk emir of Aydin resulted in its long-term incorporation in the Ottoman Empire.

4. Archaeology

4.1. History of the excavations

There were archaeological excavations between 1948-1951, undertaken by the British School in Ankara and the Ankara University directed by professor J.M. Cook and Ekrem Akurgal.²⁴ In 1966 Akurgal started a new research of the site and published the results in 1983.²⁵ Those archaeological campaigns were valuable, as they highlighted the archaeological sequence of the area and the majority of structures of the ancient Smyrna.

The excavations have been very intense in the last three decades, as archaeologists were able to highlight some of the main buildings; they intensified the research and the analysis of the most important evidence. There is still a lot to discover and many remains are still covered by modern constructions. Some of the buildings are better studied, such as those of the Agora or the Temple of Athena. Moreover, detailed thematic studies were undertaken, such as those focusing on the pottery²⁶ and coinage²⁷ of the city.

4.2. The Buildings of the Agora

As in every other Greek city, the Agora seemed to be the most important place in Smyrna, too. In the Agora of Smyrna there is a good level of preservation of some structures. Today the site forms the İzmir Agora Open Air Museum. It was in use until the Byzantine period and a Byzantine and later Ottoman cemetery was located over the ruins of the Agora, which was thus preserved from modern constructions. However, it is surrounded by modern buildings that still cover its eastern and southern parts. The area is 165 m wide and 200 m long and it is bordered on all sides by porticos; it is so far the largest and best preserved among the Ionian agoras.²⁸ The excavations showed that the Agora was built during the Hellenistic period and was rebuilt in the Roman period under Marcus Aurelius. The bust of the emperor's wife Faustina on the second arch of the western stoa, confirms this restoration phase.²⁹

The Agora was constructed on a sloping terrain in three levels, close to the city center. The “state Agora” is still well preserved, it has been better documented and it consists of the agora area, the base of the northern Basilica gate, the stoas and the ancient shopping centre. The porticoes of Smyrna extended in two storeys and were divided longitudinally in three parts by two rows of columns. On the north side there was another two-storeyed collonade with a nave and two aisles.³⁰ The main portico was known as the Basilica, built over an infrastructure of basements with round arches to protect the edifice against earthquakes. The eastern end and the southern porticos consisted of a two-floor compounded structure. The north aisle in the basement of the basilica, was a covered market place with shops, which had to be opened into streets at Roman times.³¹ The design of the basement has a strong resemblance with the crypto-porticus constructions of the western provinces. In the west part of the northern colonnade there is an exedra, interpreted as a court. The orator Aelius Aristides, originally from Smyrna, described in a document the Altar of Zeus, which has not been found, built in the centre of the Agora.³²

4.3. Description of the main archaeological buildings at the outskirts of the city

In Smyrna the streets were broad, well paved and laid out at right angles. The main street, called the Golden Street, ran across the city from West to East, beginning probably from the temple of Zeus Akraios and ending towards the temple of Cybele. The plain towards the sea could not be properly drained, hence in rainy weather the streets of the lower town inundated with mud and water.³³ Smyrna is shut in on the West by a hill now called Deirmen Tepe, where ruins of a temple on the top have been discovered, attributed to the imperial cult. The walls of Lysimachus crossed the summit of this hill, and the acropolis occupied the top of Pagus. The excavations by Cook helped to outline the ancient city walls.³⁴ The road from Ephesus entered the city by the Ephesian Gate, near a gymnasium. Closer to the acropolis there could be the outline of the stadium which is in part visible; while there is nothing left of the theatre, which was situated on the north slope of Mount Pagus.³⁵ Smyrna had two harbours, the outer, which was simply the open roadstead of the gulf, and the inner, which was small, with a narrow entrance filled up by Tamerlane in 1402. Near the harbour there was a granary, used to store goods, built at the time of Hadrian but it has not been located. The granary could be part of the so-called commercial Agora.³⁶

4.4. Old Smyrna: Domestic architecture

In the early stratum of Smyrna (1050-650 B.C.) there is evidence indicating that the economy was mainly based on agriculture. This might be something significant to bear in mind for the analysis of the social structure and to understand the way inhabitants built their own houses: Smyrna holds out typical examples of Greek houses. There are still traces of the Cyclopean masonry of that early time.³⁷ The oldest building in Smyrna is an oval house with one room built in 900 B.C. It is well preserved and is made out of mudbrick. There are rectangular houses from the 9th century B.C., presumably from the Ionian phase of the city, where there is a large single room with stone foundations.³⁸ During the 1970's excavations, three beautiful examples of rectangular houses were found. However, in the 8th and 7th century the oval house prevailed over the rectangular one, which appears rarely.³⁹ After half a century of stagnation, evident throughout the Greek world, Smyrna experienced a great period of wealth in between 650 and 545 B.C., in the so-called "orientalizing phase". The houses of that time are known as megaron type: a porch and two rooms, or those much more elaborate with a porch, three rooms and a courtyard. There are even a few examples of houses with terracotta bathtubs.

The houses were generally oriented N/S or W/E as a result of an axial plan as early as 7th century B.C. In the 5th and 4th centuries the houses would still be on an axial plan.⁴⁰ At the time of Alexander the Great, as the population increased a lot, the city was expanded on the slope of the Mount Pagos where a new house system was developed. The buildings were closely built one to another, and the quality of construction decreased, with rubble masonry taking the lead. Most houses consisted of two or three rooms at most. The use of tiles for covering the roof constitutes a new element in the local architecture.⁴¹

4.5 Archaeological findings

The houses of Smyrna have yielded bird bowls, examples of vases, bronze statuettes, ivory and terracotta. There are also fragments of carved stone statues of 600 B.C. The abundance of Cypriote and Syrian statuettes, and of Lydian pottery highlights the international trade undertaken by the Ionians after the 7th century B.C.⁴²

In Smyrna trade with the motherland had helped the exchange of valuable materials, especialy fine pottery. There is an important analysis of Ionian Black-Figure, made by Cook.⁴³However, the most difficult task, for the study of the black-figure pottery, was drawing a precise distinction between Attic and Ionian pottery. In the early 6th c. B.C. it is possible to notice a significant output of Orientalizing ware; they might be recognized as Ionian, with a slight reproduction of Black-Figure in imitation of Attic. In the middle of the 6th c. there is an increase of Black-Figure pottery in North Ionia. Through the analysis of the pottery it was possible to distinguish different styles according to the ware and the decoration schemes.⁴⁴ A careful research of other findings dated to the 4th century B.C., emphasized the good imitation of the Attic style in Smyrna. The tradition of black glaze is Attic and there is the possibility that immigrants from Athens worked for local markets in Smyrna.⁴⁵

Smyrna was a big trade center in Antiquity as it is evident from some of the inscriptions classified in Bowdoin and Leyden. These inscriptions are significant findings that might prove both the level of culture and the influence by other cultures. There are lists of names found in Smyrna, which are very important in order to find out more about the development of the city: names of benefactors, locals or from Rome, as well as names of city officials.⁴⁶ In fact, the latter offer valuable information on the city administration as well, as the city officials such as gymnasiarchos, grammatophylax and, later on, grammateus tes poleos (secretary), agonothetes, exetastai (assistants to the secretary), epimenioi (responsible for treating foreign ambassadors at the prytaneion), agoranomos, eirenarches, diogmitai etc.⁴⁷


5. Coinage

Herodotus (I, 94) wrote that the Lydians had institutions similar to the Greeks, but the Lydians were the first to use coins. The most ancient coins were found in the temple of the Greek goddess Artemis in Ephesus. Those coins were made of gold and silver, dated to 660-650 B.C. and they came from Lydia. The Lydians would use in 6th century B.C. the so-called Croeseidis (during the kingdom of Croesus, 560-546 B.C.), made of gold or silver. However the king Gyges (in the 7th century B.C.) was known as polychrysos (wealthy of gold). Lydia had a huge influence on the rest of Asia Minor and on Smyrna in particular. Archaeologists found three types of croeseidis coins, in some cities of Asia Minor, particularly in Smyrna and Persepolis. There is another tradition that croeseidis in Smyrna and Persepolis were collected as treasures. ⁴⁸ The earliest coins in Smyrna depicted a lion. After the treaty of Apamea, Smyrna started minting silver drachmas according to the Attic weight system, and in the middle of the 2nd century B.C. it even produced cistophoric coinage. The early Hellenistic coins usually depicted the portrait of Apollo on the obverse and seated Homer on the reverse, whereas after 180 B.C. the silver tetradrachms maintain the turreted head of Cybele or of the city's Tyche on the obverse and a laurel wreath with the inscription "ΣΜΥΡΝΑΙΩΝ" on the reverse, which had made its appearance a few decades earlier. The coins at the time of Marcus Aurelius, Gordianus and Philip the Arab, show Alexander sleeping under a plane tree, on Mt. Pagos, along with the two Nemeses, those who, according to a a legend, directed him in a dream to build Smyrna exactly at that site.⁴⁹ Nemesis in fact appears only in the 1st century A.D. on Smyrnean coins and becomes more frequent in the 2nd century, when also the double Nemesis appears. Smyrna abandoned its own coinage to accept imperial coinage in 260 A.D.


6. Religion: Buildings and Faiths
Religion has always been a significant part of human life. The construction of temples within the Greek society was a way to honour those deities helping people in every aspects of everyday life. Smyrna is a place where one can find different faiths as expression of its multicultural tradition.

6.1. The Temples of Smyrna

In Smyrna several gods from the Greek pantheon were worshipped, as well as deities of Anatolian or oriental origin.

The excavations carried out almost fiflty years ago, brought to light an impressive temple dedicated to Athena. A joint excavation was conducted at Old Smyrna in 1948-1951 by Ankara University and the British School at Ankara, directed by Ekrem Akurgal and J. M. Cook. The British team discovered the temples near the stoas, and part of a large ramp leading to the sanctuary, and they also investigated the stratigraphy of the surrounding area. They highlighted four phases of the Temple: 700 B.C. corresponding to an early sanctuary, as proved by votive offerings, later destroyed by an earthquake and rebuilt in 690-670 B.C.; a second temple was rebuilt in 630-610 B.C. and a third temple, the so-called Great Temple, dated to 610-600 B.C. and destroyed at the time of Alyattes.⁵⁰A fourth temple was raised up, but according to Nicholls and the further refinement of the chronology based on the ceramic evidence made by Susan Rotroff, there was a gradual abandonment of the Temple at the beginning of third century B.C.⁵¹

The orator Aelius Aristides wrote that in 150 B.C. an altar to Zeus was located in a central place at the Agora. Excavations confirmed that there were decorations, which were part of this Temple, on which Demeter stands next to Poseidon. According to some researchers, among which Akurgal,⁵² Demeter and Poseidon side by side were the symbol of the domination of Smyrna in land and sea. The temple of Zeus Akraios stood on the slopes of Mt. Pagus, from where started the Golden Street, which ended probably close to the temple of Cybele, near by the harbour, towards modern Tepejik, to the east of the city. Cybele was worshipped under the name of Meter Sipylene (from Mount Sipylos, which bounds the Smyrna valley) and was the city's patron goddess.⁵³ Though numismatic evidence we are also informed on other cults existing in the city, such as those of Asklepios and Hygieia, Serapis, Herakles, Dionysos and the serpent-god Glykon, propagated by the "false-prophet" Alexander of Abonuteichos. The city's rivers, Hermos and Meles, were also worshipped as deities.


6.2. Smyrna and Christianity

To the Christians, Smyrna was one of the Seven Apocalyptic churches, as a Christian community was established there at a very early age and remained arduously attached to the new faith despite the punishments inflicted by the Roman government. Among the early Christians who suffered martyrom was Polycarp, who died in the second half of 2nd A.D. at a very old age. He was the Bishop of Smyrna in 96 A.D., the year the Apocalypse was written; and through the Smyrnean Epistle it is possible to learn the circumstances of his martyrdom and death at the time of Marcus Aurelius. In fact there is an impressive verse of the Revelation, where Smyrna is the scene of martyrdome of a suffering fellowship.
Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, wrote four of his letters from here (to Ephesus, Magnesia, Tralles and Rome c.100 A.D.) and one to Smyrna itself while he was in Troas, when he was being taken to Rome from Antioch; and it was here that Bishop Onesimus from Ephesus travelled with a group from that fellowship to meet with him. In Smyrna there was also a significant Jewish community, which explains the city's early Christianization, and which is attested through a series of inscriptions.⁵⁴