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Smyrna

Smyrna (/ˈsmɜːrnə/ SMUR-nə; Ancient Greek: Σμύρνη, romanizedSmýrnē, or Σμύρνα, Smýrna) was a Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to prominence. The name of the city since about 1930 is İzmir.[1]

Smyrna
Σμύρνη/Σμύρνα (Ancient Greek)
The Agora of Smyrna (columns of the western stoa)
Shown within Turkey
Smyrna (Europe)
Locationİzmir, İzmir Province, Turkey
RegionIonia
Coordinates38°25′7″N 27°8′21″E / 38.41861°N 27.13917°E / 38.41861; 27.13917Coordinates: 38°25′7″N 27°8′21″E / 38.41861°N 27.13917°E / 38.41861; 27.13917
TypeSettlement
Smyrna among the cities of Ionia and Lydia (ca. 50 AD)

Two sites of the ancient city are today within Izmir's boundaries. The first site, probably founded by indigenous peoples, rose to prominence during the Archaic Period as one of the principal ancient Greek settlements in western Anatolia. The second, whose foundation is associated with Alexander the Great,[2] reached metropolitan proportions during the period of the Roman Empire. Most of the present-day remains of the ancient city date from the Roman era, the majority from after a second-century AD earthquake. In practical terms, a distinction is often made between these. Old Smyrna was the initial settlement founded around the 11th century BC, first as an Aeolian settlement, and later taken over and developed during the Archaic Period by the Ionians. Smyrna proper was the new city which residents moved to as of the fourth century BC and whose foundation was inspired by Alexander the Great.[2]

Old Smyrna was located on a small peninsula connected to the mainland by a narrow isthmus at the northeastern corner of the inner Gulf of İzmir, at the edge of a fertile plain and at the foot of Mount Yamanlar. This Anatolian settlement commanded the gulf. Today, the archeological site, named Bayraklı Höyüğü, is approximately 700 metres (770 yd) inland, in the Tepekule neighbourhood of Bayraklı. New Smyrna developed simultaneously on the slopes of the Mount Pagos (Kadifekale today) and alongside the coastal strait, immediately below where a small bay existed until the 18th century.

The core of the late Hellenistic and early Roman Smyrna is preserved in the large area of İzmir Agora Open Air Museum at this site. Research is being pursued at the sites of both the old and the new cities. This has been conducted since 1997 for Old Smyrna and since 2002 for the Classical Period city, in collaboration between the İzmir Archaeology Museum and the Metropolitan Municipality of İzmir.[3]

History

 
The agora of ancient Smyrna

Etymology

Several explanations have been offered for its name. A Greek myth derived the name from an eponymous Amazon named Σμύρνα (Smyrna), which was also the name of a quarter of Ephesus. This is the basis of Myrina, a city of Aeolis.

In inscriptions and coins, the name often was written as Ζμύρνα (Zmýrna), Ζμυρναῖος (Zmyrnaîos, "of Smyrna").[4]

 
Arches of the ancient city of Smyrna

The name Smyrna may also have been taken from the ancient Greek word for myrrh, smýrna,[5][6][7] which was the chief export of the city in ancient times.[8]

Third millennium to 687 BC

The region was settled at least as of the beginning of the third millennium BC, or perhaps earlier, as suggested by finds made in Yeşilova Höyük in excavations since 2005. It could have been a city of the autochthonous Leleges before the Greek colonists started to settle along the coast of Asia Minor at the turn of the second to first millennium BC. Throughout classical antiquity, Smyrna was a leading city-state of Ionia, with influence over the Aegean shores and islands. Smyrna was also among the cities that claimed Homer as a resident.[9]

The early Aeolian Greek settlers of Lesbos and Cyme, expanding eastwards, occupied the valley of Smyrna. It was one of the confederacy of Aeolian city-states, marking the Aeolian frontier with the Ionian colonies.

Strangers or refugees from the Ionian city of Colophon settled in the city. During an uprising in 688 BC, they took control of the city, making it the thirteenth of the Ionian city-states. Revised mythologies said it was a colony of Ephesus.[10] In 688 BC, the Ionian boxer Onomastus of Smyrna won the prize at Olympia, but the coup was probably then a recent event. The Colophonian conquest is mentioned by Mimnermus (before 600 BC), who counts himself equally of Colophon and of Smyrna. The Aeolic form of the name was retained even in the Attic dialect, and the epithet "Aeolian Smyrna" remained current long after the conquest.

 
Agora of Smyrna, built during the Hellenistic era at the base of Pagos Hill and totally rebuilt under Marcus Aurelius after the destructive 178 AD earthquake

Smyrna was located at the mouth of the small river Hermus and at the head of a deep arm of the sea (Smyrnaeus Sinus) that reached far inland. This enabled Greek trading ships to sail into the heart of Lydia, making the city part of an essential trade route between Anatolia and the Aegean. During the seventh century BC, Smyrna rose to power and splendor. One of the great trade routes which cross Anatolia descends the Hermus valley past Sardis, and then, diverging from the valley, passes south of Mount Sipylus and crosses a low pass into the little valley where Smyrna lies between the mountains and the sea. Miletus and later Ephesus were situated at the sea end of the other great trade route across Anatolia; they competed for a time successfully with Smyrna; but after both cities' harbors silted up, Smyrna was without a rival.

The Meles River, which flowed by Smyrna, is famous in literature and was worshiped in the valley. A common and consistent tradition connects Homer with the valley of Smyrna and the banks of the Meles; his figure was one of the stock types on coins of Smyrna, one class of which numismatists call "Homerian." The epithet Melesigenes was applied to him; the cave where he was wont to compose his poems was shown near the source of the river; his temple, the Homereum, stood on its banks. The steady equable flow of the Meles, alike in summer and winter, and its short course, beginning and ending near the city, are celebrated by Aristides and Himerius. The stream rises from abundant springs east of the city and flows into the southeast extremity of the gulf.

The archaic city ("Old Smyrna") contained a temple of Athena from the seventh century BC.

Lydian period

 
Head of the poetess Sappho, Smyrna, Marble copy of a prototype belonging to the Hellenistic Period, in Istanbul Archaeology Museums
 
Map of Smyrna and other cities within the Lydian Empire

When the Mermnad kings raised the Lydian power and aggressiveness, Smyrna was one of the first points of attack. Gyges (ca. 687–652 BC) was, however, defeated on the banks of the Hermus, the situation of the battlefield showing that the power of Smyrna extended far to the east. A strong fortress was built probably by the Smyrnaean Ionians to command the valley of Nymphi, the ruins of which are still imposing, on a hill in the pass between Smyrna and Nymphi.

According to Theognis (c. 500 BC), it was pride that destroyed Smyrna. Mimnermus laments the degeneracy of the citizens of his day, who could no longer stem the Lydian advance. Finally, Alyattes (609–560 BC) conquered the city and sacked it, and though Smyrna did not cease to exist, the Greek life and political unity were destroyed, and the polis was reorganized on the village system. Smyrna is mentioned in a fragment of Pindar and in an inscription of 388 BC, but its greatness was past.

Hellenistic period

Alexander the Great conceived the idea of restoring the Greek city in a scheme that was, according to Strabo, actually carried out under Antigonus (316–301 BC) and Lysimachus (301 BC—281 BC), who enlarged and fortified the city. The ruined acropolis of the ancient city, the "crown of Smyrna", had been on a steep peak about 380 metres (1,250 ft) high, which overhangs the northeast extremity of the gulf. Modern İzmir was constructed atop the later Hellenistic city, partly on the slopes of a rounded hill the Greeks called Pagos[11] near the southeast end of the gulf, and partly on the low ground between the hill and the sea. The beauty of the Hellenistic city, clustering on the low ground and rising tier over tier on the hillside, was frequently praised by the ancients and is celebrated on its coins.

 
The statue of the river god Kaystros with a cornucopia in Izmir Museum of History and Art at Kültürpark

Smyrna is shut in on the west by a hill now called Deirmen Tepe, with the ruins of a temple on the summit. The walls of Lysimachus crossed the summit of this hill, and the acropolis occupied the top of Pagus. Between the two the road from Ephesus entered the city by the Ephesian gate, near which was a gymnasium. Closer to the acropolis the outline of the stadium is still visible, and the theatre was situated on the north slopes of Pagus. Smyrna possessed two harbours. The outer harbour was simply the open roadstead of the gulf, and the inner was a small basin with a narrow entrance partially filled up by Tamerlane in 1402 AD.

The streets were broad, well paved and laid out at right angles; many were named after temples: the main street, called the Golden, ran across the city from west to east, beginning probably from the temple of Zeus Akraios on the west slope of Pagus, and running round the lower slopes of Pagus (like a necklace on the statue, to use the favorite terms of Aristides the orator) towards Tepecik outside the city on the east, where probably stood the temple of Cybele, worshipped under the name of Meter Sipylene, the patroness of the city. The name is from the nearby Mount Sipylus, which bounds the valley of the city's backlands. The plain towards the sea was too low to be properly drained, and in rainy weather, the streets of the lower town were deep with mud and water.

At the end of the Hellenistic period, in 197 BC, the city suddenly cut its ties with King Eumenes of Pergamum and instead appealed to Rome for help. Because Rome and Smyrna had no ties until then, Smyrna created a cult of Rome to establish a bond, and the cult eventually became widespread through the whole Roman Empire. As of 195 BC, the city of Rome started to be deified, in the cult to the goddess Roma. In this sense, the Smyrneans can be considered as the creators of the goddess Roma.

In 133 BC, when the last Attalid king Attalus III died without an heir, his will conferred his entire kingdom, including Smyrna, to the Romans. They organized it into the Roman province of Asia, making Pergamum the capital. Smyrna, however, as a major seaport, became a leading city in the newly constituted province.

Roman and Byzantine period

 
Map of Western Anatolia showing the "Seven Churches of Asia" and the Greek island of Patmos

As one of the principal cities of Roman Asia,[12] Smyrna vied with Ephesus and Pergamum for the title "First City of Asia."

A Christian church and a bishopric existed here from earliest times, probably originating in the considerable Jewish colony. It was one of the seven churches addressed in the Book of Revelation.[13] Saint Ignatius of Antioch visited Smyrna and later wrote letters to its bishop, Polycarp. A mob of Jews and pagans abetted the martyrdom of Polycarp in AD 153.[12] Saint Irenaeus, who heard Polycarp as a boy, was probably a native of Smyrna.[12] Another famous resident of the same period was Aelius Aristides.[14]

After a destructive earthquake in 178 AD, Smyrna was rebuilt in the Roman period (2nd century AD) under the emperor Marcus Aurelius. Aelius Aristides wrote a letter to Marcus Aurelius and his son Commodus, inviting them to become the new founders of the city.[14] The bust of the emperor's wife Faustina on the second arch of the western stoa confirms this fact.[citation needed]

Polycrates reports a succession of bishops including Polycarp of Smyrna, as well as others in nearby cities such as Melito of Sardis. Related to that time the German historian W. Bauer wrote:

Asian Jewish Christianity received in turn the knowledge that henceforth the "church" would be open without hesitation to the Jewish influence mediated by Christians, coming not only from the apocalyptic traditions, but also from the synagogue with its practices concerning worship, which led to the appropriation of the Jewish passover observance. Even the observance of the sabbath by Christians appears to have found some favor in Asia...we find that in post-apostolic times, in the period of the formation of ecclesiastical structure, the Jewish Christians in these regions come into prominence.[15]

In the late second century, Irenaeus also noted:

Polycarp also was not only instructed by apostles, and conversed with many who had seen Christ, but was also, by apostles in Asia, appointed bishop of the Church in Smyrna…always taught the things which he had learned from the apostles, and which the Church has handed down, and which alone are true. To these things all the Asiatic Churches testify, as do also those men who have succeeded Polycarp.[16]

Tertullian wrote c. 208 AD:

Anyhow the heresies are at best novelties, and have no continuity with the teaching of Christ. Perhaps some heretics may claim Apostolic antiquity: we reply: Let them publish the origins of their churches and unroll the catalogue of their bishops till now from the Apostles or from some bishop appointed by the Apostles, as the Smyrnaeans count from Polycarp and John, and the Romans from Clement and Peter; let heretics invent something to match this.[17]

Hence, apparently the church in Smyrna was one of the churches that Tertullian felt had real apostolic succession.

During the mid-3rd century, most became affiliated with the Greco-Roman churches.

When Constantinople became the seat of government, the trade between Anatolia and the West diminished in importance, and Smyrna declined.

The Seljuq commander Tzachas seized Smyrna in 1084 and used it as a base for naval raids, but the city was recovered by the general John Doukas.

The city was several times ravaged by the Turks, and had become quite ruinous when the Nicaean emperor John III Doukas Vatatzes rebuilt it about 1222.

Ottoman period

 
In the year 1403, Timur had decisively defeated the Knights Hospitaller at Smyrna, and therefore referred to himself as a Ghazi.
 
The Great Fire of Smyrna as seen from an Italian ship, 14 September 1922

Ibn Batuta found it still in great part a ruin when the homonymous chieftain of the Beylik of Aydın had conquered it about 1330 and made his son, Umur, governor. It became the port of the emirate.

During the Smyrniote Crusade in 1344, on October 28, the combined forces of the Knights Hospitaliers of Rhodes, the Republic of Venice, the Papal States and the Kingdom of Cyprus, captured both the harbor and city from the Turks, which they held for nearly 60 years; the citadel fell in 1348, with the death of the governor Umur Baha ad-Din Ghazi.[18]

In 1402, Tamerlane stormed the town and massacred almost all the inhabitants. Timur's conquest was only temporary, but Smyrna was recovered by the Turks under the Aydın dynasty after which it became Ottoman, when the Ottomans took over the lands of Aydın after 1425.[19]

Greek influence was so strong in the area that the Turks called it "Smyrna of the infidels" (Gavur İzmir).[20] While Turkish sources track the emergence of the term to the 14th century when two separate parts of the city were controlled by two different powers, the upper İzmir being Muslim and the lower part of the city Christian.[citation needed][clarification needed]

During the late 19th and early 20th century, the city was an important financial and cultural center of the Greek world.[citation needed] Out of the 391 factories, 322 belonged to local Greeks, while 3 out of the 9 banks were backed by Greek capital. Education was also dominated by the local Greek communities with 67 male and 4 female schools in total. The Ottomans continued to control the area, with the exception of the 1919–1922 period, when the city was assigned to Greece by the Treaty of Sèvres.

The most important Greek educational institution of the region was the Evangelical School that operated from 1733 to 1922.[21]

Post World War I

 
Greek troops marching on İzmir's coastal street, May 1919

After the end of the First World War, Greece occupied Smyrna from 15 May 1919 and put in place a military administration. The Greek premier Venizelos had plans to annex Smyrna and he seemed to be realizing his objective in the Treaty of Sèvres, signed 10 August 1920.[22] (However, this treaty was not ratified by the parties; the Treaty of Peace of Lausanne replaced it.)

The occupation of Smyrna came to an end when the Turkish army of Kemal Atatürk entered the city on September 9, 1922, at the end of the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922). In the immediate aftermath, a fire broke out in the Greek and Armenian quarters of the city on September 13, 1922, known as the Great Fire of Smyrna. The death toll is estimated to range from 10,000[23][24] to 100,000.[25]

The Armenians, alongside the Greeks, played a significant role in the city's development, most notably during the age of exploration, where Armenians became a crucial player in the trade sector.[26] The Armenians had trade routes stretching from the far east to Europe. One most notable good the Armenians traded was Iranian silk, where the Shah Abbas of Iran gave them the monopoly over it in the 17th century[citation needed]

The Armenians traded Iranian silk with European and Greek merchants in Smyrna; this trade made the Armenians very rich. Besides trade, the Armenians were involved in manufacturing, banking, and other highly productive professions.[26]

After the Armenian Genocide and the Great Fire of Smyrna, the Armenians perished, and the centuries-old history and culture that the Armenians had built in Smyrna were eliminated.

Agora

The remains of the ancient agora of Smyrna constitute today the space of İzmir Agora Museum in İzmir's Namazgah quarter, although its area is commonly referred to as "Agora" by the city's inhabitants.

Situated on the northern slopes of the Pagos hills, it was the commercial, judicial and political nucleus of the ancient city, its center for artistic activities and for teaching.

İzmir Agora Open Air Museum consists of five parts, including the agora area, the base of the northern basilica gate, the stoa and the ancient shopping centre.

The agora of Smyrna was built during the Hellenistic era.

Excavations

 
Engraving with a view of the site of Smyrna Agora a few years after the first explorations (1843)

Although Smyrna was explored by Charles Texier in the 19th century and the German consul in İzmir had purchased the land around the ancient theater in 1917 to start excavations, the first scientific digs can be said to have started in 1927. Most of the discoveries were made by archaeological exploration carried as an extension during the period between 1931 and 1942 by the German archaeologist Rudolf Naumann and Selâhattin Kantar, the director of İzmir and Ephesus museums. They uncovered a three-floor, rectangular compound with stairs in the front, built on columns and arches around a large courtyard in the middle of the building.[citation needed]

New excavations in the agora began in 1996. They have continued since 2002 under the sponsorship of the Metropolitan Municipality of İzmir. A primary school adjacent to the agora that had burned in 1980 was not reconstructed. Instead, its space was incorporated into the historical site. The area of the agora was increased to 16,590 square metres (178,600 sq ft). This permitted the evacuation of a previously unexplored zone. The archaeologists and the local authorities, means permitting, are also keenly eyeing a neighbouring multi-storey car park, which is known to cover an important part of the ancient settlement.[citation needed] During the present renovations the old restorations in concrete are gradually being replaced by marble.

The new excavation has uncovered the agora's northern gate. It has been concluded that embossed figures of the goddess Hestia found in these digs were a continuation of the Zeus altar uncovered during the first digs. Statues of the gods Hermes, Dionysos, Eros and Heracles have also been found, as well as many statues, heads, embossments, figurines and monuments of people and animals, made of marble, stone, bone, glass, metal and terracotta. Inscriptions found here list the people who provided aid to Smyrna after the earthquake of 178 AD.[citation needed]

Economy

In the early 20th-century, Smyrna had a number of mills spinning thread. As of 1920, there were two factories in Smyrna dyeing yarn, which were owned by British companies. These companies employed over 60,000 people. During this time, there was also a French owned cotton spinning mill.[27] The city also produced soap made of refuse olive oil. An ironworks, also owned by the British, produced tools and equipment. Those tools were used to extract tannin from valonia oak. As of 1920, the ironwork was exporting 5,000 tons of product a year. The city also produced wooden boxes, which were used for fig and raisin storage. The wood for the boxes was imported from Austria and Romania.[28]

Toponyms

Several American cities have been named after Smyrna, including Smyrna, Georgia; Smyrna, Tennessee; Smyrna, North Carolina; Smyrna, South Carolina; Smyrna, Delaware; Smyrna, Michigan; Smyrna, Maine[29] and New Smyrna Beach, Florida.

See also

References

  1. ^ Fant, Clyde E. (2003). A Guide to Biblical Sites in Greece and Turkey. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-988145-1. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  2. ^ a b Pausanias, Description of Greece, 7.5
  3. ^ Eti Akyüz Levi, Dokuz Eylül University (2003). "The Agora of İzmir and Cultural Tourism" (PDF). The International Committee for Documentation of Cultural Heritage (CIPA), 2003 Antalya Symposium. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 5, 2009. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  4. ^ Σμύρνα, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus
  5. ^ Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheke, iii.14.4 (Adonis), as quoted in Geoffrey Miles, Classical mythology in English literature: a critical anthology 1999:215.
  6. ^ σμύρνα, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus
  7. ^ List of ancient Greek words starting with σμύρν-, on Perseus
  8. ^ Weston, J. (2007). Patmos Speaks Today. Scripture Truth Publications. p. 27. ISBN 9780901860668. Retrieved October 10, 2014.
  9. ^ Gates, Charles (2011). Ancient Cities: The Archaeology of Urban Life in the Ancient Near East and Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781136823282.
  10. ^ Strabo xiv. (633 BC); Stephanus Byzantinicus; Pliny, Natural History v.31.
  11. ^ Simply "the hill".
  12. ^ a b c Cross, F. L., ed. (2005). "Smyrna". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Oxford University Press.
  13. ^ Revelation 1:11 and Revelation 2:8–11
  14. ^ a b Saavedra Monroy, Mauricio (2015). The Church of Smyrna: History and Theology of a Primitive Christian Community. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang Edition. pp. 41–42. ISBN 9783631662359.
  15. ^ Kraft, Bauer W.; Krodel, G., eds. (1996). Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity (2nd ed.). Mifflintown (PA): Sigler Press. pp. 87–89.
  16. ^ Irenaeus. Adversus Haeres. Book III, Chapter 4, Verse 3 and Chapter 3, Verse 4
  17. ^ Tertullian. Liber de praescriptione haereticorum, circa 208 A.D.
  18. ^ Stetton, Kenneth M. (1976). The Papacy and the Levant, vol. 1. American Philosophical Society. ISBN 0-87169-114-0.
  19. ^ Aydin Dynasty at the Encyclopædia Britannica
  20. ^ Fensham, Florence Amanda; Lyman, Mary I.; Humphrey, Mrs. H. B. (1908). A Modern Crusade in the Turkish Empire. Woman's Board of Missions of the Interior. p. 43.
  21. ^ Geōrgiadou, Maria (2004). Constantin Carathéodory: mathematics and politics in turbulent times. Springer. p. 145. ISBN 978-3-540-20352-0.
  22. ^ Mango, Andrew (2000). Atatürk. Overlok Press. p. 217. ISBN 9781585670116.
  23. ^ Biondich, Mark (2011). The Balkans: Revolution, War, and Political Violence Since 1878. Oxford University Press. p. 92. ISBN 978-0-19-929905-8.
  24. ^ Naimark, Norman M. (2002). Fires of Hatred: Ethnic Cleansing in Twentieth-Century Europe. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. pp. 47–52. ISBN 9780674003132.
  25. ^ Horowitz, Irving Louis; Rummel, Rudolph J. (1994). "Turkey's Genocidal Purges". Death by Government. Transaction Publishers. p. 233. ISBN 978-1-56000-927-6.
  26. ^ a b "Armenian trade networks".
  27. ^ Prothero, G.W. (1920). Anatolia. London: H.M. Stationery Office. p. 111.
  28. ^ Prothero, G.W. (1920). Anatolia. London: H.M. Stationery Office. p. 112.
  29. ^ "Google maps". Retrieved August 16, 2015.

Further reading

External links

  • Foss, C., S. Mitchell, G. Reger, R. Talbert, T. Elliott, S. Gillies (August 2021). "Places: 550893 (Smyrna/Eurydikeia)". Pleiades. Retrieved March 8, 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  • Remembering Smyrna/Izmir: Shared History, Shared Trauma
  • Association of Smyrneans
  • Video footage of Smyrna before and after the Fire

smyrna, this, article, about, ancient, city, modern, city, izmir, other, uses, disambiguation, ɜːr, smur, ancient, greek, Σμύρνη, romanized, smýrnē, Σμύρνα, smýrna, greek, city, located, strategic, point, aegean, coast, anatolia, advantageous, port, conditions. This article is about the ancient city For the modern city see Izmir For other uses see Smyrna disambiguation Smyrna ˈ s m ɜːr n e SMUR ne Ancient Greek Smyrnh romanized Smyrne or Smyrna Smyrna was a Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia Due to its advantageous port conditions its ease of defence and its good inland connections Smyrna rose to prominence The name of the city since about 1930 is Izmir 1 SmyrnaSmyrnh Smyrna Ancient Greek The Agora of Smyrna columns of the western stoa Shown within TurkeyShow map of TurkeySmyrna Europe Show map of EuropeLocationIzmir Izmir Province TurkeyRegionIoniaCoordinates38 25 7 N 27 8 21 E 38 41861 N 27 13917 E 38 41861 27 13917 Coordinates 38 25 7 N 27 8 21 E 38 41861 N 27 13917 E 38 41861 27 13917TypeSettlementSmyrna among the cities of Ionia and Lydia ca 50 AD Two sites of the ancient city are today within Izmir s boundaries The first site probably founded by indigenous peoples rose to prominence during the Archaic Period as one of the principal ancient Greek settlements in western Anatolia The second whose foundation is associated with Alexander the Great 2 reached metropolitan proportions during the period of the Roman Empire Most of the present day remains of the ancient city date from the Roman era the majority from after a second century AD earthquake In practical terms a distinction is often made between these Old Smyrna was the initial settlement founded around the 11th century BC first as an Aeolian settlement and later taken over and developed during the Archaic Period by the Ionians Smyrna proper was the new city which residents moved to as of the fourth century BC and whose foundation was inspired by Alexander the Great 2 Old Smyrna was located on a small peninsula connected to the mainland by a narrow isthmus at the northeastern corner of the inner Gulf of Izmir at the edge of a fertile plain and at the foot of Mount Yamanlar This Anatolian settlement commanded the gulf Today the archeological site named Bayrakli Hoyugu is approximately 700 metres 770 yd inland in the Tepekule neighbourhood of Bayrakli New Smyrna developed simultaneously on the slopes of the Mount Pagos Kadifekale today and alongside the coastal strait immediately below where a small bay existed until the 18th century The core of the late Hellenistic and early Roman Smyrna is preserved in the large area of Izmir Agora Open Air Museum at this site Research is being pursued at the sites of both the old and the new cities This has been conducted since 1997 for Old Smyrna and since 2002 for the Classical Period city in collaboration between the Izmir Archaeology Museum and the Metropolitan Municipality of Izmir 3 Contents 1 History 1 1 Etymology 1 2 Third millennium to 687 BC 1 3 Lydian period 1 4 Hellenistic period 1 5 Roman and Byzantine period 1 6 Ottoman period 1 7 Post World War I 2 Agora 3 Excavations 4 Economy 5 Toponyms 6 See also 7 References 8 Further reading 9 External linksHistory Edit The agora of ancient Smyrna Etymology Edit For further information on etymology of the city s name see Izmir Names and etymology Several explanations have been offered for its name A Greek myth derived the name from an eponymous Amazon named Smyrna Smyrna which was also the name of a quarter of Ephesus This is the basis of Myrina a city of Aeolis In inscriptions and coins the name often was written as Zmyrna Zmyrna Zmyrnaῖos Zmyrnaios of Smyrna 4 Arches of the ancient city of Smyrna The name Smyrna may also have been taken from the ancient Greek word for myrrh smyrna 5 6 7 which was the chief export of the city in ancient times 8 Third millennium to 687 BC Edit Further information Fortifications of ancient Smyrna Further information Old Smyrna The region was settled at least as of the beginning of the third millennium BC or perhaps earlier as suggested by finds made in Yesilova Hoyuk in excavations since 2005 It could have been a city of the autochthonous Leleges before the Greek colonists started to settle along the coast of Asia Minor at the turn of the second to first millennium BC Throughout classical antiquity Smyrna was a leading city state of Ionia with influence over the Aegean shores and islands Smyrna was also among the cities that claimed Homer as a resident 9 The early Aeolian Greek settlers of Lesbos and Cyme expanding eastwards occupied the valley of Smyrna It was one of the confederacy of Aeolian city states marking the Aeolian frontier with the Ionian colonies Strangers or refugees from the Ionian city of Colophon settled in the city During an uprising in 688 BC they took control of the city making it the thirteenth of the Ionian city states Revised mythologies said it was a colony of Ephesus 10 In 688 BC the Ionian boxer Onomastus of Smyrna won the prize at Olympia but the coup was probably then a recent event The Colophonian conquest is mentioned by Mimnermus before 600 BC who counts himself equally of Colophon and of Smyrna The Aeolic form of the name was retained even in the Attic dialect and the epithet Aeolian Smyrna remained current long after the conquest Agora of Smyrna built during the Hellenistic era at the base of Pagos Hill and totally rebuilt under Marcus Aurelius after the destructive 178 AD earthquake Smyrna was located at the mouth of the small river Hermus and at the head of a deep arm of the sea Smyrnaeus Sinus that reached far inland This enabled Greek trading ships to sail into the heart of Lydia making the city part of an essential trade route between Anatolia and the Aegean During the seventh century BC Smyrna rose to power and splendor One of the great trade routes which cross Anatolia descends the Hermus valley past Sardis and then diverging from the valley passes south of Mount Sipylus and crosses a low pass into the little valley where Smyrna lies between the mountains and the sea Miletus and later Ephesus were situated at the sea end of the other great trade route across Anatolia they competed for a time successfully with Smyrna but after both cities harbors silted up Smyrna was without a rival The Meles River which flowed by Smyrna is famous in literature and was worshiped in the valley A common and consistent tradition connects Homer with the valley of Smyrna and the banks of the Meles his figure was one of the stock types on coins of Smyrna one class of which numismatists call Homerian The epithet Melesigenes was applied to him the cave where he was wont to compose his poems was shown near the source of the river his temple the Homereum stood on its banks The steady equable flow of the Meles alike in summer and winter and its short course beginning and ending near the city are celebrated by Aristides and Himerius The stream rises from abundant springs east of the city and flows into the southeast extremity of the gulf The archaic city Old Smyrna contained a temple of Athena from the seventh century BC Lydian period Edit Head of the poetess Sappho Smyrna Marble copy of a prototype belonging to the Hellenistic Period in Istanbul Archaeology Museums Map of Smyrna and other cities within the Lydian Empire When the Mermnad kings raised the Lydian power and aggressiveness Smyrna was one of the first points of attack Gyges ca 687 652 BC was however defeated on the banks of the Hermus the situation of the battlefield showing that the power of Smyrna extended far to the east A strong fortress was built probably by the Smyrnaean Ionians to command the valley of Nymphi the ruins of which are still imposing on a hill in the pass between Smyrna and Nymphi According to Theognis c 500 BC it was pride that destroyed Smyrna Mimnermus laments the degeneracy of the citizens of his day who could no longer stem the Lydian advance Finally Alyattes 609 560 BC conquered the city and sacked it and though Smyrna did not cease to exist the Greek life and political unity were destroyed and the polis was reorganized on the village system Smyrna is mentioned in a fragment of Pindar and in an inscription of 388 BC but its greatness was past Hellenistic period Edit This section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed February 2020 Learn how and when to remove this template message Alexander the Great conceived the idea of restoring the Greek city in a scheme that was according to Strabo actually carried out under Antigonus 316 301 BC and Lysimachus 301 BC 281 BC who enlarged and fortified the city The ruined acropolis of the ancient city the crown of Smyrna had been on a steep peak about 380 metres 1 250 ft high which overhangs the northeast extremity of the gulf Modern Izmir was constructed atop the later Hellenistic city partly on the slopes of a rounded hill the Greeks called Pagos 11 near the southeast end of the gulf and partly on the low ground between the hill and the sea The beauty of the Hellenistic city clustering on the low ground and rising tier over tier on the hillside was frequently praised by the ancients and is celebrated on its coins The statue of the river god Kaystros with a cornucopia in Izmir Museum of History and Art at Kulturpark Smyrna is shut in on the west by a hill now called Deirmen Tepe with the ruins of a temple on the summit The walls of Lysimachus crossed the summit of this hill and the acropolis occupied the top of Pagus Between the two the road from Ephesus entered the city by the Ephesian gate near which was a gymnasium Closer to the acropolis the outline of the stadium is still visible and the theatre was situated on the north slopes of Pagus Smyrna possessed two harbours The outer harbour was simply the open roadstead of the gulf and the inner was a small basin with a narrow entrance partially filled up by Tamerlane in 1402 AD The streets were broad well paved and laid out at right angles many were named after temples the main street called the Golden ran across the city from west to east beginning probably from the temple of Zeus Akraios on the west slope of Pagus and running round the lower slopes of Pagus like a necklace on the statue to use the favorite terms of Aristides the orator towards Tepecik outside the city on the east where probably stood the temple of Cybele worshipped under the name of Meter Sipylene the patroness of the city The name is from the nearby Mount Sipylus which bounds the valley of the city s backlands The plain towards the sea was too low to be properly drained and in rainy weather the streets of the lower town were deep with mud and water At the end of the Hellenistic period in 197 BC the city suddenly cut its ties with King Eumenes of Pergamum and instead appealed to Rome for help Because Rome and Smyrna had no ties until then Smyrna created a cult of Rome to establish a bond and the cult eventually became widespread through the whole Roman Empire As of 195 BC the city of Rome started to be deified in the cult to the goddess Roma In this sense the Smyrneans can be considered as the creators of the goddess Roma In 133 BC when the last Attalid king Attalus III died without an heir his will conferred his entire kingdom including Smyrna to the Romans They organized it into the Roman province of Asia making Pergamum the capital Smyrna however as a major seaport became a leading city in the newly constituted province Roman and Byzantine period Edit Further information Samos theme Byzantine Empire and History of Anatolia Map of Western Anatolia showing the Seven Churches of Asia and the Greek island of Patmos As one of the principal cities of Roman Asia 12 Smyrna vied with Ephesus and Pergamum for the title First City of Asia A Christian church and a bishopric existed here from earliest times probably originating in the considerable Jewish colony It was one of the seven churches addressed in the Book of Revelation 13 Saint Ignatius of Antioch visited Smyrna and later wrote letters to its bishop Polycarp A mob of Jews and pagans abetted the martyrdom of Polycarp in AD 153 12 Saint Irenaeus who heard Polycarp as a boy was probably a native of Smyrna 12 Another famous resident of the same period was Aelius Aristides 14 After a destructive earthquake in 178 AD Smyrna was rebuilt in the Roman period 2nd century AD under the emperor Marcus Aurelius Aelius Aristides wrote a letter to Marcus Aurelius and his son Commodus inviting them to become the new founders of the city 14 The bust of the emperor s wife Faustina on the second arch of the western stoa confirms this fact citation needed Polycrates reports a succession of bishops including Polycarp of Smyrna as well as others in nearby cities such as Melito of Sardis Related to that time the German historian W Bauer wrote Asian Jewish Christianity received in turn the knowledge that henceforth the church would be open without hesitation to the Jewish influence mediated by Christians coming not only from the apocalyptic traditions but also from the synagogue with its practices concerning worship which led to the appropriation of the Jewish passover observance Even the observance of the sabbath by Christians appears to have found some favor in Asia we find that in post apostolic times in the period of the formation of ecclesiastical structure the Jewish Christians in these regions come into prominence 15 In the late second century Irenaeus also noted Polycarp also was not only instructed by apostles and conversed with many who had seen Christ but was also by apostles in Asia appointed bishop of the Church in Smyrna always taught the things which he had learned from the apostles and which the Church has handed down and which alone are true To these things all the Asiatic Churches testify as do also those men who have succeeded Polycarp 16 Tertullian wrote c 208 AD Anyhow the heresies are at best novelties and have no continuity with the teaching of Christ Perhaps some heretics may claim Apostolic antiquity we reply Let them publish the origins of their churches and unroll the catalogue of their bishops till now from the Apostles or from some bishop appointed by the Apostles as the Smyrnaeans count from Polycarp and John and the Romans from Clement and Peter let heretics invent something to match this 17 Hence apparently the church in Smyrna was one of the churches that Tertullian felt had real apostolic succession During the mid 3rd century most became affiliated with the Greco Roman churches When Constantinople became the seat of government the trade between Anatolia and the West diminished in importance and Smyrna declined The Seljuq commander Tzachas seized Smyrna in 1084 and used it as a base for naval raids but the city was recovered by the general John Doukas The city was several times ravaged by the Turks and had become quite ruinous when the Nicaean emperor John III Doukas Vatatzes rebuilt it about 1222 Ottoman period Edit Main article Izmir In the year 1403 Timur had decisively defeated the Knights Hospitaller at Smyrna and therefore referred to himself as a Ghazi The Great Fire of Smyrna as seen from an Italian ship 14 September 1922 Ibn Batuta found it still in great part a ruin when the homonymous chieftain of the Beylik of Aydin had conquered it about 1330 and made his son Umur governor It became the port of the emirate During the Smyrniote Crusade in 1344 on October 28 the combined forces of the Knights Hospitaliers of Rhodes the Republic of Venice the Papal States and the Kingdom of Cyprus captured both the harbor and city from the Turks which they held for nearly 60 years the citadel fell in 1348 with the death of the governor Umur Baha ad Din Ghazi 18 In 1402 Tamerlane stormed the town and massacred almost all the inhabitants Timur s conquest was only temporary but Smyrna was recovered by the Turks under the Aydin dynasty after which it became Ottoman when the Ottomans took over the lands of Aydin after 1425 19 Greek influence was so strong in the area that the Turks called it Smyrna of the infidels Gavur Izmir 20 While Turkish sources track the emergence of the term to the 14th century when two separate parts of the city were controlled by two different powers the upper Izmir being Muslim and the lower part of the city Christian citation needed clarification needed During the late 19th and early 20th century the city was an important financial and cultural center of the Greek world citation needed Out of the 391 factories 322 belonged to local Greeks while 3 out of the 9 banks were backed by Greek capital Education was also dominated by the local Greek communities with 67 male and 4 female schools in total The Ottomans continued to control the area with the exception of the 1919 1922 period when the city was assigned to Greece by the Treaty of Sevres The most important Greek educational institution of the region was the Evangelical School that operated from 1733 to 1922 21 Post World War I Edit Main articles Occupation of Smyrna and Great Fire of Smyrna Greek troops marching on Izmir s coastal street May 1919 After the end of the First World War Greece occupied Smyrna from 15 May 1919 and put in place a military administration The Greek premier Venizelos had plans to annex Smyrna and he seemed to be realizing his objective in the Treaty of Sevres signed 10 August 1920 22 However this treaty was not ratified by the parties the Treaty of Peace of Lausanne replaced it The occupation of Smyrna came to an end when the Turkish army of Kemal Ataturk entered the city on September 9 1922 at the end of the Greco Turkish War 1919 1922 In the immediate aftermath a fire broke out in the Greek and Armenian quarters of the city on September 13 1922 known as the Great Fire of Smyrna The death toll is estimated to range from 10 000 23 24 to 100 000 25 The Armenians alongside the Greeks played a significant role in the city s development most notably during the age of exploration where Armenians became a crucial player in the trade sector 26 The Armenians had trade routes stretching from the far east to Europe One most notable good the Armenians traded was Iranian silk where the Shah Abbas of Iran gave them the monopoly over it in the 17th century citation needed The Armenians traded Iranian silk with European and Greek merchants in Smyrna this trade made the Armenians very rich Besides trade the Armenians were involved in manufacturing banking and other highly productive professions 26 After the Armenian Genocide and the Great Fire of Smyrna the Armenians perished and the centuries old history and culture that the Armenians had built in Smyrna were eliminated Agora EditMain article Agora of Smyrna The remains of the ancient agora of Smyrna constitute today the space of Izmir Agora Museum in Izmir s Namazgah quarter although its area is commonly referred to as Agora by the city s inhabitants Situated on the northern slopes of the Pagos hills it was the commercial judicial and political nucleus of the ancient city its center for artistic activities and for teaching Izmir Agora Open Air Museum consists of five parts including the agora area the base of the northern basilica gate the stoa and the ancient shopping centre The agora of Smyrna was built during the Hellenistic era Excavations Edit Engraving with a view of the site of Smyrna Agora a few years after the first explorations 1843 Although Smyrna was explored by Charles Texier in the 19th century and the German consul in Izmir had purchased the land around the ancient theater in 1917 to start excavations the first scientific digs can be said to have started in 1927 Most of the discoveries were made by archaeological exploration carried as an extension during the period between 1931 and 1942 by the German archaeologist Rudolf Naumann and Selahattin Kantar the director of Izmir and Ephesus museums They uncovered a three floor rectangular compound with stairs in the front built on columns and arches around a large courtyard in the middle of the building citation needed New excavations in the agora began in 1996 They have continued since 2002 under the sponsorship of the Metropolitan Municipality of Izmir A primary school adjacent to the agora that had burned in 1980 was not reconstructed Instead its space was incorporated into the historical site The area of the agora was increased to 16 590 square metres 178 600 sq ft This permitted the evacuation of a previously unexplored zone The archaeologists and the local authorities means permitting are also keenly eyeing a neighbouring multi storey car park which is known to cover an important part of the ancient settlement citation needed During the present renovations the old restorations in concrete are gradually being replaced by marble The new excavation has uncovered the agora s northern gate It has been concluded that embossed figures of the goddess Hestia found in these digs were a continuation of the Zeus altar uncovered during the first digs Statues of the gods Hermes Dionysos Eros and Heracles have also been found as well as many statues heads embossments figurines and monuments of people and animals made of marble stone bone glass metal and terracotta Inscriptions found here list the people who provided aid to Smyrna after the earthquake of 178 AD citation needed Economy EditIn the early 20th century Smyrna had a number of mills spinning thread As of 1920 there were two factories in Smyrna dyeing yarn which were owned by British companies These companies employed over 60 000 people During this time there was also a French owned cotton spinning mill 27 The city also produced soap made of refuse olive oil An ironworks also owned by the British produced tools and equipment Those tools were used to extract tannin from valonia oak As of 1920 the ironwork was exporting 5 000 tons of product a year The city also produced wooden boxes which were used for fig and raisin storage The wood for the boxes was imported from Austria and Romania 28 Toponyms EditSeveral American cities have been named after Smyrna including Smyrna Georgia Smyrna Tennessee Smyrna North Carolina Smyrna South Carolina Smyrna Delaware Smyrna Michigan Smyrna Maine 29 and New Smyrna Beach Florida See also EditList of ancient Greek cities Ionia Nea Smyrni New Smyrna Beach Florida On the Quai at Smyrna Hemingway story Yesilova HoyukReferences Edit Fant Clyde E 2003 A Guide to Biblical Sites in Greece and Turkey Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 988145 1 Retrieved 5 February 2020 a b Pausanias Description of Greece 7 5 Eti Akyuz Levi Dokuz Eylul University 2003 The Agora of Izmir and Cultural Tourism PDF The International Committee for Documentation of Cultural Heritage CIPA 2003 Antalya Symposium Archived from the original PDF on February 5 2009 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a External link in code class cs1 code publisher code help Smyrna Henry George Liddell Robert Scott A Greek English Lexicon on Perseus Pseudo Apollodorus Bibliotheke iii 14 4 Adonis as quoted in Geoffrey Miles Classical mythology in English literature a critical anthology 1999 215 smyrna Henry George Liddell Robert Scott A Greek English Lexicon on Perseus List of ancient Greek words starting with smyrn on Perseus Weston J 2007 Patmos Speaks Today Scripture Truth Publications p 27 ISBN 9780901860668 Retrieved October 10 2014 Gates Charles 2011 Ancient Cities The Archaeology of Urban Life in the Ancient Near East and Egypt Greece and Rome Taylor amp Francis ISBN 9781136823282 Strabo xiv 633 BC Stephanus Byzantinicus Pliny Natural History v 31 Simply the hill a b c Cross F L ed 2005 Smyrna The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church Oxford University Press Revelation 1 11 and Revelation 2 8 11 a b Saavedra Monroy Mauricio 2015 The Church of Smyrna History and Theology of a Primitive Christian Community Frankfurt am Main Peter Lang Edition pp 41 42 ISBN 9783631662359 Kraft Bauer W Krodel G eds 1996 Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity 2nd ed Mifflintown PA Sigler Press pp 87 89 Irenaeus Adversus Haeres Book III Chapter 4 Verse 3 and Chapter 3 Verse 4 Tertullian Liber de praescriptione haereticorum circa 208 A D Stetton Kenneth M 1976 The Papacy and the Levant vol 1 American Philosophical Society ISBN 0 87169 114 0 Aydin Dynasty at the Encyclopaedia Britannica Fensham Florence Amanda Lyman Mary I Humphrey Mrs H B 1908 A Modern Crusade in the Turkish Empire Woman s Board of Missions of the Interior p 43 Geōrgiadou Maria 2004 Constantin Caratheodory mathematics and politics in turbulent times Springer p 145 ISBN 978 3 540 20352 0 Mango Andrew 2000 Ataturk Overlok Press p 217 ISBN 9781585670116 Biondich Mark 2011 The Balkans Revolution War and Political Violence Since 1878 Oxford University Press p 92 ISBN 978 0 19 929905 8 Naimark Norman M 2002 Fires of Hatred Ethnic Cleansing in Twentieth Century Europe Cambridge MA Harvard University Press pp 47 52 ISBN 9780674003132 Horowitz Irving Louis Rummel Rudolph J 1994 Turkey s Genocidal Purges Death by Government Transaction Publishers p 233 ISBN 978 1 56000 927 6 a b Armenian trade networks Prothero G W 1920 Anatolia London H M Stationery Office p 111 Prothero G W 1920 Anatolia London H M Stationery Office p 112 Google maps Retrieved August 16 2015 Further reading EditEkrem Akurgal 2002 Ancient Civilisations and Ruins of Turkey Kegan Paul ISBN 978 0 7103 0776 7 George E Bean 1967 Aegean Turkey An archaeological guide Ernest Benn London ISBN 978 0 510 03200 5 Philip Mansel Levant Splendour and Catastrophe on the Mediterranean London John Murray 11 November 2010 hardback 480 pages ISBN 978 0 7195 6707 0 New Haven Yale University Press 24 May 2011 hardback 470 pages ISBN 978 0 300 17264 5 Stillman ed The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites 1976 Turner J Grove Dictionary of Art Oxford University Press USA New Ed edition January 2 1996 ISBN 978 0 19 517068 9 Milton Giles 2009 Paradise Lost Sceptre ISBN 978 0 340 83787 0 External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Smyrna Foss C S Mitchell G Reger R Talbert T Elliott S Gillies August 2021 Places 550893 Smyrna Eurydikeia Pleiades Retrieved March 8 2012 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Remembering Smyrna Izmir Shared History Shared Trauma Association of Smyrneans Video footage of Smyrna before and after the Fire Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Smyrna amp oldid 1129296480, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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