Smyrna

For other meanings of Smyrna, see Smyrna (disambiguation).

Hellenistic Smyrna

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 BCE) and Lysimachus, who enlarged and fortified the city (301–281 BCE). The ruined acropolis of the ancient city, the "crown of Smyrna," had been on a steep peak about 1250 ft. high, which overhangs the northeast extremity of the gulf. The later, Hellenistic city was founded on the modern site of Izmir, partly on the slopes of a rounded hill the Greeks called Pagus 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.

Related Topics:
Alexander the Great - Strabo - 316 - 301 BCE - 281 BCE - Hellenistic

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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, which was simply the open roadstead of the gulf, and the inner, which was a small basin, with a narrow entrance, partially filled up by Timur in 1402.

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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 Tepejik outside the city on the E., where probably stood the temple of Cybele, worshipped under the name of Meter Sipylene, (from Mt. Sipylus, which bounds the Smyrna valley), the patroness of the city. The plain towards the sea was too low to be properly drained and hence in rainy weather the streets were deep with mud and water.

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