Other Archaeological Sites / The Neolithic of the Levant (500 Page Book Online) Ancient Smyrna (Modern Izmir) The original city was established in the third millennium BC and at that time shared with Troy the most advanced culture in Western Anatolia. By 1500 BC it had fallen under the influence of the Hittite Empire of Central Anatolia. In the first millennium BC Izmir -- then known as Smyrna -- ranked as one of the important cities of the Ionian Federation. During this period it is believed that Homer lived here. The Lydian conquest of the city around 600 BC brought this period to an end and Izmir remained little more than a village throughout the Lydian and the subsequent 6th century BC Persian rule. In the fourth century BC a new city was built at the instigation of Alexander the Great on the slopes of Mount Pages (Kadifekale). The Roman Period from the first century BC gave birth to its second great era ..... |