OLD SMYRNA: First Settlement in Izmir - Ancient Cities #50 with Eng Sub

The name Smyrna is not of Greek origin, but is of Anatolian origin, like many place names in the Aegean region. Named after Smyrna; It yielded Amazons, as in the cities of Ephesus, Kyme and Myrina. Strabo, one of the ancient writers; The erectids fought the Amazons and won; It is said that These, their leader, married the Amazon woman Smyrna and named the region after her, and from that date on, both the city and its inhabitants were named after her. Just as some Ephesians were named Sisyibitler because of Sisyrbe, the Smyrna people took this name because of the Amazon woman Smyrna.
The ancient city of Smyrna, which gave its name to Izmir, was founded in the first half of the 3rd millennium BC, on the southern skirts of the Ancient Sipylos Mountain (Yamanlar Mountain), on a small cape extending towards the Aegean Sea. This elevation, which lies on the edge of a bay closed to the north wind and has a natural harbor, has been one of the most important settlement areas in the Gulf of Izmir since the Early Bronze Age. This hill, called Tepekule, which reached a height of 21 meters above the sea with the ruins of the settlements built on it over time, has now turned into a mound approximately 600 meters away from the sea due to alluvial filling and changing sea levels.
This area where Smyrna was founded was known until the Roman Imperial Period and was called Old Smyrna. The city of Old Smyrna, which was founded on a small hill in the Bayraklı district of Izmir today, remained out of sight and its location was forgotten after the Roman Imperial Period.
In addition to its name surviving until modern times with Izmir, Old Smyrna has an important place as it is known as the homeland of the ancient poet Homer and the city of the legendary King Tantalus. These features attracted the attention of travelers to Izmir in our recent history, and the information and myths about Smyrna conveyed by ancient writers such as Herodotus, Strabo and Pausanias served as a guide for travelers.
Although one of the reasons that led European travelers to seek out Old Smyrna was that the city stood out as the possible homeland of the famous poet Homer, the other was undoubtedly the connection between Smyrna and the legendary king Tantalus. It is possible to see this connection in two ancient writers. Pausanias said, “Pelops and Tantalus once lived in my country, and their signs remain to this day. A lake named after Tantalus, a remarkable tomb and the Monument of Pelops beyond the sanctuary of Plastene on the summit of Mount Sipylus.” It is probably unthinkable that his words like this do not attract curious researchers to Sipylos. Beyond this, Pausanias also gives a hint that the remains that can be discovered will be quite sensational by saying, "The tomb of Tantalus, which is a must-see, is on Mount Sipylus. I know, because I saw it."
"Smyrna is a city of Ionia," mentioned in Stephanos Byzantios. It was first founded and settled by Tantalus. It was first called Naulokhon and then Smyrna after the Amazon Smyrne who ruled Ephesos.” The following sentences indicate that Tantalus and Old Smyrna may be directly connected. In the passages of two other important writers there is evidence of where to look for Ancient Smyrna. Strabo writes, "After the Smyrnaians separated from the Ephesians, they marched to the place where Smyrna is now located and ruled by the Leleges. They chased these people and founded Old Smyrna, which is about 20 stadiums away from the present-day city." His statement reveals that the old city was approximately 4 km away from Smyrna, on the outskirts of Pagos, at his time.
While New Smyrna, which was re-established after Alexander the Great on the outskirts of Pagos (Kadifekale), has not been forgotten throughout history, the location of Old Smyrna was unknown until it was discovered by a traveler named Gropius in the 19th century. After its discovery in 1801 or a few years later, in 1825 Prokesch von Osten describes the ruins that can be seen in the city. Meanwhile, other European travelers, interpreting the information in ancient sources such as Pausanias and Strabo, are conducting research on the slopes of Mount Yamanlar (Sipylos) to find the city and grave of the legendary Tantalus. While these researches led to the discovery of the tombs and castles of Old Smyrna, the city center went unnoticed.
We encounter the first information about the location of Old Smyrna in the letters of Louis François Sébastien Fauvel at the beginning of the 19th century. Fauvel reports that Georg Christian Gropius found a city on the outskirts of Sipylos. In 1825, Anton Prokesch von Osten made detailed investigations in the city, and a year later, Charles Texier came to the region and conducted research in the monumental tumulus attributed to the legendary King Tantalus.
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