Short History

İzmir, also known as the ancient city of Smyrna; was mentioned by the famous historian Heredos, as ‘the city under  the most sublime blue sky and with the remarkable climate’. Alexander the Great was told by Aristo, the philosopher  ‘If you do not see Smyrna, you remain lacking’.

Izmir is recognised as the place where ancient civilizations, the source of western culture, were established. It is believed that ancient Smyrna was initially founded on an island in the northeast of the bay. The first settlements of İzmir date back to long before 3000 BC. In the light of the excavations, it is known that the first settlement was dated from the Ancient Bronze Age.

The city reached its peak between the years of 650 and 545 BC, during the most powerful years of the Ionic period.

The city had already diversified from local agricultural trade, to international trade in the Mediterranean. This trade has been documented with the spread of the practice of writing from 650BC onwards. At the time, many gifts were brought to the Goddess Athena with inscriptions dedicated to her. Excavations at the Temple of Athena have revealed inscriptions dating back to 640 – 580 BC. Some of the oldest and most beautiful of these gifts and their inscriptions have been found from excavations in İzmir.

By 1620, İzmir had become one of the most important trade centres of the Ottoman Empire. In 1688, following a powerful earthquake, a fire spread and destroyed the city. Rapid reconstruction followed, and by the 18th and 19th centuries, İzmir had become popular with the French, English, Dutch and Italian merchants as an international Ottoman trade centre.

Another fire in 1923 destroyed the centre of the city again , and rebuilding began in line with the proclamation of the Turkish Republic, when it is said that ‘the city rose again like a Phoenix from its ashes’.