Ionia

Ionia, ancient district, comprising the central portion of the west coast of Asia Minor (now Turkey), together with the adjacent islands. The region received its name from the Ionians, Greeks who emigrated from the mainland of Greece probably before 1000 bc. The area is mountainous and includes three fertile valleys, which are watered by the Gediz, Küçük Menderes, and Büyük Menderes rivers. Ionia was extremely prosperous in ancient times through agriculture and trade. In the 7th and 6th centuries bc Ionia made important contributions to Greek art and literature, and particularly to philosophy. Great cities were founded, among which Ephesus, Clazomenae, Erythrae, Colophon, and Miletus were the most celebrated. Several cities, such as Miletus and Phocaea, became important commercial centres and sending colonists westward as far as modern Spain and northwards to the Black Sea.

Common interests led the 12 Ionian cities to form a confederacy, within which each city remained autonomous. Smyrna (now İzmir) was originally settled by the Aeolian Greeks, but was later occupied by colonists from Colophon and became an Ionian city. In the 7th and 6th centuries bc the cities of Ionia were involved in a series of wars with the kings of Lydia. Ionia exercised a powerful influence on Lydian culture, its own culture being influenced in turn by Lydia. In 546 bc the Ionians came under the sway of Persia, but revolted from Persian rule in 500 bc, assisted by the Greek cities of Athens and Eretria. The revolt was suppressed, but the participation of Athens and Eretria gave the Persians a pretext for declaring war on Greece. With the defeat of Persia by the Greeks in 479 bc, the Ionian cities became nominally free, but in reality they were dependent on Athens. About 334 bc Alexander the Great annexed the cities to his Graeco-Macedonian empire. Subsequently, Ionia was incorporated into the Roman and Byzantine empires. The culture of the area continued to flourish until the Ottoman Turkish invasion of the 15th century ad.