The Greeks of Anatolia: The History of the Greek City-States and Kingdoms in the Region during the Classical Era

After the Sea Peoples cast aside the old world order at the end of the Bronze Age, a number of kingdoms in Anatolia filled the power vacuum for at least a few centuries, including the Phrygians and Lydians, and the Achaemenid Persian Empire would forge the world’s largest empire with Anatolia as its heartland, but a number of Greek cities also began to pop up, and over the course of the region’s turbulent history, their fortunes would rise and fall.

Smyrna was one of the various cities that enjoyed brief yet important periods of influence in which they spawned important dynasties, were the scenes of history-changing battles, and were the sites of great advances in philosophy, science, and economics. However, despite the fact it endured in influence for more than 2,000 years, Smyrna never truly gained the reputation of better-known locales in the ancient world.

Likewise, Miletus was an ancient city located on the west coast of present-day Turkey, which allowed it to become one of the most important places in Anatolia, linking the Hellenistic world with the great civilizations of Babylon, Egypt, and eventually Persia. Over time, Miletus was ruled by the Minoans, Mycenaeans, Hittites, Ionians, Persians, Seleucids, Attalids, Romans, Byzantines, Seljuk Turks, and Ottomans. Perhaps not surprisingly, it had a massive influence on the Western world during the 6th and 5th centuries BCE, as a revolution in human thinking took place there.

Although it is no longer quite as well remembered as it was thousands of years ago, one of the most important cities in the ancient world was Ephesus, a city that dates back nearly 3,000 years and can lay claim to the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. 

All of these cities had to deal cautiously with the Achaemenid Persians, but the Greco-Persian Wars also set the Achaemenids on a path with Alexander the Great.