The Lydians took possession under Ardys, son of Gyges; and having destroyed it, the inhabitants dispersed themselves into several districts.
Alexander, in compliance with the directions of a vision, he saw near the temple of the Furies, rebuilt it four hundred years after it had been destroyed by the Lydians. Strabo, however, attributes its re-establishment to Antigonus and Lysimachus. But as neither that author nor Arrian mention Alexander as having done so, it is not improbable that he only meditated the doing so; that Antigonus followed up his design; and that Lysimachus carried its completion into effect.
At Smyrna there were none of the tyrants, who oppressed many other cities of Asia. Even the Romans respected the happy state of this town, and left it the shadow of liberty. This is a fine panegyric upon the system of polity, that must have been adopted and invariably preserved.
There is another circumstance, highly to its honour: the inhabitants believed that Homer was born in their city, and they showed a place which bore the poet’s name. They also paid him divine honours. Of all the cities, which contended for the honour of having given birth to this transcendant poet, Smyrna has undoubtedly the most reason on her side. Herodotus absolutely decides in favour of Smyrna, assuring us, that he was born on the banks of the river Meles, whence he took the name of Melesigenes.
The inhabitants are said to have been much given to luxury and indolence; but they were universally esteemed for their valour and intrepidity when called into action. Anacharsis is made to speak of their city in the following manner:—“Our road, which was almost everywhere overshadowed by beautiful andrachnes, led us to the mouth of the Hermus; and thence our view extended over that superb bay, formed by a peninsula, on which are the cities of Erythræ and Teos. At the bottom of it are some small villages, the unfortunate remains of the ancient city of Smyrna, formerly destroyed by the Lydians. They still bear the same name; and, should circumstances one day permit the inhabitants to unite and form one town, defended by walls, their situation will doubtless attract an immense commerce.”
It was the first town of Asia Minor, according to Tacitus, which, even during the existence of Carthage, erected any temple to “Rome the Goddess.” Part of the city was destroyed by Dolabella, when he slew Trebonius, one of the conspirators against Cæsar. But it flourished greatly under the early emperors: Marcus Aurelius repaired it after it had been destroyed by an earthquake; and under Caracalla it took the name of the first city of Asia.
Smyrna was much celebrated for its stately buildings, magnificent temples, and marble porticoes. It had several grand porticoes of a square form, amongst which was one in which stood a temple of Homer, adorned with a statue of the bard. There was also a gymnasium, and a temple dedicated to the mother of the gods. Where the gymnasium was, however, is now past conjecture; but part of its theatre was still in existence in the time of Sir George Wheler. “The theatre,” says he, “is on the brow of the hill north of the course, built of white marble, but now is going to be destroyed, to build the new Kan and Bazar hard by the fort below, which they are now about; and in doing whereof there hath been lately found a pot of medals, all of the emperor Gallienus’ family, and the other tyrants that reigned in his time.” There were also there the remains of a circus, and a considerable number of ancient foundations and noble structures; but what they were Sir George considered uncertain. He found also many inscriptions and medals, on which the names of Tiberius, Claudius, and Nero were to be read; on others, sepulchral monuments. Among these, was one with an inscription “to the emperor Adrian, Olympian, Saviour and Founder.”
In the Armenian church-yard he saw an inscription—“Good Fortune to the most splendid Metropolitan, and thrice Neocorus of the emperor, according to the judgment of the most holy senate of Smyrniotes[239].”
Many writers do not seem to be aware, that the ancient Smyrna did not occupy the spot where modern Smyrna stands, but one about two miles and a half distant. It was built partly on the brow of a hill, and partly on a plain towards the port, and had a temple dedicated to Cybele. It was then the most beautiful of all the Asiatic cities. “But that which was, and ever will be, its true glory,” says Sir George Wheler, “was their early reception of the gospel of Jesus Christ—glorious in the testimony he has given of them, and happy in the faithful promises he made to them. Let us, therefore, consider what he writeth to them by the Evangelist St. John:—(Apoc. ii. 9.) ‘I know thy works and tribulation, and poverty; but thou art rich. And I know the blasphemy of them, that say they are Jews, and are not: but are the Synagogue of Satan. Fear none of those things, which thou shalt suffer. Behold, the Devil shall cast some of ye in prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful unto death; and I will give thee a crown of life.’”