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Эzmir - Birth Place of Homer
Known in Turkish as "Beautiful Izmir", the city
lies at the head of a long and narrow gulf furrowed by ships
and yachts. The climate is mild and in the summer the constant
and refreshing sea breezes temper the sun's heat. Behind
the palm-lined promenades and avenues which follow the shoreline,
the city, in horizontal terraces, gently ascends the slopes
of the surrounding mountains. The third largest city in
Turkey, Izmir's port is second only to Istanbul's. A cosmopolitan
and lively city all year round, during the International
Arts Festival (June/July) and the International Fair (August/Sept),
Izmir bursts with an added vibrancy.
 The
original city was established in the third millennium B.C.
(at present day Bayrakli), and at that time shared, with
Troy, the most advanced culture in Western Anatolia. By
1500 B.C. it had fallen under the influence of Central Anatolia's
Hittite Empire. In the first millennium B.C. Izmir, then
known as Smyrna, ranked as one of the important cities of
the lonian Federation; during this period - one of the city's
most brilliant - it is believed that Homer resided here.
The Lydian conquest of the city, around 600 B.C., brought
this period to an end, and Izmir remained little more than
a village throughout the Lydian and the subsequent 6th century
B.C. Persian rule. In the fourth century B.C. a new city
was built at the instigation of Alexander the Great on the
slopes of Mt. Pagos (Kadifekale). Izmir's Roman period,
from the first century B.C., gave birth to its second great
era. Byzantine rule followed in the fourth century and lasted
until the Seljuk conquest in the 11th century. In t415,
under Sultan Mehmet Зelebi; Izmir became part of the Ottoman
Empire.
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