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Magnesia on the Maeander

Magnesia or Magnesia on the Maeander (Ancient Greek: Μαγνησία ἡ πρὸς Μαιάνδρῳ or Μαγνησία ἡ ἐπὶ Μαιάνδρῳ; Latin: Magnesia ad Maeandrum) was an ancient Greek city in Ionia, considerable in size, at an important location commercially and strategically in the triangle of Priene, Ephesus and Tralles. The city was named Magnesia, after the Magnetes from Thessaly who settled the area along with some Cretans. It was later called "on the Meander" to distinguish it from the nearby Lydian city Magnesia ad Sipylum. It was earlier the site of Leucophrys mentioned by several ancient writers.[1]

For other uses, see Magnesia (disambiguation).

Location

Tekin, Aydın Province, Turkey

Ionia

37°51′10″N 27°31′38″E / 37.85278°N 27.52722°E / 37.85278; 27.52722

Settlement

Magnetian and Cretan settlers

Greek, Roman

Bathycles of Magnesia, Themistocles, Saint Lazarus of Magnesia

1891–1893, 1984–present

Carl Humann, Orhan Bingöl

Ruined

Public

Yes

The territory around Magnesia was extremely fertile, and produced excellent wine, figs, and cucumbers.[2] It was built on the slope of Mount Thorax,[3] on the banks of the small river Lethacus, a tributary of the Maeander river upstream from Ephesus. It was 15 miles from the city of Miletus.[4][5] The ruins of the city are located west of the modern village Tekin in the Germencik district of Aydın Province, Turkey.


Magnesia lay within Ionia, but because it had been settled by Aeolians from Greece, was not accepted into the Ionian League. Magnesia may have been ruled for a time by the Lydians,[6] and was for some time under the control of the Persians and subject to Cimmerian raids. In later years, Magnesia supported the Romans during the Second Mithridatic War.[7][8]

(6th century BC) Greek sculptor

Bathycles

of Athens spent his final years and was buried here

Themistocles

Protophanes (Πρωτοφάνης) ancient victor of both and Pankration[26]

wrestling

Alciphron (Ἀλκίφρων), Greek philosopher

[27]

of Magnesia

Saint Charalampos

: Magnesia am Maeander. Bericht über die Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen der Jahre 1891–1893. Berlin: Reimer, 1904

Carl Humann

Volker Kästner: Der Tempel des Zeus Sosipolis von Magnesia am Mäander, in: Brigitte Knittlmayer and Wolf-Dieter Heilmeyer: Die Antikensammlung, Mainz: Philipp von Zabern, 1998, p. 230-231

Johannes Althoff: Ein Meister des Verwirklichens. Der Archäologe Theodor Wiegand, in: Peter Behrens, Theodor Wiegand und die Villa in Dahlem. Klaus Rheidt and Barbara A. Lutz (ed.), Mainz: Philipp von Zabern, 2004, p. 151

Magnesia on the Maeander is the location for the historical mystery novel The Ionia Sanction, by , set during the last days of Themistocles.

Gary Corby

List of ancient Greek cities

In Smith, W. (1854). Dictionary of Greek and Roman geography. Boston: Little, Brown & Co

Page 252