Ancient City Magnesia on the Maeander

The founding of Magnesia on the Maeander is, according to legend, attributed to the Magnetes from Thessaly, who settled here a generation before the Trojan War. The city experienced changing rulers, including the Lydian King Gyges and the conquest by Cimmerians around 657 BC. Later, it fell to Ephesus and eventually became part of the Persian Empire under Cyrus II. Themistocles chose Magnesia as his residence. After its destruction, it was rebuilt by Thibron in 400/399 BC. Under Alexander the Great, Magnesia became Macedonian and passed through various Diadochi kingdoms before becoming Seleucid and experiencing its cultural heyday in the 2nd century BC under the Kingdom of Pergamon. After a war with Milet in 196 BC, the city gained its freedom under Roman rule after 190 BC and was bequeathed to the Roman Empire in 133 BC.