Ancient City Magnesia on the Maeander-Stadion

The founding of Magnesia is legendarily placed one generation before the Trojan War by Magnetes from Thessaly. Under the rule of the Lydian king Gyges in the 8th century BC, the city flourished, but was conquered by Cimmerians around 657 BC and later taken by Ephesus. Cyrus II incorporated Magnesia into the Persian Empire, and Themistocles later chose it as his residence. After a reconstruction by Thibron around 400 BC, the city came under Macedonian, then Seleucid rule, experiencing its cultural heyday in the 2nd century BC under the Kingdom of Pergamon. Following a peace treaty with Milet in 196 BC and liberation by the Romans after 190 BC, Magnesia became part of the Roman Empire in 133 BC.