Magnesia ad Maeandrum
- A settlement in Ionia
Magnesia 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.
The territory around Magnesia was extremely fertile, and produced excellent wine, figs, and cucumbers. It lay within Ionia, but because it had been settled by Aeolians from Greece, was not accepted into the Ionian League. It may have been ruled for a time by the Lydians,and was for some time under the control of the Persians, and subject to Cimmerian raids.
In the time of the Romans, Magnesia was added to the kingdom of Pergamon, after Antiochus had been driven eastward beyond Mount Taurus. After this time the town seems to have declined and is rarely mentioned, though it is still noticed by Pliny and Tacitus.
The territory around Magnesia was extremely fertile, and produced excellent wine, figs, and cucumbers. It lay within Ionia, but because it had been settled by Aeolians from Greece, was not accepted into the Ionian League. It may have been ruled for a time by the Lydians,and was for some time under the control of the Persians, and subject to Cimmerian raids.
In the time of the Romans, Magnesia was added to the kingdom of Pergamon, after Antiochus had been driven eastward beyond Mount Taurus. After this time the town seems to have declined and is rarely mentioned, though it is still noticed by Pliny and Tacitus.
Modern location: Ruins
(1)
Philip III
c. 323 - 319 BC
Obverse:
Head of Herakles right, wearing Nemean lion scalp headdress
Reverse:
ΦIΛIΠΠOY / Zeus seated left on throne without back, nude to waist, himation around hips and legs, right leg forward, feet on footstool, eagle in extended right hand, long scepter vertical behind in left hand, monogram below throne