Below is a sequence of some of the events that affected the history of the city of İzmir (historically also Smyrna).
Timeline DateOccurrencec. 6000–4000 BCİzmir region's first Neolithic and mid-Chalcolithic settlements in Yeşilova Höyük and the adjacent Yassıtepe Höyük, within the boundaries of the present-day Bornova metropolitan district located in the middle of the plain that extends starting from the tip of the Gulf of İzmir, last for at least two millennia.starting c. 3000 BCFirst traces of settlement attested in the mound (höyük) called either as Tepekule or under the same name as its neighborhood (Bayraklı) along a small peninsula in the northeastern corner of Gulf of İzmir's end which will later become the location of Old Smyrna.
DateOccurrenceest. mid to end of third millennium BCLuvians arrive and settle in, initially western, and gradually across southern Anatolia.est. c. 1440 BCThe first recorded urban settlement which controlled the Gulf of İzmir, associated with the semi-legendary local ruler Tantalus, called the Phrygian and also associable with the Luvians and the Lydians, and deriving its wealth from the region's mineral reserves, is founded on or near Mount Yamanlar. A "Tomb of Tantalus" near this mountain, as well as an alternative tomb some sources associate with the same Tantalus on Mount Sipylus reached our day, scholars differing on associations that could be based on the one or the other.est. c. 1370 BCPart of the Lydian population, led by Tyrrhenus according to the accounts, obliged to leave their land due to famine, build themselves ships in the present-day harbor of İzmir and sail away in search of new homes and better sustenance, to finally arrive to Umbria where, according to one account (Herodotus), they lay the foundations of the future Etruscan civilization.est. c. 1360 BCPelops, the son of Tantalus, abandons the city founded by his father and founds a kingdom in the Peloponnese, named after him. His sister Niobe remains associated with the "Weeping Rock" on Mount Sipylus.c. 1200 BCLate Hittites advance in western Anatolia, called at first as "Luwiya" and then as Arzawa in Hittite sources, is attested by a monument carved in rock in Karabel mountain pass near the modern city of Kemalpaşa, at about 30 km from İzmir. It is dated to the second half of the 13th century BCE during the reign of Tudhaliya IV and the male figure is identified as Tarkasnawa, King of Mira, matched with a name mentioned in Hattusa Hittite annals See also; est. c. 1200 BCFirst Hellenic colonists begin to appear along the western coasts of Anatolia.est. c. 1194 BC – 1184 BCTrojan War, some of whose wounds are healed in the thermal springs in the present-day Balçova district of İzmir, Greeks under Agamemnon having been advised the baths by an oracle. The still highly popular "Agamemnon Baths" is also the place where, reportedly, Asclepius first began to prophesy.850 BCCaravan Bridge, sometimes said to be the oldest extant bridge, a stone slab over the River Meles is built.716 BC (or 680 BC)Gyges of Lydia, the founder of Mermnad dynasty, seizes the throne of Lydia which will be held by his descendants until 546 BC and the dynasty will acquire a large part of Anatolia including Smyrna.
est. early 7th century BCRefugees from the Ionian city of Colophon, admitted inside Smyrna by the city's Aeolian inhabitants, chase the natives, by deceit according to Herodotus, and Smyrna becomes the thirteenth city state of the Ionian union.slightly before 668 BCThe first failed Lydian attempt to capture Smyrna, despite their seizure of the town and their advance within the walls of the fortress.c. 600 BCLydian king Alyattes captures Smyrna along with several other Ionian cities and the city is sacked and destroyed, its inhabitants forced to move to the countryside to live for a time in "village-like fashion" according to contemporary sources. More recent research and restoration works in Old Smyrna by Ekrem Akurgal indicate that the city-temple dedicated to Athena, built a few decades before, saw only slight damage in the Lydian capture, was repaired swiftly and continued to be used.c. 540 BCThe Median general Harpagus, serving the Persian Emperor Cyrus the Great captures Symrna along with other regions under Lydian rule in Anatolia, and destroys the city.333 BCAlexander the Great conquers Smyrna, moves the city from its rather isolated location at the end of the gulf to the southern shore from where the future city will expand. Legends attribute the move for relocation to a dream of Alexander.323 – 280 BCIn the division of the provinces after Alexander's death, Antigonus I Monophthalmus receives Smyrna, along with Phrygia, Pamphylia and Lycia. It is his defeater, Lysimachus, King of Asia Minor between 301 and 281 BC, who displays a genuine interest to the city, initiating widescale public works in the intention of transforming it into an international portuary and cultural center on a par with Alexandria and Ephesus. Lysimachus even names the city, for a time, under his daughter's name, "Euredikeia".280 BCIn the climate of uncertainty reigning between Lysimachus's death and the Seleucid Emperor Antiochus I Soter's takeover, Smyrniots declare their independence for a brief period.278 BCGalatians, arriving from Thrace, capture Smyrna and ransack the city.275 BCAntiochus II defeats the Galatians and the city returns to Seleucid control.241 BCSmyrna adheres to Attalus I, King of Pergamon.190 BCSmyrna is transferred under Roman authority along with Pergamon. Eager to cultivate Roman connections, Smyrna becomes the first city in Asia to build a temple to the honor of the goddess Roma.130 BCWith the death of last King of the Attalid dynasty of Pergamon, Smyrna is taken under direct Roman administration.78 BCCicero visits Roman Smyrna. The Roman province of Asia will be administered by his younger brother, the propraetor Quintus Tullius Cicero between 61 and 59 BC.43 BCThe first settling of scores after the Assassination of Julius Caesar takes place in Smyrna when Publius Cornelius Dolabella, Julius Caesar's former favourite assigned to Syria by the Roman Senate, forces his way into the city where Trebonius, an accomplice of the assassins, held the office of proconsul and kills him. Before Dolabella's own death the year after, his assault, and particularly some damage he had inflicted on the city, was condemned at the time in Rome, including by Dolabella's father-in-law Cicero, who referred to the people of Smyrna as among Rome's "most trusted and oldest allies".Common Era124Emperor Hadrian visits Smyrna as part of his journeys across the Empire155 or 156 ADPolycarp (Saint Polycarp of Smyrna) is martyrized by stabbing in the amphitheater of the city after attempts to burn him at the stake fails, and the account, "The Martyrdom of Polycarp or the Letter to the Smyrneans" becomes one of the fundamental sources among early Christian writings.178A violent earthquake shakes Smyrna to its cores, causing immense damage and casualties. The city was rebuilt in a single year with the help of the emperor Marcus Aurelius, according to the orator Aelius Aristides.214 BCEmperor Caracalla visits Smyrna, along with other cities in Anatolia and later Egypt, and a cult of Caracalla starts in the city.250Pionius is martyrized in Smyrna by burning on the gibbet.395Following the death of Theodosius I, when the political division between Eastern and Western Roman Empires acquires a permanent nature, Smyrna becomes part of the Eastern Roman Empire.1079First Seljuk Turkish horsemen begin to appear along the western regions of Anatolia, a few years after the Seljuk sultan Alp Arslan's 1071 victory over the Byzantine Empire in the Battle of Malazgirt and following his designation of Anatolia for seizure by Suleyman I of Rûm, son of a former contender to his throne, Kutalmış.1081Turkish forces loyal to Süleyman Bey and under the command of Tzachas Smyrna and immediately build a navy, the first ever recorded naval force in Turkish history, to harry the Aegean Sea and its coasts.1097The First Crusade siege of Nicaea (İznik) and the subsequent crusader victory in the First Battle of Dorylaeum allow the Byzantine forces under Alexios I Komnenos's brother-in-law John Doukas to recover much of western Anatolia, re-capturing Smyrna (İzmir), Chios, Rhodes, Mytilene, Samos, Ephesus, Philadelphia, and Sardis.1231–1235Emperor (of Nicaea) John III Doukas Vatatzes builds a new castle (Neon Kastron, later to be named "Saint Peter" by the Genoese, and "Okkale" by the Turks) that commands the now silted up inner bay of the city (present-day Kemeraltı bazaar zone). The Emperor spends much time in the summer palace he had had built in nearby Nymphaion (later Nif and present-day Kemalpaşa) and dies there in 1254.1261In the same year as his expulsion of the Latin Empire and re-capture of Constantinople, the Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos, seeking an ally against the danger posed by the Venetians and the papacy, signs the Treaty of Nymphaion with the Genoese and accords them considerable privileges within the empire's realm, commercial or otherwise, including that of setting up their own districts in the capital and in Smyrna. Galata quarter across the Golden Horn, to extend later on to the whole of Pera, present-day Beyoğlu, and Smyrna's core area along the inner bay with its castle become virtually independent Genoese possessions.1308Turkish ascendancy in Western Anatolia re-surges after two centuries and the Beylik of Aydin is founded with its capital in Birgi.1317Aydınoğlu Mehmed Bey captures İzmir's upper castle of Kadifekale from Byzantine forces.1329The Genoese merchants hand over the keys of the port castle (Okkale, Saint Peter) to Umur Beg.1333Ibn Battuta visits İzmir. He reports that most of the city is in ruins.1334–1345Umur Bey transforms the Beylik of Aydin into a serious naval power with base in İzmir and poses a threat particularly for Venetian possessions in the Aegean Sea. Venetians organize an alliance uniting several European parties (Sancta Unio), composed notably of the Knights Templar, which organizes five consecutive attacks on İzmir and the Western Anatolian coastline controlled by Turkish states. In between, it is the Turks who organize maritime raids directed at Aegean islands.1348Umur Bey dies and his brother and successor Hızır Bey concludes on 18 August an agreement with the Sancta Unio which, following its approval by the Pope, gives the Knights Templar the right to control and use the port castle (Saint Peter, Okkale).1390Ottoman sultan Bayezid I (the Thunderbolt) comes to İzmir shortly after he ascends the throne and smoothly captures the upper castle of Kadifekale. İzmir becomes Ottoman partially, with the exception of the port castle, and for the time, temporarily, for a decade.1402Three months after his victory over the Ottomans in the Battle of Ankara, Tamerlane comes to İzmir, lays a six-week siege on the port castle (Okkale, Saint Peter) in the unique battle of his career against a Christian power, captures the castle and destroys it. He massacred most of the Christian population, which constituted the vast majority in Smyrna.