Rev: Letters ΘΕ, initials of Themistocles. Coin of Themistocles as Governor of Magnesia. The Persian satraps of Lydia also occasionally resided in the place. The deserted site was soon reoccupied, and rebuilt by the Milesians or, according to Athenaeus, by the Ephesians. However, the city was taken and destroyed by the Cimmerians sometime between 726 BC and 660 BC. Magnesia soon attained great power and prosperity, so as to be able to cope even with a challenge from Ephesus.
In later years, Magnesia supported the Romans during the Second Mithridatic War. Magnesia 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. Magnesia lay within Ionia, but because it had been settled by Aeolians from Greece, was not accepted into the Ionian League. The ruins of the city are located west of the modern village Tekin in the Germencik district of Aydın Province, Turkey. It was 15 miles from the city of Miletus. It was built on the slope of Mount Thorax, on the banks of the small river Lethacus, a tributary of the Maeander river upstream from Ephesus.
The territory around Magnesia was extremely fertile, and produced excellent wine, figs, and cucumbers. It was earlier the site of Leucophrys mentioned by several ancient writers. It was later called "on the Meander" to distinguish it from the nearby Lydian city Magnesia ad Sipylum.
The city was named Magnesia, after the Magnetes from Thessaly who settled the area along with some Cretans. 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.
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