Ionia

Ionia is a historic region on the western coast of Asia Minor, along the Aegean Sea, roughly corresponding to parts of today's western Turkey. In antiquity, it was the homeland of the Ionians, one of the ancient Greek tribes, and it gave its name to the Ionian dialect and to the Ionian Sea. The region comprised a cluster of city-states and their colonies, including Miletus, Ephesus, Priene, Colophon, Lebedus, Teos, Clazomenae, and Phocaea, often organized in the Ionian League.

Colonization by Ionian Greeks began in the late 2nd millennium BCE and accelerated in the early first millennium BCE, fostering commercial networks across the Aegean. The cities became renowned for maritime trade, urban culture, and advances in philosophy, science, and the arts. The Ionian cities were especially influential in philosophy; Miletus produced Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes, while Ephesus was associated with figures such as Heraclitus. The Ionian School contributed to natural philosophy and early scientific inquiry. The temple of Artemis at Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, symbolizes the region's religious and architectural achievements.

In the late 6th and 5th centuries BCE, Ionia came under Achaemenid Persian rule after the Ionian Revolt (499–494 BCE). It later became part of the Hellenistic world under Alexander the Great and his successors, and subsequently of the Roman and Byzantine empires. Today, Ionia lies largely within modern Turkey, with İzmir and Aydın provinces containing its historic sites. The term continues to denote the classical Ionian dialect and cultural heritage.