He had this union made a decision of waging war against the Persians with contribution of his son, Alexandros and taken the lead in the war. Upon assassination of Phillipos in 338 BC, the leadership had been taken over by his son, Alexander the great.
Alexander the great entering Anatolia in 334 B.C by sailing Dardanelles Strait had defeated the Persians at the coast of Granicos (Biga-Kocabaş Creek) for the first time reaching afterward to Sardes and then Ephesus. It is observed that Pausani- as had based the legend about foundation of the city on Alexander the Great in his work called Periegesistes Hellados.
The recital of Pausanias about foundation of the city is as follows. Alexandros, son of Phillipos founded the city because of a dream he saw in his sleep. According to the rumour, when he returned from hunting, Alexander the great had arrived the temple of Nemesis. There had been a spring and a plane tree in front of the temple. When he fell asleep under the plane tree, the Nemesis had appeared to him in his dream and ordered him to found a city and bring the people of Smyrna here.
Upon this, the people of Smyrna had sent envoys to Claros (Apollon) asking his opinion and the God had responded as follows: The ones to reside in Pagos beyond Holy Meles shall be three , four times happier compared to previous time
The city joining in the union of the Ion cities as the 13th city based on the suggestion of Ephesus had grown and extended during Antigonos, Lysimakhos, and Seulekos, the commanders of Alexander the great after his death followed by the Kingdom of Pergamon as a new city built in the plains and at slopes between Pagos hill (Kadifekale) and the port (Kemeraltı).
The city has preserved its importance as a significant seaport linking internal regions of the Anatolia to the sea until current time. The agora (assembly locations) in antique cities had been political, administrative, judicial and commercial centres of the cities. A few construction sites were being spared then in the centre of the city for agora. Perimeter of the agora area had been encircled by porticos (pillared galleries).
There could be official buildings such as Bouleterion, (Assembly Building), Prytaneion (the building where official ceremonies and meetings had been held), Public offices, Court building, stock market, archive, meat and fish market, latrines (toilets) behind the galleries. The porticos had been semi open areas designed for protection and sheltering of the people during sunny, rainy weathers and extremely cold and hot temperatures.
Graded monuments, statues, altars where presentations were made during holy days, exedras( seats made of marble) , temple of God respected by the city and a fixed altar were present in the courtyard of the agora. Smyrna Agora is located at the centre of the same named ancient city, built in a rectangular form con- forming the grid iron urban layout in the antiquity.
Smyrna was the administrative, political, judiciary and trading centre of its region in its heyday. The gentle slope of the terrain the Agora was built on was levelled with the help of the substructure the ruins of which can be seen today. The courtyard of the Agora was turned into an elevated terrace with the help of soil infilling up until the highest brim of the substructures. This inner courtyard-terrace space was surrounded by porticoes in the original structure.
The site of the Smyrna Agora was used as a cemetery during the Byzantian and Ottoman Eras.
