Abstract
Smyrna is situated on the finest harbor in Asia Minor. Chios and the long promontory of the mainland which form the northern limits of the Gulf of Ephesus form at the same time the southern limits of the Gulf of Smyrna, or the Hermaeum Gulf. The Gulf of Smyrna is L-shaped and is entered from the north, from the direction of Lesbos. The entrance to the gulf is formed by the Melaena Promontory on the west, and on the east by a projection of land where the ancient city Phocaea stood. From Smyrna there was access to the Hermus River valley by which one could reach most of interior Lydia. Though Smyrna's Gulf was superior to Ephesus's, it looked to the northwest; ships from the south would therefore more likely choose to put in at Ephesus, and so avoid the trip around Chios and Melaena Promontory. But everything coming from the Black Sea or the northern Aegean is almost by nature funneled into the Gulf of Smyrna.