History
The first walls on the 186-metre Mount Pagos were built around the turn of the 4th and 3rd centuries BC, when under Antigonus the One-Eyed and Lysimachus Smyrna was moved here from its old, cramped site by the gulf. The hill served as the city's acropolis, with the stadium and theatre on its slopes, both rebuilt after a great earthquake in 178. The present walls are medieval: in the 13th century the Nicaean emperor John III Vatatzes repaired the defences and added a cistern, a church and a monastery. In the 14th century the Aydinids took the hilltop castle while the Genoese held the harbour below, and in the 15th century walls pulled down under Mehmed I were rebuilt under Mehmed II, with the church turned into a mosque. The fortress fell into ruin from the 18th century; in 2015–2016 the city restored and floodlit the walls and restored the cistern and mosque.
What to see
The castle grounds are freely accessible and popular for the view over İzmir and its gulf. The western and southern walls survive with five towers 20–35 metres high, along with a large rock-cut cistern roofed by arches on twenty piers, and next to it the ruins of Roman reservoirs that once fed Smyrna's water supply. East of the gates traces of the ancient theatre can be made out. Since 2019 a weekly local producers' market has been held inside the walls.
Wikipedia article Wikidata Q4810717
Popularity: articles about this site in 13 Wikimedia projects (Wikipedia language editions and others).