MAGNESIA, Ancient Cities, Lydia

măgnēˈzhə, two ancient cities of Lydia, W Asia Minor (now W Turkey). They were colonies of the Magnetes, a tribe of E Thessaly. One city (Magnesia ad Maeandrum), SE of Smyrna (Izmir), was later colonized by Ionians and given by Artaxerxes I to Themistocles, who died there. There are important ruins on the site, including the celebrated temple of Artemis Leucophryene, built in the 2d cent. b.c. Magnesia ad Sipylum, on the Hermus River at the foot of Mt. Sipylus, NE of Smyrna, was (190 b.c.) the scene of the defeat of Antiochus III (Antiochus the Great) by the Romans. The modern Manisa is nearby.

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