# Ancient Roman Cities in Turkey: Surprising Global Legacies

*History & War · Eleanor Hartwell · 2026-08-21*

## TL;DR

Ancient Roman cities in Turkey, including Philadelphia, Pergamon, and Smyrna, gave their names to places across the globe, from Pennsylvania to Florida and the Amazon River. These cities also produced innovations like parchment and influenced biblical history, creating legacies that persist in modern geography and language.

## Key facts

- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was named after the ancient Lydian city of Philadelphia, located in what is now Alaşehir, Turkey, which itself was founded by King Attalus II of Pergamon.
- The ancient city of Pergamon, in modern-day Bergama, Turkey, is credited with the invention of parchment, a writing material that replaced papyrus and became the standard for books in Europe.
- The Great Altar of Pergamon, a monumental structure from the 2nd century BC, was excavated and transported to Berlin, where it is now a centerpiece of the Pergamon Museum.
- New Smyrna Beach, Florida, takes its name from the ancient city of Smyrna, which is now known as Izmir, Turkey, and was settled by Greek colonists in the 10th century BC.
- The Amazon River in South America is believed to have been named by Spanish explorer Francisco de Orellana after the legendary female warriors, the Amazons, whose homeland was associated with the ancient region of Anatolia in Turkey.

## The Ancient City Behind America's 'City of Brotherly Love'

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the birthplace of American democracy, carries a name that traces back to a small Turkish town called Alaşehir in Manisa province. William Penn, the Quaker founder of Pennsylvania, chose the name in the 1680s because the ancient city of Philadelphia was praised in the Bible and its Greek meaning, "brotherly love," perfectly matched his religious ideals. The story of how a 2,000-year-old Anatolian settlement ended up lending its name to one of America's most historic cities is a fascinating thread connecting two worlds.

The ancient Philadelphia was founded by King Attalus II of Pergamon, who ruled the powerful Hellenistic kingdom in western Anatolia during the 2nd century BC. Attalus II was a devoted brother, and he named the new city in honor of his sibling, Eumenes II. The name Philadelphia literally translates to "brotherly love," a tribute to the deep bond between the two royal brothers. Interestingly, the same king also founded Antalya, the modern Turkish resort city on the Mediterranean coast, which was originally called Attaleia, meaning "city of Attalus."

When Penn was searching for a name for his new city in the New World, he looked to the Book of Revelation, where the ancient Philadelphia is listed among the seven early Christian churches of Anatolia. The city had survived earthquakes and sieges for centuries, earning a reputation for loyalty and endurance that resonated with Penn's vision of religious tolerance. The name was a perfect fit for a city founded on principles of peace and mutual respect.

Today, the modern Alaşehir in Turkey's Aegean region is a quiet agricultural town known for its vineyards and thermal springs. Yet its ancient namesake lives on across the Atlantic in one of America's most iconic cities, a lasting reminder of how the ancient Roman cities in Turkey continue to shape our world in unexpected ways.

## Pergamon: The Ancient City That Invented Parchment and Lost Its Altar

Long before it became the modern district of Bergama in Izmir, Pergamon stood as one of the most powerful kingdoms to rise from the ashes of Alexander the Great's empire. This was no ordinary city-state; it was a place that changed how the ancient world wrote, healed, and even read. Its story is woven into the very fabric of the ancient Roman cities in Turkey, a legacy that still echoes in museums and medical symbols today.

Walk through Pergamon's ruins and you are treading ground that once held the second largest library in all of antiquity, surpassed only by the famous Library of Alexandria. When the Egyptian pharaohs restricted the export of papyrus, the clever minds of Pergamon refused to be silenced. They pioneered a new writing surface made from animal skin, a material we now call parchment. This invention did more than just store words; it enabled the creation of the first bound book format, the codex, which is the ancestor of every book you have ever held in your hands.

The city was also the home of Galen, one of the most influential physicians in history. While the popular story claims the medical symbol of a snake coiled around a bowl originated here, that specific emblem is more accurately tied to the Greek goddess of health, Hygieia, rather than Pergamon or Galen himself. Still, the city's reputation as a center for healing and knowledge was unmatched in its time.

Perhaps the most dramatic chapter in Pergamon's story involves its magnificent Zeus Altar. During the Ottoman period, German engineer Carl Humann orchestrated its removal, reportedly with special permission from Sultan Abdulhamid II. To accomplish this massive feat, Humann's team constructed a dedicated railway line between Bergama and the coastal town of Dikili, solely for transporting the altar's pieces. After the operation, they dismantled the tracks. Humann, who clearly developed a deep bond with the land, was buried in Bergama in 1896 according to his will. Today, the reconstructed altar stands as a centerpiece of the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, a treasure so valuable that experts say no price could ever be placed upon it.

The kingdom's political end came not through conquest, but through a will. Its last king bequeathed the entire realm to the Roman Empire, handing Rome its very first entry point into Anatolia. This decision did not sit well with everyone. Aristonicus, an illegitimate son of the king, fiercely resisted the bequest. He rallied an army of slaves and the poor, winning an initial battle against Roman forces before being ultimately defeated by a larger Roman army. His statue still stands in modern Bergama, a silent monument to defiance.

In the aftermath, the library's fate took a romantic and tragic turn. According to the story, Marcus Antonius, captivated by his love for Cleopatra, had the library's books shipped to Egypt as a gift for her, effectively dismantling the great institution. Whether this grand gesture was the sole cause of the library's demise remains a matter of historical debate, but the image of a lover emptying an entire library for his queen is a tale too good not to tell.

## Why the Vegetable Corn Is Called 'Mısır' in Turkish

You might assume the Turkish word for corn, *mısır*, has always meant the yellow vegetable you grill at summer picnics. But the story goes back further than you think, and it has nothing to do with the vegetable itself. Corn's original Turkish name was *darı*, which means millet, and the shift to *mısır* happened because of trade routes in the 1600s.

Here is how it happened. In the early 1600s, ships carrying this unfamiliar grain arrived in Istanbul by way of Egypt. Egypt in Turkish is *Mısır*, and the locals needed a way to distinguish this new crop from the millet they already knew. So they called it *mısır darısı*, literally "Egyptian millet." Over time, people got lazy with the full phrase. The *darısı* part dropped away, and the grain simply became *mısır*. The vegetable took the name of the country it traveled through.

If that naming pattern sounds familiar, think about the bird. The English word "turkey" came about because the bird was imported into Europe through Turkish lands. Same logic, same kind of linguistic shortcut. The country name stuck to the product.

There is a popular saying in Turkish that goes *"İzmirliler mısır'a darı der"*, meaning "people from Izmir call corn millet." The implication is that Izmir locals use an old-fashioned word. But that saying gets the history backwards. The name did not survive as *darı* in Izmir while the rest of the country switched. The word *mısır* evolved naturally everywhere because the grain arrived via Egypt, and the old term faded out. The saying is a folk myth, not a record of regional dialect.

So the next time you bite into a corn cob, you are eating a vegetable whose Turkish name is a tiny geography lesson. It traveled from the New World, through Egypt, and into the Ottoman capital, picking up a new identity along the way. The name *mısır* is a reminder that language, like trade, follows the routes people actually take.

## The Seven Churches of Revelation and Their American Namesakes

Before Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ever existed, there was another Philadelphia, and it stood in what is now western Turkey. King Attalus II of Pergamon founded that city in the 2nd century BC and named it for his brother, combining the Greek words for "love" and "brother." The name meant "brotherly love," and it would travel across an ocean nearly two thousand years later.

The ancient Philadelphia, today the district of Alaşehir in Manisa province, became one of the seven early Christian churches mentioned in the Book of Revelation. All seven sat within a compact region of western Anatolia: Ephesus (modern Efes), Smyrna (Izmir), Pergamon (Bergama), Thyatira (Akhisar), Sardis (Salihli), Philadelphia (Alaşehir), and Laodicea (Goncalı). According to the biblical account, Jesus sent direct letters to each congregation, which is why parts of Revelation open with phrases like "To the Ephesians" and "To the Smyrnaeans."

Those biblical associations carried real weight for early American settlers, many of whom knew their scripture well. When William Penn founded his city in Pennsylvania in 1682, he reached for the name Philadelphia, drawn both to its praise in the Bible and its meaning of brotherly love, which suited his Quaker ideals. The choice stuck, and today the connection between a modern American metropolis and a small Turkish town remains one of the more surprising legacies of the ancient Roman cities in Turkey.

The pattern repeated across the United States. Towns named Ephesus appear in Virginia and Georgia. Smyrna shows up in Delaware, Georgia, and Tennessee. Sardis, the ancient capital of Lydia near modern Salihli, lent its name to communities in Mississippi, Alabama, and Ohio. Each of these American places carries a piece of Anatolian history, transmitted through the pages of the New Testament.

One American Smyrna has a different origin story entirely. New Smyrna Beach in Florida was founded in 1768 by Andrew Turnbull, a Scottish colonist who reportedly named his settlement after Izmir out of homesickness for the city where he had lived. The beach town's name has nothing to do with the seven churches, though the ancient connection lingers in the background. As for the word Smyrna itself, contrary to what many assume, it is not Greek in origin. The name likely comes from the Luwian language of the Hittite era, though the popular story tracing it to an Amazon princess named Smyrna belongs to mythology rather than linguistics.

## New Smyrna, Florida, and the Myth of the Amazons

New Smyrna Beach, Florida, carries a name that reaches all the way back to the Aegean coast of Anatolia, though the story behind it has nothing to do with the Bible. The town was founded in 1768 by Andrew Turnbull, a Scottish colonist who had lived in Smyrna, the ancient name for Izmir, and missed it so deeply that he named his new settlement after it. Turnbull brought settlers from Greece, Italy, and the Mediterranean region to this stretch of Florida coast, hoping to build a prosperous colony producing indigo, hemp, and sugar.

The popular version of this story sometimes paints New Smyrna as a massive metropolis. In reality, the city today has a modest population, and its famous beach, while lovely, does not stretch the 17 kilometers that some accounts claim. The real New Smyrna Beach is a charming coastal town in Volusia County, known among surfers and beachgoers, but it is hardly the giant city that legend makes it out to be.

As for the name Smyrna itself, there is a persistent myth that it comes from a Hittite Luwian Amazon princess named Smyrna. Linguists who study ancient Anatolian languages suggest the name likely does have roots in the region, but the Amazon princess derivation is a later mythological invention rather than a verified historical etymology. The truth is more modest: Smyrna was an ancient Greek city that became one of the most important ports of the Aegean, and its name probably predates the Greeks who settled there.

The Amazon connection does surface elsewhere, though, in South America. The Amazon River and the rainforest that surrounds it were named by European explorers who, when they first entered the river, saw native people along the banks who were thin and weak, and mistook them for women. The name stuck because the explorers thought they were facing the legendary Amazons of Greek mythology, not because the natives were fierce female warriors.


## Frequently asked questions

**How did Philadelphia, Pennsylvania get its name from an ancient Turkish city?**

William Penn, the Quaker founder of Pennsylvania, named his new city after the ancient Philadelphia in the 1680s, drawn to its biblical praise and its Greek meaning of "brotherly love." That ancient Philadelphia, now the modern Turkish town of Alaşehir in Manisa province, was founded by King Attalus II of Pergamon. Attalus II ruled the Pergamon Kingdom in the 2nd century BC and named the city in honor of his brother, whose loyalty earned him the nickname Philadelphus, literally "one who loves his brother." The city grew into one of the seven early Christian churches mentioned in the Book of Revelation, which is exactly what caught Penn's attention centuries later. When he read the Bible's praise for this congregation, he decided the name carried the perfect message for his experiment in religious tolerance across the Atlantic.

**Why was parchment invented in Pergamon?**

Parchment was developed in Pergamon as an alternative writing material when Egypt blocked exports of papyrus, and it enabled the first bound books in antiquity. The Pergamon Library, which rivaled Alexandria's collection, needed a reliable surface for scribes to copy texts. The story goes that the Ptolemies in Egypt grew jealous of Pergamon's growing library and cut off the papyrus supply. Rather than surrender, Pergamon's craftsmen perfected a technique using treated animal skins that could be folded into pages. This innovation made the codex format possible, the ancestor of the modern book, and the city's name lives on in the word "parchment" itself.

**What happened to the Zeus Altar from Pergamon?**

The Zeus Altar was transported to Berlin during the Ottoman period with Sultan Abdulhamid II's permission, and it remains on display in the Pergamon Museum today. Engineer Carl Humann led the excavation and was buried in Bergama after his death in 1896, following his own request. German engineers reportedly built a special railway line between Bergama and Dikili just to move the massive altar's pieces, then dismantled the tracks after the work was done. The altar, which dates to the 2nd century BC, is considered priceless, with experts saying no amount of money could buy it back. Humann's grave still sits in the town he spent years excavating, a quiet reminder of the complicated history between Germany and this corner of Anatolia.

**Why is there a city called New Smyrna in Florida?**

New Smyrna in Florida was founded in 1768 by Andrew Turnbull, a Scottish colonist who named his settlement after Smyrna, the ancient name for Izmir, because he missed the city. The name has nothing to do with the seven churches or the Bible. Turnbull had lived in Izmir and grew homesick for its coastline, so he chose the name New Smyrna for his Florida colony. The settlement eventually became New Smyrna Beach, known today for its long shoreline and upscale resorts. The name Smyrna itself is not Greek but likely of Hittite Luwian origin, though the popular story linking it to an Amazon princess named Smyrna is a later myth rather than a linguistic fact.

**How did the corn vegetable come to be called mısır in Turkish?**

Corn was originally called "darı" in Turkish, meaning millet, but got renamed "mısır" because it arrived in Istanbul via Egypt in the 1600s. The phrase "mısır darısı" gradually shortened to just "mısır," the Turkish word for Egypt. When the crop first reached Ottoman lands, people distinguished it from regular millet by calling it "Egyptian millet." Over time, the qualifier swallowed the noun entirely, and today Turks ask for "mısır" at the market without thinking about the North African country at all. It is the same kind of name shift that gave the English language "turkey" for a bird that came from the Americas, a linguistic accident that stuck for centuries. Editorial note: Some historical details, such as the exact circumstances of the Amazon River naming and certain foundation dates, are based on scholarly accounts and are presented as such where unconfirmed.

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