The Lydians established a powerful state in western Anatolia that was centered in the basin of the Gediz (ancient Hermus) river and they had already become active in the valley of the Menderes by the 7th century B.C. It is known for example that King Gyges of Lydia ruled Magnesia on the Maeander (near present-day Ortaklar) and that in the 6th century B.C., King Alyattes rescued Orthasia (near present-day Yenipazar) from the marauding Cimmerians.
The most outstanding Lydian king however was Croesus and it was during his reign (560-546 B.C.) that Lydia experienced its brightest period. Under the protection and careful watch of Lydia, the city-states of Ionia and Caria grew and prospered, though in return for this they had to pay a hefty price to King Croesus.
The city of Tralles (modern Aydin) was a distribution and transit center where goods coming from Caria, Cilicia, Syria, Persia, and farther east were collected and from which they were sent to Aegean seaports. At the same time, olives, figs, raisins, acorns, and other produce from the valley of the Maeander were shipped from Miletos harbor to Greece, Italy, Phoenicia, and Egypt. Lydia became extraordinarily enriched due not only to its own resources but also to the taxes it collected and it can hardly be a coincidence that it was the first country in the world to mint a standardized and widely-recognized coinage.

Among the tribes migrating from the Aegean were the lonians. Reaching as far north as the middle coast of western Anadolia, they settled down around the Kusadasi gulf where the Maeander rivers discharged into the Mediterranean, and the ancient Latmian gulf, now the entrance to the Soke plain. The lonians appear to have fused with the local inhabitants and then proceeded to establish twelve seaside settlements, among them Miletos and Priene.
Through expanded maritime trade and colonization, they eventually established a strong trading network that encompassed the Aegean, Mediterranean, and Black Sea and they rapidly grew wealthy. The original small settlements grew, each one becoming an independent city-state.
Under the protective wing of the powerful Lydian kingdom, these city-states flourished in freedom, achieving high levels of activity in the fields of trade, art, scholarship, philosophy, architecture, and the political and social sciences. Rich and prosperous cities of gleaming white marble like Miletos and Priene apeared.
Yet these city-states failed to establish any political unity among themselves and thus in the 6th century B.C., at a time when they were at the peak of their development, they were forced to submit to the might of the Persian armies from the Iranian plateau and the bright and legendary sunlight of Ionian civilization was dimmed. Nevertheless it had a deep-rooted influence that persisted for ages. The uniquely Anatolian structures of the Graeco-Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman periods appeared as a continuation of Ionian culture and art on a much larger scale.
The western reaches of the province of Aydin today encompass an important part of what was known in ancient times as Ionia and we will be providing more detailed information on this in the pages that follow.

The earliest social events of which we have any significant record in our province begin with the Dorian invasions of Greece in the 1442th centuries B.C.
Under the steady pressure of these invasions, masses of peoples migrated to the shores of Anatolia. While these newcomers consisted mostly of Phrygians, Achaeans, lonians, and Cretans, who were the local people that dwelt before them in these lands in which these newcomers were taking refuge and how did they live? When we examine the research that has been carried out so far within the province of Aydin as well as the various information, resources, and documents that have been made available for study and publication we find it impossible to learn anything adequate or clear about this subject other than that provided by the prehistorical investigations being conducted at Afrodesias.
The ancient Greeks themselves made reference to a number of tribes with names such as “Carians”, “Lelegians”, and “Plasgians” who lived in the Aegean region before them. In his epic poems, Homer makes it clear that these tribes spoke a language other than Greek.
While a number of references to groups of people inhabiting and to geographical places located in the Aegean littoral have been found in tablets from the 14th century B.C. reigns of the Hittite kings Mursil I! and Tuthalia IV in Bogazkoy, these consist of no more than vague information pertaining to various military expenditions that was entered into the chronicles.
It is believed that the regions referred to during the time of the Hatti kingdom as “Karhisa”, “Uilusa”. and “Asuva” were located in western Anatolia.
The first immigrants to establish a definite state in the region were the Phrygians who invaded the valley in great waves. This tribe, which overthrew the Hittite empire in the 12th century B.C., was concentrated in the regions around theSakarya river and its center was Gor-dion (nowYassihdyuk). While the Phrygians dominated mostly western and central Anatolia, the southern limits of their authority did extend into the Menderes valley though no trace of Phrygian settlement has yet been found within the borders of the province of present-day Aydin.
When the Cimmerians, a clan of Turkic horsemen/raiders from the steppes of central Asia, penetrated as far as western Anatolia, the result was the overthrow of the Phrygian civilization in the 7th century B.C. and the emergence of its replacement, Lydia.

Since earliest times, the province of Aydin has been an important center of habitation owing to its geographical  position.  The  province is located between 37° 30′ and 38° 03′ north latitude and between 27° 00′ and 28° 57* east longitude. It measures 8,007 square kilometers in area and represents 1% of the surface area of Turkey. Aydin borders on the the provinces of Izmir and Manisa to the north,  Denizli  to the east,  and Mugla to the south while its western border is defined by the Aegean seacoast. The population according to the 1985 census was 746,992.

Climate

A moderate Mediterranean climate prevails in the province of Aydin. Winter is the season with the greatest precipitation while there is hardly any rainfall at all during summer. Snowfall is rare. Aydin is particularly exposed to weather coming from the west. Prevailing winds tend to be easterlies followed by winds from the southwest and west.