The Panionium was an Ionian sanctuary dedicated to Poseidon Helikonios and the meeting place of the Ionian League. It was on the peninsula of Mt. Mycale, about 100 kilometres (62 mi) south of Smyrna—now İzmir, in Turkey. Herodotus describes it as follows:The Panionion is a sacred ground in Mykale, facing north; it was set apart for Poseidon of Helicon by the joint will of the Ionians. Mykale is a western promontory of the mainland opposite Samos; the Ionians used to assemble there from their cities and keep the festival to which they gave the name of Panionia.
Poseidon's head (identified by an inscription), detail from a scene representing Athena and Poseidon. Side B from an Attic black-figure neck-amphora, c. 550–530 BC. From Vulci. Signed by the Amasis Painter.
Theatre near Güzelçamlı
Ionia was an ancient region on the western coast of Anatolia, to the south of present-day İzmir, Turkey. It consisted of the northernmost territories of the Ionian League of Greek settlements. Never a unified state, it was named after the Ionians who had settled in the region before the archaic period.
Mount Mycale, site of the Panionium
Gorgone with serpent, Ionia, 575-550 BC.
One of the earliest electrum coins struck in Ephesus, 620–600 BC. Obverse: Forepart of stag. Reverse: Square incuse punch.
Ionian soldier of the Achaemenid army, c. 480 BCE.
