Smyrna
Smyrna is a name shared by several places and a historically significant ancient city, each carrying distinct geographic, cultural, and historical identities. While the name is most closely associated with an ancient Greek settlement on the western coast of what is now Turkey, it has also been adopted by communities in the United States, including locations in Tennessee. Within the context of Delaware, the name Smyrna refers to a town that draws its identity partly from the broader cultural resonance of the ancient city whose name it bears. The ancient Smyrna, now encompassed within the modern city of Izmir, Turkey, was a place of remarkable longevity, cosmopolitan character, and tragic destruction — a history that lends weight and meaning to any community that carries its name forward.
Ancient Origins
The original Smyrna was established around 1000 BC by Aeolian Greek settlers along the western coast of Anatolia.[1] The city that grew from this initial settlement became a thriving hub of commerce, culture, and religious life in the ancient Mediterranean world. Old Smyrna, as historians refer to the original settlement, was founded around the 11th century BC, first as an Aeolian community before being taken over and further developed during the Archaic period of Greek history.[2]
The name "Smyrna" itself carries layers of meaning. One interpretation suggests it derives from the ancient Greek word for myrrh, the expensive aromatic substance known in Greek as smýrna.[3] Myrrh held considerable value in the ancient world as a trade commodity, a medicinal substance, and a component of religious ritual, making it a fitting namesake for a city that would become a prominent port and trading center. The association between the city and this precious substance underscores both the city's commercial importance and its deep roots in the cultural and religious life of the ancient Mediterranean.
Cosmopolitan Character
Throughout its long history, ancient Smyrna developed a reputation as a place where people of different faiths, languages, and national backgrounds lived in close proximity. A documentary film by Maria Iliou explored this dimension of the city's past, depicting the Ottoman port of Smyrna as a cosmopolitan environment where people of various faiths and nationalities coexisted.[4] This diversity was a defining characteristic of the city during the period of Ottoman rule, when Smyrna functioned as a major port connecting the eastern Mediterranean to European markets.
The Greek population in the region around Smyrna was substantial, and in many localities — Smyrna itself being a notable example — Greeks were present in numbers comparable to or exceeding those of the Turkish population.[5] This demographic complexity made Smyrna a focal point of political and military tensions during the early twentieth century, as competing national movements sought to claim or control the city and its surrounding territories.
Destruction and Legacy
The end of Smyrna's cosmopolitan era came with devastating abruptness. In the aftermath of World War I and amid the turbulence of the Greco-Turkish War, the city faced catastrophic conditions. Reports from the period described a humanitarian crisis of severe proportions, with hundreds of thousands of people in urgent need of food and aid, and fears that those numbers would multiply rapidly within weeks.[6] The destruction of Smyrna and the displacement of its population left a profound mark on Greek and Turkish collective memory alike, and the events of that period continue to be examined and debated by historians, filmmakers, and communities descended from those who lived through them.
The city's destruction did not erase its name from cultural memory. Instead, Smyrna became a word carrying heavy symbolic freight — evoking both the richness of what was lost and the violence through which it was lost. Communities around the world, including in the United States, adopted the name as a way of connecting themselves to the ancient city's legacy, its biblical significance, and its association with a long tradition of Greek civilization.
The Name in the United States
The name Smyrna spread across the American landscape as settlers and community founders drew on classical and biblical traditions when naming their towns and settlements. Several American communities bear the name, reflecting the broad cultural influence of the ancient city and the prominence of biblical references to Smyrna in Christian tradition.
In Tennessee, the city of Smyrna serves as an example of how the name translated into an American municipal context. Located just outside of Murfreesboro, the Tennessee city of Smyrna has developed as an area with retail, business, and residential growth.[7] The Smyrna/Rutherford County Airport in Tennessee has sought significant federal funding for infrastructure improvements, including a replacement for an aging air traffic control tower.[8] While this community shares a name with the ancient city, it represents an entirely distinct place with its own local history and character.
Smyrna in Delaware
Within Delaware, Smyrna is a town located in Kent County and New Castle County, situated along the Smyrna River, from which it takes its formal geographic designation. The town's name reflects the same tradition of American communities drawing on classical and biblical references when establishing their identities. Delaware's Smyrna grew from its colonial and early American roots into a community with an agricultural and commercial character, shaped by its location in the central part of the Delmarva Peninsula.
The town of Smyrna, Delaware, occupies a position along the U.S. Route 13 corridor, which serves as a major artery running through the state. This location has historically made Smyrna a waypoint for travel and commerce within Delaware, contributing to its development as a market town serving the surrounding agricultural region. The town is home to a historic district that reflects its development across multiple centuries, with architecture and streetscapes bearing traces of its growth from a small colonial settlement into an established municipal community.
Smyrna has maintained a small-town character while also adapting to the pressures and opportunities that come with proximity to larger population centers. The town's schools, parks, and community institutions reflect the civic infrastructure built up over generations of residents who have called the area home. Like other Delaware communities of comparable size, Smyrna balances the preservation of its historical identity with the practical demands of contemporary municipal governance and economic development.
Geographic and Administrative Context
Smyrna, Delaware, sits at the boundary between Kent County and New Castle County, giving it an administrative complexity unusual among Delaware's smaller towns. The Smyrna River, a tidal waterway that flows into the Delaware Bay, provides the town with its name and historically provided it with access to water-based commerce. The river and its surrounding wetlands are part of the broader environmental landscape of central Delaware, a region characterized by flat coastal plain terrain, agricultural land, and river drainage systems feeding into the Delaware Bay and its tributaries.
The town is governed by its own municipal administration, which manages local services, land use, and community development within the boundaries established by its charter. Delaware's relatively small geographic size means that Smyrna residents are within reasonable distance of major urban centers including Wilmington and Dover, the state capital, allowing the town to function both as an independent community and as part of the broader network of Delaware municipalities.
Cultural and Historical Significance
The choice of the name Smyrna for a Delaware community reflects a broader pattern in American place-naming that was common during the colonial and early national periods. Founders and early settlers frequently drew on the Bible, classical antiquity, and European geographic tradition when selecting names for new settlements. The ancient Smyrna's prominence in early Christian history — it is referenced in the Book of Revelation as one of the seven churches of Asia Minor — made it a natural source of inspiration for communities with strong religious identities.
The layered history of the name itself — from ancient Aeolian settlement to Archaic Greek city, from Ottoman cosmopolitan port to a place of wartime catastrophe — gives the name Smyrna a richness that extends well beyond its function as a simple geographic label. Communities bearing the name in the United States carry this weight of association, whether or not their residents are fully aware of the complex history embedded in the word.
Delaware's Smyrna, like the ancient city whose name it shares, has existed across multiple eras of history, each leaving its mark on the community's physical landscape, social fabric, and collective identity. The town continues to serve as home to thousands of residents while maintaining the civic institutions and historical fabric that connect it to its past.