A region of Western Asia Minor colonized by the Ancient Greeks.

a central portion of the coast of Asia Minor along with the islands off the coast which were inhabited by Greeks.

The eastern coast of the Aegean comprised ancient Ionia, one of the great centres of Greek culture (architecture, philosophy, religion). In the Roman period, most of Ionia became the province of Asia, centred around Ephesus as the provincial capital. It continued to be a major centre of influence, though many of the formerly independent cities (Miletus, Priene, Magnesia, Smyrna, etc.) were downgraded or faded away (in some cases, because the harbours became so badly silted up that they were unusable).

Greeks from Iona on the western coast of modern Turkey. The Ionian cities were said to have been founded by refugees from the Dorian invasions under their legendary leader Ion at the end of the Late Bronze Age.

Ionia (Greek Ιωνία; see also list of traditional Greek place names) was an ancient region of southwestern coastal Anatolia (in present-day Turkey, the region nearest İzmir,) on the Aegean Sea. It comprised a narrow coastal strip from Phocaea in the north near the mouth of the river Hermus (now the Gediz), to Miletus in the south near the mouth of the river Maeander, and included the islands of Chios and Samos. It was bounded by Aeolia to the north, Lydia to the east and Caria to the south.