Smyrna was one of the great cities of ancient Ionia, located on the Aegean coast of what is now Turkey. The city had ancient roots mentioned by Homer and was refounded as a major Hellenistic and Roman urban center. It served as an important port and commercial hub, later becoming home to one of the seven churches addressed in Revelation. The city's name appears in various Greek forms, with inscriptions sometimes using Ζμύρνα with a zeta rather than sigma. Smyrna's residents, called Σμυρναῖοι, were proud of their city's culture, commerce, and later its Christian community that endured persecution.