Larissa, Turkey

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Larissa is an ancient city in western Anatolia, Turkey. It is in the immediate vicinity of Menemen district of İzmir province. The ruins of the city is on a hill top next to today's Buruncuk village. The main road to Çanakkale from İzmir passes by the skirts of the same hill making a considerable curve to the northwest. It must also be underlined that Larissa is very close to the River Gediz which formed a fertile plain on its own delta with the alluvial soil carried from the Anatolian inland.

The first nucleus of Larissa formed during the third millennium B.C. The city survived all through the Persian and Hellenistic periods, though it was largely destroyed during the Peloponnesian War in 405 B.C. Larissa was rebuilt after the War but was annihilated by the Galatians (Celts) in 279 B.C.

The first excavations in Larissa were initiated in 1902 by Swedish and German archeologists. The findings were taken to Stockholm and to İstanbul archeological museums.