The Greek cities of Asia Minor had been liberated in 334 BCE when Alexander the Great defeated the Persian forces at the Battle of Granicus.

The pro-Persian tyrant Syrpax and his family were stoned to death, and Alexander was greeted warmly when he entered Ephesus in triumph.

Alexanderm,the inhabitants of Ephesus demurred, claiming that it was not fitting for one god to build a temple to another.

Ephesus in 290 BCE comes under the rule of one of the late conqueror's generals, Lysimachus.

The river Cayster had silted up the harbor, and the resulting marshes had caused malaria and many deaths among the inhabitants.

The people of Ephesus are forced to move to a new settlement two kilometers further on when the king floods the old city by blocking the sewers.

This settlement is officially called Arsinoea after the king's second wife, Arsinoe II of Egypt.

After Lysimachus destroys the nearby city of Colophon and in 292 BCE nearly destroys (and does depopulate by forced expulsion) the neighboring Ionian League city of Lebedo, he relocates their inhabitants to the new city.