In classical antiquity, Romans knew the city as Magnesia ad Sipylum. There, in 190 BC, forces of the Roman Republic defeated the Seleucid king Antiochus the Great in the Battle of Magnesia. Magnesia ad Sipylum became a city of importance under Roman rule, and though nearly destroyed by an earthquake in the reign of Tiberius (Roman Emperor from 14 AD to 37 AD), was restored by that emperor and flourished through the period of the Roman empire.