New Britain herald., 1922-08-18
SMYRNA PATRIARCH
 AMONG WORLD CITIES
Was in Existence 5000 Years Ago
 -.Women Still Wear Yeils

Washington, D. C., Aug. 1s.- smyrna. which, with It's surrounding country occupied by Greek soldiers has been declared by the Greeks against the wishes of the Allies, to be autonomous, is one of the world { gray boards among cities, says a bull letin from Washington, D. c. head quarters of the National Geographic society.
 Some American cities are proud of their age" continues the bulletin, feeling that a few centuries entities them to distinction. In contrast to the newest oil town of Texas or Oklahoma where corn stalks are probably still to be found along Main street, Bostons 29o-odd years indeed justify a feeling of maturity, while the four and quarter centuries that look down on santo Domingo entitle that first community to be established in the New World to its pride of seniority
 "Middle-A Aged" London.
 But both of them are in the hey day of youth when compared with London, which probably has existed for close to 1900 years, or Rome, with more than 26 centuries behind it. It is when the Near East is reached, however that one finds cities that are truly old. Many, like Babylon and Thebes, Nineveh and Memphis, have crumbled away ages ago, but here and there one comes upon a living com munity whose beginnings are lost in the haze beyond the point where his tory began.
 Such a eray-beard among cities Is Smyrna, which is believed to have all ready been long in existence at the time of the destruction of Troy, eleven centuries zefore Christ. In fact smyrna is set up by some persons as a rival for Damascus as the oldest city in the world,
 "The original builders at Smyrna chose their site more happily perhaps than they knew The forces of nature have been kind to the locality. Miletus andEphesus were formid- able rivals for many centuries, but their rivers finally choked their har- hors with silt and the cities died. Smyrna had no stream of any conse- quence, and it's excellent harbor- the best in Asia Minor-has con- tinued to bear its heavy burden of commerce through the ages.
 Crescent City of the East.
 Smyrna has population close to that of New Orleans, and like the lat ter it is a. Crescent City extending in a semi circle about its bay. But while the American Crescent City Is wholly fiat, Smyrna has it's rim Of hills which under the magic of Medi- terranean skies and sunsets, invest the city with a beauty which detailed in spection does not verify. It's terraced outskirts are picturesque but they lack the striking quality of the terraces of Algers, Hong Kong and Valparaiso.
 Like a number of other cities of the Near East, Smyrna is Babel. Even under the old Turkish Empire it's population was composed Of al- most as many Greeks as Turks-a fact which is not strange when it Is re- that Smyrna first reached cityhood under Greek influence and remained Greek for many centuries excessively under Ionians, Macedoni- ans, Seeucids, and Byzantines The city was wholly Greek for more than a millennium: 1t has been nominally Turkish for 800 years.
 Flavor of Old Turkey.
 Besides Greeks and Turks there are in population large numbers Of Armenians and Jews, and lesser groups of almost every other natlon- ality under heaven. Quite num- Der of Europeans live in the city and