The Jewish story of Izmir embraces many historical layers. Izmir, with its ancient name Smyrna, seems to be housing the Jews for 2500 years. That duration matches with the period when a few hundred Jews were expatriated from Jerusalem by the famous Macedonian king, Alexander the Great. With very limited data, references show the presence of Jews in town from antiquity till late middle ages. During the Roman and Byzantine eras, the so-called Romaniotes were Jews living in this land and speaking the Greek language. Izmir welcomed, as well, some Ashkenazi population from different places in various time periods. However, the real appeal was to the Sephardic migrants -later to be the ancestors for the majority of the community, as the port of the city began to develop by the last quarter of the 16th century.