The Ancient City of Ephesus, once occupied by the Greeks, Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman, was once a vibrant mega-metropolis located in the western coast of Turkey. The city played a key role in the spread of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire when it became the capital of Asia Minor. Strategically it was important as it lay close to the sea with a harbour and interest in trade routes. After the death of Alexander it was part of the land controlled by Lysimachus along with Pergamon but fell to the Romans in the third century B.C. when it was handed over to Pergamon. In the third century A.D. the silting up of the harbour heralded a slow decline.