The Hellenism of Asia Minor has played a significant role in shaping Greek culture throughout history. As early as the sixth century BC, while the Greek mainland was still attached to religious beliefs and mythological reasoning, Asia Minor had already developed scientific thought that relied on proof and logic. The philosophers of the era congregated in Asia Minor, where they laid the foundations of philosophy through their teachings. This new school of thought was later imported into Metropolitan Greece by Pherecydes of Syros, the great teacher of Pythagoras.
The ideals, principles, and practices of Western civilization returned to Greece through Asia Minor after centuries of enslavement and suffering. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, Greek communities outside Greece, especially in Smyrna and Trapezounta at Pontus, had significant urban development compared to the Greek mainland. The Greek population of Asia Minor reached close to 2 million, and the approximately 1.2 million immigrants that fled to Greece after the failure of the Greek military expedition into Asia Minor boosted development in the long run.
The immigrants from Asia Minor brought their art, expertise, habits, and way of life along with their experiences and memories to Greece. However, their most significant contribution was the sense of moral order they brought, their religious dedication to faith, and their love for their homeland. They became living examples for indigenous Greeks who took these things for granted.
The ruling class of the Asia Minor Greeks, who had substantial experience in international trade, transportation, shipping, industry, and financial exchanges, facilitated connections between the indigenous financial elite and international banking institutions and contributed substantially to the economic development of the country. The 200,000 Greeks who immigrated to multicultural Smyrna from mainland Greece and the inland of Asia Minor overcame their relative inexperience and quickly seized control of transit trade, a key source of wealth for Smyrna, and even imposed the Greek language as the official language of trade. They relied on their determination, diligence, zeal, enthusiasm, and organizational skills to achieve this. Greeks of Smyrna working outside the commercial, banking, financial, and industrial sectors were particularly active in the railway, public works, and shipping. Greek engineer P. Vitalis, who also participated in the construction of the Thessaloniki waterfront, was responsible for these developments.
Architecture
In the field of architecture, the cosmopolitan air of Smyrna and the other Greek centers of Asia Minor was instrumental in the creation of several splendid architectural creations of the time and inspired the development of a particular architectural style with European influences which can be seen in the work of several important Greek architects both in Smyrna and metropolitan Greece. Architects like Ignatius Vafiadis, Demosthenes Apostolidis, Rokos and Polycarpos Vitalis, Ioannis Latris, Antonios Pezaras, Emmanuel Petrokokkinos, Demetrios Lignadis, Georgios Kalokairinos showcased their talents and skill in designing and building as they used new ideas and technologies in constructing banks, stock exchanges, clubs, hotels, mansions, holiday villas, factories, administrative buildings, and temples. (Tsakalos, 2011)