Klazomenai is located in modern Urla (Vourla (Βουρλά) in Greek) on the western coast of Anatolia, on the southern coast of the Gulf of İzmir, at about 20 miles west of İzmir. The city was originally located on the mainland, but probably during the early fifth-century Ionian Revolt from the Persians, it was moved to an island just off the coast, which Alexander the Great eventually connected to the mainland with a causeway. The location of the city-around a harbour, backed by a coastal plain and low hills to the south provided a number of locations for settlement, and as such, settlements did shift from location to location over time.