The city was originally located on the mainland at Limantepe, but probably during the early fifth-century BC Ionian Revolt from the Persians, it was moved to the Karantina Island just off the coast.

Both cities had conflictual relations but Alexander the Great eventually connected Karantina island to the mainland with a causeway, the remains of which are still visible.

According to myth, swans drew the chariot in which Apollo every year flew south from his winter home in the land of the Hyperboreans.

It stood originally near Limantepe; but the inhabitants, alarmed by the encroachments of the Persians, moved to the Karantina island of the bay, and established their city there.

A large painted terracotta sarcophagus and lid, together weighing about 2 tonnes, were discovered in the vicinity of Klazomenai in the late nineteenth century.

An ancient Greek work dating to about 500 BC, the funerary objects depict war scenes, chariot racing, hunting as well as geometric patterns throughout and is now in the British Museum's collection.

[10][11] It was restored and reconstructed in 2004–2005 through collaboration between Ege University, a Turkish olive-oil exporter and a German natural building components company, as well as by local artisans, on the basis of the clearly visible millstone with a cylindrical roller and three separation pits.

In an event noted by Aristotle, Klazomenians also appear as financial pioneers in economic history, for having used one commodity (olive oil), in an organized manner and on a city-scale, to purchase another (wheat), with interests refundable on the value of the first.