Phocaea

Phocaea , ancient city, W Asia Minor, N of Smyrna (Izmir), in present Turkey. It was northernmost of the Greek Ionian cities. In the 7th cent. BC it grew into a maritime state; its chief colony was Massilia (now Marseilles). In 540 BC, after a siege by the Persians, most of the inhabitants left, going mainly to Elea in Italy. The city never recovered from the loss. The modern Foça is on the site.

Phocaea group A group of asteroids at a mean distance of about 2.36 AU from the Sun, with orbital inclinations of 23–25°. The group has been separated from the main asteroid belt by the gravitational effects of the major planets, notably Jupiter, and contains a broad selection of asteroid classes. The largest member of the group is the C-class (105) Artemis, diameter 126 km. Certain members, among them (323) Brucia, (852) Wladilena, (1568) Aisleen, and (1575) Winifred, may form a true family within the Phocaea group. The group is named after (25) Phocaea, an S-class asteroid, diameter 72 km, discovered in 1853 by the French astronomer Jean Chacornac (1823–73). Phocaea's orbit has a semimajor axis of 2.399 AU, period 3.72 years, perihelion 1.78 AU, aphelion 3.01 AU, and inclination 21°.6.