 When Constantinople became the seat of government, the trade between Anatolia and the West diminished in importance, and Smyrna declined.The Seljuk commander Tzachas seized Smyrna in 1084 and used it as a base for naval raids, but the city was recovered by the general John Doukas.The city was several times ravaged by the Turks, and had become quite ruinous when the Nicaean emperor John III Doukas Vatatzes rebuilt it about 1222.