The Lydian kingdom took its opportunity with the decline of the Phrygians, whose capital was further inland, at Gordion. Between 680 and 547 B.C. the kingdom reached from the Aegean coast deep into central Anatolia. Herodotus credits the Lydian kings with the invention of coinage, and with the construction of the great royal burial mounds at Bin Tepe, some 6 miles to the northwest of Sardis. The Lydian kings Gyges and Croesus were remembered for their lavish gifts to Greek sanctuaries. Indeed, Croesus consulted the oracle of Apollo at Delphi, asking if he should go to war with the Persian Empire, which controlled the rest of Anatolia. The response of the oracle was that, if he attacked the Persians, he would destroy a great empire. In 547 B.C. Croesus attacked the Persian royal centre at Pteria, some way east of modern Ankara, stormed the mountain-top city and destroyed it. Thinking that he had won he returned to Sardis, but he had won a battle and not the war. The Persian army hit the Lydians hard, and sacked Sardis. Croesus' Lydian empire was the empire that was destroyed.
Sardis remained under Persian control until 334 BC, when it was captured by Alexander the Great. The city continued to flourish during Hellenistic and Roman times, when ambitious construction projects were initiated, including the temple of Artemis and a bath-gymnasium complex. A section of the bath-gymnasium complex was later re-modelled to accommodate a synagogue. There was an early Christian community at Sardis, for St John in the Book of Revelations includes Sardis among the Seven Churches of Asia. Little of what we see today belongs to the time of the Lydian kingdom; most of the impressive remains belong to the Hellenistic and Roman periods.
The front of the magnificent Gymnasium - largely re-constructed of course.
The front of the Gymnasium.
Synagogue: Since 1958, both Harvard and Cornell Universities have sponsored annual archeological expeditions to Sardis. These excavations unearthed this impressive synagogue. Over eighty Greek and seven Hebrew inscriptions have been found, which together with inscriptions from Aphrodisias, provide indisputable evidence for the continued vitality of Jewish communities in Asia Minor, their integration into general Roman imperial civic life, and their size and importance at a time when many scholars previously assumed that Christianity had eclipsed Judaism.The synagogue was a section of the large bath-gymnasium complex. Rooms originally used as changing or rest rooms were converted into a synagogue in the middle of the 2nd century A.D. The complex was destroyed in 616 A.D. by the Sassanian-Persians.
Part of the interior of the Gymnasium complex.
Baths inside the Gymnasium complex.
Temple of Artemis at Sardis.
Temple of Artemis at Sardis.
Temple of Artemis at Sardis.
Crane brought to the site in 1911 by the Howard Crosby Butler expedition. Made by Dorman Long of Middlesborough, England.