Sardis: Difference between revisions

'''Sardis''' (Greek: "red ones") is the fifth city mentioned in the Book of Revelation to receive a message from Jesus Christ.  Sardis rose to power because of its location on an important highway from the Aegean Sea, its command over the fertile plain of Hermus, and its military strength.  Sardis was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Lydia, the seat of a proconsul under the Roman Empire, and the metropolis of the province Lydia in later Roman and Byzantine times.

Sardis was located 2.5 miles south of the Hermes river in the middle of the Hermus valley, at the foot of Mt. Tmolus, a steep and lofty spur.  At top of Mt. Tmolus was an acropolis, which was surrounded by a triple wall and thought impregnable by the Lydian kings.  Under Lydian rule, Sardis was important as an industrial city, manufacturing and dying wool and carpets.  The stream Pactolus which flowed through the market-place "carried golden sands" in early antiquity (gold dust out of Mt. Tmolus) and Sardis became a city of commerce, being one of the first cities to use money.