One of the most picturesque areas of any of the Seven Churches is the site of Sardis. The spur of Mt. Tmolus (Boz Dağ) protrudes from the base of the mountain like the prow of a ship and constitutes the nigh impregnable citadel of the once famous city. Down through the ages wind and water have carved the sandstone and conglomerate of that spur and the surrounding country into distinctive sharp hills.

At the beginning of Sardian history (perhaps in the thirteenth century B.C.) the city occupied only the citadel. Centuries later the top of the spur proved too small, and thus a second city grew up around the base of the fortress. Together they became the center of one of the greatest kingdoms of the ancient world, Lydia. One of the kings of this period is Gyges, known to the Assyrians as Gugu who sent ambassadors to Ashurbanipal, King of Assyria.

The famous temple of Artemis lying along the Pac-tolus (Sart Çayı) River dates from the fourth century B.C. Before that King Croesus (570-546 B.C.) built a temple there to Cybele between the river and the citadel. This temple was destroyed in 498 B.C. by an Athenian army during the revolt of the Ionian Confederacy against their Persian rulers. On the orders of Alexander the Great in 334 B.C. a new temple, this time to Artemis, was erected on the same site. Although the earlier temple was gone, the spirit of Cybele lived on and even invested the maiden Artemis with characteristics and practices of the Cybeline fertility cult.

Herodotus overflows with legends mixed with history when he writes about Sardis. He tells of Croesus who was the richest of men and lived behind what he thought were impregnable walls. All the sages of Greece, and among them Solon, the wise, the reformer, the poet of Athens, came to see the great city of Sardis and its mighty king. Croesus lodged Solon in the royal palace and took him to ogle at his bulging treasuries.

When Solon had seen them all Croesus said, “Stranger of Athens, we have heard much of thy wisdom and of thy travels through many lands, from love of knowledge and a wish to see the world. I am curious therefore to inquire of thee, whom, of all the men that thou hast seen, thou deemest the most happy?” Thinking himself to be the happiest, Croesus was astonished that Solon selected someone else. Solon not only named Tellus of Athens but went on to give Croesus a lecture on wealth: “I see that thou art wonderfully rich, and art the lord of many nations; but with respect to that whereon thou questionest me, I have no answer to give, until I hear that thou hast closed thy life happily. For assuredly he who possesses great store of riches is no nearer happiness than he who has what suffices for his daily needs, unless It so hap that luck attend upon him, and so he continue in the enjoyment of all his good things to the end of life.”

Croesus is given the credit for improving the currency of the day. Up until his time the metal that was used in exchange had to be weighed for each transaction. Croesus minted pure gold and pure silver coins which were guaranteed at their face value by the state. This government currency made commerce more efficient and in so doing also helped finance art and literature.

Sardis was not impregnable, however. In the war between Croesus and the Persian Cyrus, Cyrus won the first round of the battle by a ruse that only an Eastern general would think of. That was based on the knowledge that horses greatly dislike the sight and smell of camels. Thus when Cyrus saw the army of Croesus arranged on the plain before the city he ordered all the baggage-carrying camels to be unloaded and his horsemen to mount these beasts and thus attack the cavalry of the Lydians. The horses, as he had expected, turned and fled, and the unmounted soldiers retreated behind the safe walls of the citadel.
In the fourteenth day of the seige that followed Cyrus offered a reward to the first Persian soldier who would climb the precipitous wall. The Mardlan Hyroeades had seen a Lydian accidentally drop his helmet over the wall of the fortress on its steepest side and later climb down the rock to recover it. Hyroeades the following night took a band of fellow soldiers and cautiously climbed the precipice from crevice to crevice to the top as he had seen the Lydian do. Because the Lydians thought this part of the wall was inaccessible there were no defenders there, and so Sardis fell to the Persians and the reign of Croesus came to an end in 546 B.C.

Croesus was captured and about to be burned alive when Cyrus heard him saying, “Solon, Solon, Solon.” That provoked Cyrus’s curiosity. The fire was put out (Herodotus says by supernatural intervention), and Croesus allowed to explain what Solon had said about judging a man’s happiness before his life was finished. As the two kings were conversing Croesus asked Cyrus what his soldiers were doing. “Plundering thy city, and carrying off thy riches,” answered Cyrus. “Not my city,” said Croesus, “nor my riches. They are not mine any more. It is thy wealth which they are pillaging.” Cyrus promptly stopped the raid.

Besides the temple, a small Byzantine church on one corner, and the acropolis (which few people have the interest or the stamina to explore), recent excavations have uncovered a synagogue, the last several meters of the Royal Road from Susa to Sardis, a number of shops, and the gymnasium. The gymnasium and the synagogue have been partially restored. Important finds from this area are in the museum in Manisa.

John told the Christians of Sardis that the letter in Revelation was from “the One who holds the seven spirits of God, the seven stars” (Rev. 3:1). He admonished them to, “Wake up, and put some strength into what is left” (Rev. 3:2). The church probably appeared prosperous and active as do many of today’s large congregations. But to John the outward seeming did not tally with the finished work: “…though you have a name for being alive, you are dead…. For I have not found any work of yours completed in the eyes of my God” (Rev. 3:1-2). To those on the other hand who were innocent of pollution he promised that they shall walk with Christ “robed all in white” (Rev. 3:5), the color of righteousness and immortality. In each of the letters John offered a specific reward that would assure the faithful of blessedness and eternal life.