SARDIS was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Lydia on the western coast of Asia Minor, and in the 6th cent. BC one of the most powerful cities of the world. It stood on one of the alluvial hills between Mount Tmolus and the sea, about 1500 feet above and S. of the great plain of the river Hermus, and was inaccessible except by a neck of land on the S. The situation was ideal for an early fortified capital of a kingdom. As time advanced, extension was necessary, and a lower city was built on the W. and N. sides of the original city, near the little river Pactolus, and probably also on the E. side. The older city now acted as acropolis, or citadel, for the latter. This rich Oriental city, whose wealth depended on well-cultivated land and incessant commerce, was for centuries to the Greek the type of an Oriental despotism, under which all must sooner or later bend. Its absorption was not without its effects on the conquerors, and Sardis became the home of a newer Hellenism, different from the old.
Croesus was king of Lydia in the second half of the 6th cent. BC, and planned a campaign against Cyrus, the Persian king. He proceeded with the greatest caution, and crossed the river Halys. There he was completely defeated. He returned to prepare a second army, but Cyrus pursued him in haste, and besieged him in Sardis before he could get it ready. The citadel was captured by means of a climber who worked his way up by an oblique crevice in the perpendicular rock. The city was similarly captured by Antiochus the Great from Aehaeus late in the 3rd cent. BC. The patron deity of the city was Cybele, but she was conceived as possessing different attributes from those usually associated with the name. A special characteristic was the power of restoring life to the dead. Sardis is mentioned in Ob.20 as Sepharad (Assyrian Saparda). The late passage presupposes the Jewish dispersion in Asia Minor. Jews of Sardis are referred to in Ant. xiv. x. 24 [259 ff]. The city suffered greatly from an earthquake in AD 17, and received a large donation as well as a remission of five years' taxation from the Emperor Tiberius. The greatness of the city under the Roman empire was due entirely to its past reputation. The acropolis ceased to be inhabited, being no longer necessary for purposes of defence. Its use was revived in the earlier Turkish days, but for long there has been no settlement at Sardis. Its place is taken by Salikli, above 5 miles to the E.
The letter addressed by the writer of the Apocalypse to Sardis (Rev.3.1-6) shows that the church at that place was practically dead. Most of the Christians had fallen back to the pagan level of life. The few noble ones shall have their names enrolled in the list of citizens of heaven. But Christianity survived at Sardis. It was the capital of the province of Lydia, instituted about AD 295. The bishop of Sardis was metropolitan of Lydia, and sixth in order of precedence of all the bishops subject to the patriarch of Constantinople. Important excavations have been conducted at the site of Sardis. [Article: Dictionary of the Bible, J.Hastings, 2nd Ed., T&T.Clark, 1963 - A.So. - E.G.K.] See also Wikipedia article - SARDIS.