Sardis bible tour

Sardis (Sardeis in Greek, Sfard in Lydian, Sparda in Persian, Sart in Turkish) has been settled for more than 3000 years according to the excavations. It mainly flourished between 7th century BC. to 7th century AD. because of its fertile land on Hermus (Gediz) Valley and the Pactolus River bringing natural alluvial gold to the city. Sardis served as the capital of the Lydian Empire and their legendary king was Croesus which is the source of the phrase as rich as Croesus. They used the gold of the river to mint pure gold coinages for the first time in the world. The gold mines and refineries are still by the river with the Altar of Cybele, the first mother goddess of the region. Later Greeks adopted Artemis to the region and built an enormous Temple of Artemis which is still partly intact. Roman times the city became a trade hub on the important trading routes.

In Imperial Roman times they built a magnificent Gymnasium-Bath complex which is the highlight of Sardis to see and monumental arches and streets and stadium and a theater are mostly part of the excavation work of University of Harvard. During the late Roman times a synagogue was built at the corner section of the bath-gymnasium complex. The mosaic floors and wall decorations were added in different times; most of the remains are from the 4th and 5th centuries. The synagogue was abandoned after the last big earthquake along with much of the rest of the city in the early seventh century.

The Bible Tour of Sardis takes all day including local lunch in the region. It is 90 km or 56 miles from Izmir city center. You can also add the ruins of Thyatira to this tour in the late afternoon since Thyatira ruins are very limited under the modern day city Akhisar which is 60km or 37 miles away from Sardis.

The Tour of Sardis starts from 250 euros per person and price decreases depending on the group size. It includes transportation, guidance, entrance tickets and local lunch as well. Sardis ruins spread on the large valley and requires at least 3 stops so it takes around 3 hours to visit them all.