Sardis Ancient City – Salihli, Manisa
The ancient city of Sardis (Sardes) was the capital of the Kingdom of Lydia, located near the modern village of Sart in the district of Salihli, Manisa Province, in western Türkiye. It lay in the fertile Hermus (Gediz) River valley, at the foot of Mount Tmolus (modern Boz Dağı), about 75 km inland from Smyrna (İzmir). Its strategic position at the junction of inland routes and the Hermus valley made Sardis a key hub linking central Anatolia with the Aegean coast.
(Source: Wikipedia – Sardis
Sardis Expedition – Introduction
Wow Cappadocia – Sardis Ancient City)
Sardis flourished especially in the 8th–6th centuries BC as the center of a powerful Iron Age civilization, the Lydians, who were renowned in antiquity for their wealth and innovation. Under King Croesus (c. 560–546 BC), Sardis became synonymous with fabulous riches; ancient authors also credit the Lydians and Sardis with the invention of coinage—the first known state-guaranteed electrum and later gold and silver coins. After the Persian conquest, Sardis served as the capital of the Persian satrapy of Lydia, and it marked the western terminus of the famous Royal Road connecting Sardis to Susa. The city later remained important under Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine rule.
(Source: UNESCO – Sardis and the Lydian Tumuli of Bin Tepe
Turkey Tour Organizer – Sardis Ancient City
ArticHaeology – Sardis Ancient Greek City)
The surrounding Lydian tumulus cemetery of Bin Tepe (“Thousand Mounds”), on the southern shore of Lake Marmara, contains some of the largest tumulus tombs in the world and is closely associated with Lydian royalty and aristocracy. Together, Sardis and the Lydian Tumuli of Bin Tepe illustrate the political, religious and funerary traditions of Lydia and its lasting impact on the cultural history of western Anatolia. In 2025, the combined property “Sardis and the Lydian Tumuli of Bin Tepe” was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
(Source: UNESCO – Sardis and the Lydian Tumuli of Bin Tepe
Anatolian Archaeology – Sardis Ancient City and Lydian Tumuli in Türkiye Added to UNESCO World Heritage List)
Excavations at Sardis have been carried out for more than a century, most intensively since 1958 by the Archaeological Exploration of Sardis, a joint project of Harvard University and Cornell University. Archaeologists have uncovered remains from Lydian, Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine periods, including houses, workshops, fortifications, streets, and major public buildings that offer a comprehensive picture of urban life over nearly two millennia.
(Source: Harvard Art Museums – Archaeological Exploration of Sardis
Sardis Expedition – Site Overview)
Key monuments visible at Sardis today include:
- The Bath–Gymnasium Complex, a vast Roman public building with a monumental colonnaded façade, central courtyard and bathing facilities, partially reconstructed in the 1960s–70s.
- The Synagogue of Sardis, adjoining the bath–gymnasium, a lavish Late Roman synagogue with mosaic floors, marble wall revetments and more than 80 Greek and several Hebrew inscriptions; its discovery in 1962 transformed our understanding of Jewish life and status in Roman Asia Minor.
- The Temple of Artemis, one of the largest Ionic temples in the ancient world, begun under the Lydians and greatly enlarged in Hellenistic and Roman times; its unfinished colossal columns still dominate the rural landscape.
- Remains of Byzantine fortifications, churches, shops, streets and houses, showing the continued occupation and transformation of the city into the medieval period.
(Source: Sardis Expedition – The Synagogue
Harvard Art Museums – Archaeological Exploration of Sardis
The Byzantine Legacy – Sardis in Late Antiquity and Byzantine Eras)
Today, Sardis and the Bin Tepe tumuli are among the most evocative archaeological landscapes of western Türkiye. Visitors can walk through the colonnades of the bath–gymnasium, step into the restored synagogue, stand beneath the towering columns of the Temple of Artemis, and look across the Hermus valley towards the Lydian royal mounds, tracing the story of a city that shaped the economic and cultural history of the ancient world.
(Source: Wow Cappadocia – Sardis Ancient City
Excursion Mania – Sardis – Updated 2025 Visitor Information)