Sardis

Definition

Sardis, also Sardes (Lydian: Sfard, Greek: Σάρδεις, Persian: Sparda) was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Lydia, one of the important cities of the Persian Empire, the seat of a proconsul under the Roman Empire, and the metropolis of the province Lydia in later Roman and Byzantine times. The earliest reference to Sardis is in the The Persians of Aeschylus (472 BC).

In Hittite times the city was probably called Uda, while it was called Hyde during the Heraclid dynasty. The Mermnad king Gyges made Sardis the capital of Lydia in 687 BC, which it remained until Lydia was defeated by the Persians under king Croesus (c. 547 BC). Sardis then became the capital of the satrapy of Lydia, a division of the Persian empire.

The early Lydian kingdom was advanced in the industrial arts and Sardis was the chief seat of its manufactures. The most important of these trades was the manufacture and dyeing of delicate woolen textiles and carpets. The stream Pactolus which flowed through the market-place "carried golden sands" in early antiquity, which may have been gold dust (there were gold mines near Sardis), or simply a metaphor for the city's wealth. The city remained a center of commerce and trade throughout antiquity, until Constantinople became the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire.

Based on Wikipedia content that has been reviewed, edited, and republished under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 3.0 license. Last reviewed by Jan van der Crabben on 28 April 2011. Please help and improve this definition!

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Articles

Illustrations

Sardis Books

• Lydian Architecture: Ashlar Masonry Structures at Sardis Christopher Ratté Archaeological Exploration of Sardis (13 June 2011) Price: $85.00

• A Survey of Sardis and the Major Monuments Outside the City Walls George M. A. Hanfmann Harvard University Press (01 January 1976) Currently unavailable

• The Archaeology of Lydia, from Gyges to Alexander Christopher H. Roosevelt Cambridge University Press (06 July 2009) Price: $113.70

• Love for Lydia: A Sardis Anniversary Volume Presented to Crawford H. Greenewalt... Anonymous Archaeological Exploration of Sardis (28 February 2009) Price: $39.84

• City of Sardis: Approaches in Graphic Recording Crawford H. Greenewalt Harvard Art Museum (Acc) (05 July 2006) Price: $19.00