Synagogue at Sardis

SART, Turkey – Southwestern Turkey suffers from an embarrassment of archaeological riches, so it is not too surprising that many travelers have yet to discover ancient Sardis, or Sart as it is known in modern times. Being an archaeology buff, I ventured off the beaten track in search of the largest ancient synagogue ever excavated.

The 3^rd-century synagogue that attracted me is definitely worth the side trip, but there’s much more to see here.  From prehistoric lakeside communities to major Lydian, Greek, Roman and Byzantine cities, Sardis has witnessed more than 5,000 years of human habitation. A 6^th-century B.C. acropolis crowns a site that includes an impressive Roman gymnasium, shops and marble colonnade from the Byzantine period, as well as the Temple to Artemis whose columns are ranked among the most beautiful in the world. Many enduring myths are rooted in its soil, too.

Nevertheless, not much tourist traffic makes its way along the modern macadam road to Sart, which parallels part of what remains of the ancient Silk Road that linked Europe with Asia.  From time to time, a horse-drawn hay wagon still rumbles by, the farm women aboard covered from top to toe in a patchwork of jewel-toned patterns – headscarves, long sleeved shirts and billowing trousers. They look as if they’ve just stepped out of a miniature painting.

Because I’d encountered crowds the day before at Ephesus, barely 55 miles away, I was pleasantly surprised to have Sardis, the site of the legendary capital of the Lydian Empire, practically to myself. The countryside was so inviting as I trampled through knee-high meadow grass, sprinkled with colorful wildflowers, that I regretted not having the foresight to bring along a picnic lunch. Ironically, the city credited with giving the world the concept of retailing, and the first to mint silver and gold coins whose value a government guaranteed, had neither souvenir vendors nor concession stands. In fact, my guidebook mentioned a $1 admission fee, but no one was there to collect it.

All that remains of the mercantile center that once thrived there is an untended row of mud brick shops dating from the 6th and early 7th centuries. From well-preserved artifacts, archaeologists have identified a lock shop, a restaurant and a paint shop. They’ve also identified the shop of Saul the baker and Jacob, a Jewish merchant. Jacob’s name was scratched on a potsherd on the floor, which also noted that he was an elder of the synagogue council.

Archaeologists argue whether the Torah was kept her.

Evidence suggests that Jews settled in Sardis as early as 547 B.C. Although a few historians formerly dated the synagogue earlier, an inscription in Hebrew indicates that the Emperor Lucius Verus (161-169 A.D.) probably gave the building to the local Jewish community. It is now generally accepted, therefore, that the building was used for another purpose before becoming a synagogue around 3 A.D.

In any case, there is little doubt that Jews were living in Sardis when Alexander the Great and his legions arrived in 324 B.C. The wealthy capital of the Lydian Empire surrendered without a skirmish to the 23-year-old Greek, who granted its citizens their freedom as an inducement for the cities remaining in his path to put down their arms, too.

Archaeologists from Cornell and Harvard, who have been excavating Sardis for more than 40 years, have extensively restored the synagogue, including intricate mosaics that decorate much of the floor and walls. I entered the building through the atrium, where marble columns surround a large marble basin. Then I passed through a long narrow sanctuary that is divided into seven sections. The Torah was probably housed facing Jerusalem in one of the three niches in the wall leading from the atrium to the sanctuary.

Mosaic floor at the entrance to the synagogue.

Across the field, the hulking marble shell of an imposing Roman gymnasium dominates the horizon. It was dedicated in 211-212 A.D. to Julia Domna, wife of the Emperor Septimius Severus, and their two sons.  Although an attempt was made to erase the name of one son after he was murdered, it’s possible to discern part of the lettering, “Publius.” The gymnasium is situated so that its tall arches frame a spur of the Tmolus mountains on the other side of the road, where royal burial mounds have been gentled by centuries of erosion.

Travelers who make the steep rocky climb to the small acropolis at the top of the mountain discover fortifications and soldiers’ barracks, some dating back to about 600 B.C. Looking down from that perch provides a bird’s eye view of the Temple to Artemis at the base of the hill. The temple is in ruins, but a few columns still stand, evoking the memory of grandeur past. Their carvings and proportions are considered to be among the most splendid ever found.

Nearby, sheep graze. On the day I visited, a shepherd, watching over his small flock, played a simple pipe. The haunting melody wafted through the valley, another echo from the past. Sardis seems to do that, blend the past with the present, legend with history. Take the tale most often repeated about the fabulously rich Croesus, last of the city’s Lydian kings. He controlled all but one of the cities along the Aegean and flaunted his wealth. It is said that he gave away at least 10 tons of gold and alone provided the funds for one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the lavish Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. To this day, he is remembered with the expression “rich as Croesus.”

Is this fact or fiction? Archaeologists’ findings lend credence to it. In 1968, they unearthed “small bowl hearths with minute remains of gold [providing] evidence for the process of gold refining called cupellation.” Andrew and Nancy Ramage wrote in a catalogue of objects discovered at Sardis. “We can imagine scores of workers squatting on the ground, pumping bellows and melting the gold dust into small round button-shaped ingots,” they added.  Moreover, archaeologists have found fragments of bellows’ nozzles and many tiny bits of gold at the site. The gold may have come from the Pactolus, a lazy stream that meanders this way and that along a path of least resistance near the excavated refinery. The ancients laid sheepskins in the stream’s shallow waters to catch particles of gold dust carried down from the mountains. Some claim this is the origin of the legend of Jason and the Golden Fleece. Others insist that the stream bears evidence of King Midas’s golden touch. And still others ignore the influence of gold altogether and maintain that these are the waters in which Achilles’s mother dipped him to make him invulnerable.

Modern travelers intrigued by such accounts and willing to venture off the beaten track soon discover that, even in ruins, a visit to the richest city of the ancient world is a rewarding experience.

If You Go. . .

Although off the beaten track, Sardis is easy to visit by car or bus and may be included on a trip to the area’s better-known attractions, including Kusadashi, where many cruise ships dock. Sardis is little more than an hour from Izmir, a popular base for travel to Ephesus by shoppers who seek out the small workshops where local girls earn their dowry weaving and knotting rugs. Also nearby is the simple house in the mountains where it is believed that the Virgin Mary spent her last days.

©2002 Shirley Moskow.