Sardis

“ When that time of terror had passed, the Lydians brought many a hidden treasure into the light of day once more, and, by their industry and skill in art during the peaceful years which they enjoyed under Cyrus and Cambyses, recovered their old position so far, that Sardis was again looked upon as one of the wealthiest cities of Asia Minor, and therefore, of the world. ”

“ Sardis was one of those which the prophet, in the Apocalypse, reproves for declension from the Christian faith, and who thus exhorts them: “Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die; for I have not found thy works perfect before God:” They despised the admonition; and when Julian attempted to restore paganism, he re-erected in this town all the pagan altars that had been prostrated; and when the Mohammedans invaded Asia Minor, Sardis, like the rest, fell into the power of the inveterate enemies of Christianity. ”

“ The contrasts were as great as they could have been in the capitals Sardanapalus built—structures so vast that they must have dwarfed the towers of Sardis—so rich and splendid that the Hanging Gardens of Babylon must have been outshone—reared their stupendous bulk into the smoky air and cast into perpetual shade all that lay near them. Hard beside their towering mass lay a region filled with the wretched tenements of the poor, and a little further off the houses of the well-to-do. ”

“ Not far from hence the road divides into two paths for Sardis. The lower of these we chose, tho declining a little too much to the left hand, and so passing by a few cottages, which are called by the name of Zericle, we arrive in seven hours at Sardis, one of which is now likewise to be deducted for the stay, which our mules occasioned. ”

“ No Christians reside on the spot: two Greeks only work in a mill here, and a few wretched Turkish huts are scattered among the ruins. We saw the churches of St. John and the Virgin, the theatre, and the building styled the Palace of Crœsus; but the most striking object at Sardis is the temple of Cybele. I was filled with wonder and awe at beholding the two stupendous columns of this edifice, which are still remaining: they are silent but impressive witnesses of the power and splendour of antiquity. ”

“ Sardis was painfully silent. In the west the low thunder still mocked and muttered, but otherwise the stillness was profound. The great house rose before us at twice its normal height, and at the doorstep, sinister in the saddle, sat Flood—knocking—
The disturbing influence of the earlier hours again had fallen upon me; a weight lay heavily on my consciousness.
With infinite relief, I heard from within the walls the high voice of Robert Hamelin, made higher by its pitch of terror. ”

“ There were but a few, and those few were even in Sardis. There is not a Church on earth which is so corrupt but has "a few."
Take heart, Christians; there are a few in Sardis. Do not be quite cast down. Some heroes have not turned their backs in the day of battle; some mighty men still fight for the truth. But be careful, for, perhaps, you are not one of the "few." Since there are but "a few," there ought to be great searchings of heart. Let us look to our garments, and see whether they be defiled. ”

“ Sardis now became the western capital of the Persian empire, and its burning by the Athenians was the indirect cause of the Persian War. After Alexander the Great’s death, Lydia passed to Antigonus; then Achaeus made himself king at Sardis, but was defeated and put to death by Antiochus. The country was presented by the Romans to Eumenes, and subsequently formed part of the proconsular province of Asia. By the time of Strabo (xiii. 631) its old language was entirely supplanted by Greek.
The Lydian empire may be described as the industrial power of the ancient world. ”

“ There occurs nothing else, that is remarkable about Sardis, besides the broken walls of the castle on an adjoining hill; the ascent and prospect of which, however magnified by Sir Paul Rycaut, we yet thought so inferior, to what we lately had found at Magnesia, that it could not raise our curiosity to undertake the climbing of that precipice, especially since we could promise ourselves the same prospect to a greater advantage from the top of Tmolus ”

“ During the reign of Atys, son of Gyges, the Cimmerians, being expelled their own country by the Nomades of Scythia, passed over into Asia, and possessed themselves of Sardis. Some time after this, Crœsus became king of Lydia, and a war ensued between him and Cyrus the Great. At that period no nation of Asia was more hardy, or more valiant, than the Lydians. They fought principally on horseback, [Pg 318] armed with long spears, and were very expert in managing the horse. Sardis, according to Herodotus, was taken by storm ”

“ The number and wealth of the girls of bad fame in Sardis were so great, that they raised, at their own expense, assisted by some of the lower classes, this magnificent tomb of their king, and monument of their own infamy. The remains of it at the present day, exactly correspond with the description of Herodotus, who saw and described it nearly five hundred years before the Christian era. The base of masonry still traceable, extends for six stadia or three-quarters of a mile. ”

“ In the autumn of the year 481 B.C. this vast army, marching from all parts of the mighty empire, reached Lydia and gathered in and around the city of Sardis, the old capital of Crœsus. Besides the land army, a fleet of twelve hundred and seven ships of war, and numerous other vessels, were collected, and large magazines of provisions were formed at points along the whole line of march. For years flour and other food, from Asia and Egypt, had been stored in cities on the route, that the fatal enemy starvation might not attack the mighty host. ”

“ Sardis, in spite of Melito, then just dead, but living still in men's mouths by the fame of his learning, eloquence, and miracles; and Hierapolis, in spite of Apollinaris, who, like so many others, approached the emperor himself with an apology. All over the Church there were men raised up by God, and fitted with learning to confront learning, patience to instruct ignorance, and unflinching fortitude to endure persecution—men in every way worthy to be the instruments of that great change which was being wrought out through the wide world of the Roman empire. ”

“ The distance between every two successive stations, on the road from Sardis to Susa, (which was “all inhabited and all secure,” διὰ οἰκεομένης τε ἅπασα καὶ ἀσφολέος) , would seem to have been measured and marked in parasangs and fractions of a parasang. It seems probable, from the account which Herodotus gives of the march of Xerxes (vii, 26) , that this road passed from Kappadokia and across the river Halys, through Kelænæ and Kolossæ to Sardis; and therefore that the road which Cyrus took for his march, from Sardis at least as far as Kelænæ, must have been so measured and marked. ”

“ In his desire alike to instruct and to be instructed, he travelled through many countries, and among others came to Sardis, the capital of the famous king of Lydia, the great patron, in that day, of learning and of learned men. He met at the court of Crœsus with Solon, Thales, and other sages, and is related so to have pleased his royal master by the part he took in the conversations held with these philosophers, that he applied to him an expression which has since passed into a proverb, "μᾶλλον ὁ Φρύξ." The Phrygian has spoken better than all." ”

“ Lydus, the second [Pg 563] king of the land, is taken from the name of the nation. The prosperous, peaceful reign of the good king Alkimus is no doubt founded on some conception of an early happy age. The story of the lion of Meles obviously goes back to the relations in which the lion was placed, in the religious rites of the Syrians, to the sun-god, who was also worshipped with zeal by the Lydians. We learn from a Lydian that the name Sardis was given to the city in honour of the sun-god. [813] The coins of Sardis which have been preserved regularly present the image of a lion and a bull. ”

“ Sardis to Smyrna. At both places there is the figure of a man, 41⁄2 cubits high, with a spear in the right hand and a bow in the left, armed partly as an Egyptian and partly as an Ethiopian. Across the breast, from one shoulder to the other, run Egyptian sacred letters, saying: 'I have conquered this land with my arms.' Who he is and from whence he comes, Sesostris does not tell us here, but on the other pillars. When Sesostris returned, he brought with him many prisoners from the tribes, and his brother, to whom Sesostris had entrusted Egypt, gave him a hospitable reception at Pelusium. ”

“ In the time of Julian great efforts were made to restore the Pagan worship, by erecting temporary altars at Sardis, where none had been left, and repairing those temples of which vestiges remained.
A. D. 400, the city was plundered by the Goths, under Tribigildus and Cairanas, officers in the Roman pay, who had revolted from the emperor Arcadius.
A. D. 1304, the Turks, on an insurrection of the Tartars, were permitted to occupy a portion of the Acropolis; but the Sardians, on the same night, murdered them in their sleep. ”

“ He names Mæonians in juxtaposition with Karians, and we are told by Herodotus that the people once called Mæonian received the new appellation of Lydian from Lydus son of Atys. Sardis, whose almost inexpugnable citadel was situated on a precipitous rock on the northern side of the ridge of Tmôlus, overhanging the plain of the river Hermus, was the capital of the Lydian kings: it is not named by Homer, though he mentions both Tmôlus and the neighboring Gygæan lake: the fortification of it was ascribed to an old Lydian king named Mêlês, and strange legends were told concerning it. ”

“ The city was taken and during the pillage was accidentally burned. The Ionian forces were utterly inadequate to hold Sardis; and their return was not effected without a serious defeat by the pursuing army of Persians. ”

“ If therefore you won't watch, I will come as a thief, and you won't know what hour I will come upon you. 003:004 Nevertheless you have a few names in Sardis that did not defile their garments. They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. 003:005 He who overcomes will be arrayed in white garments, and I will in no way blot his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. 003:006 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. ”

“ He himself advanced towards Sardis; and when he was about 70 stades142 distant from that city, he was met by Mithrines, the commandant of the garrison in the Acropolis, accompanied by the most influential of the citizens of Sardis. ”

“ Sorely did the Ionic Greeks now repent that they had rejected the propositions made to them by Cyrus for revolting from Crœsus,—though at the time when these propositions were made, it would have been highly imprudent to listen to them, since the Lydian power might reasonably be looked upon as the stronger. As soon as Sardis had fallen, they sent envoys to the conqueror, entreating that they might be enrolled as his tributaries, on the footing which they had occupied under Crœsus. ”

“ Now the citizens of Sardis were not the only people addicted to the use of unguents, as Alexis says in his Maker of Goblets—
The whole Sardian people is of unguents fond;
PERFUMES.
but the Athenians also, who have always been the leaders of every refinement and luxury in human life, used them very [Pg 1105] much; so that among them, as has been already mentioned, they used to fetch an enormous price ”

“ The great trade route from the Euphrates and the interior passed to it through Apamea. There it forked, one branch going down the Maeander valley to Magnesia and thence north to Ephesus, a distance of about 90 m., and the other branch crossing the mountains by an easy pass to Philadelphia and the Hermus valley, Sardis, Thyatira and at last Pergamum. ”

“ Thyatira - Now called Akissat and Ak-kissar, a city of Natolia, in Asia Minor, seated on the river Hermus, in a plain eighteen miles broad, and is about fifty miles from Pergamos; long. 27 49' E., lat. 38 16' N. The houses are chiefly built of earth, but the mosques are all of marble. Many remarkable ancient inscriptions have been discovered in this place.
Sardis - Now called Sardo and Sart, a town of Asia, in Natolia, about forty miles east from Smyrna. ”

“ They have saved the land from the wastes. No matter how the storms rage on the snow plains, it is ever warm in Sardanes. The city lieth in a valley, ringed round by a score of fire mountains, set there by the gods when the world began. And when the season of the great darkness falleth, the flare of the eternal flames lighteth the valley. With the light of twenty moons is Sardanes ever lighted. Wait and thou shalt see. ”

“ The festivals are not confined to the Gallura; they have their stations throughout the island, every district having some shrine of peculiar sanctity. Their celebration is distinguished by some peculiarities, which, in common with many other customs of the Sardes, and numerous existing monuments and remains, leave no doubt of Sardinia having been early colonised from the East. Traces may also be found in the customs of the Sardes of similarity with the Greek life and manners, derived indeed by the Greeks from the same common source. ”

“ The iron spirit of the man held back dissolution itself until his will was accomplished. Groping and crawling, he reached at last the polished chute in the rock, cut there by the priests centuries before and worn smooth by the passing of thousands of Sardanians. ”

“ When it was completed Sardanes would be in the hollow of his hand.
"Back to your homes, ye Sardanians!" he thundered. "And pray to the Lord Hephaistos for mercy. On the third day from now shall word come to you from the Gateway, the word of the ancient god. When the word cometh, obey it, or he shall not spare you. Let the word go forth through the valley that the captains of all the crafts and the nobles of the land be assembled here in the Judgment House on the third day. Then shall the commands of Hephaistos be made known to them. Away! Away! Analos hath spoken." ”