Sardis or
Sardes (;
Lydian:
Sfard;
Sardeis; ) was an ancient city at the location of modern
Sart (Sartmahmut before 19 October 2005) in
Turkey's
Manisa Province. Sardis 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. As one of the
Seven churches of Asia, it was addressed by
John, the author of the
Book of Revelation in the
Holy Bible, in terms which seem to imply that its population was notoriously soft and fainthearted. Its importance was due first to its military strength, secondly to its situation on an important highway leading from the interior to the
Aegean coast, and thirdly to its commanding the wide and fertile plain of the
Hermus.