In Rom soldiers were recruited from many parts of the empire; the had to serve twenty-five years. Then, assuming they were still alive, the received a pension, permission to marry and were settled on land near their duty station. As a result, todays DNA research has found some interesting diversity among populations all over Europe and the Middle East. In Sardis this practice led to the settlement of Jewish veterans at some time BCE, which shortly after the death of Christ lead to the development of a Christian community. Consequently, Sardes figures in writings of the New Testament. It is known that the apostle Paul visited here and wrote letters to the local community. He also had nasty things to say about the temple of Artemis!

Eventually as a result of natural and man made causes, Archaic Sardis on the hill largely disappeared, only the Roman/Byzantine vestiges in the town below were to some extent visible. The Excavation of Sardis began just before WWI, led by US archeologists who uncovered the ruins of the giant temple of Artemis . The war put an end to this first phase. It was resumed at a later time and to some extent is still ongoing today under the leadership of Harvard. Among the important finds are the Gymnasion; the Byzantine era shops; the giant Synagoge; and the theater

                                     Gymnasion

In roman times the very large thermal baths and gymnasium complex was in use for about 450 – 500 years; eventually Rome became Byzanthium, Christianity tok over, bathing became sinful and the baths were closed and "repurposed"

On the top of the hill, above the modern city, are the ruins of the Sardis of Antiquity with, among others, the ruins of the temple of Artemis and the theater. Pictures of the temple ruins are to the left and below. The Artemis temple had been intended to be a gigantic complex, but was never completed. That is hardly surprising, considering the almost constant warfare and/or natural catstrophes that regularly devastated the area. Perhaps marble is not the best building material in earthquake country. Another reason for the abandonment of the city on the hill (was it by any chance "shining"?) was the fact that its harbor also disappeared under the encroaching sands brought by the Meander river.

filled with algae and many of the terraces and pools were severly damaged. UNESCO threatened to remove the World Heritage label, unless drastic changes were made. So, the hotels were demolished, the street flooded, no private cars are allowed to drive to the actual site, People are still allowed to walk on the old street, but there are guards who quickly whistle back anyone who attempts to step into the pools. When the highly calcium saturated water streams over the terraces, it deposits travertine minerals which eventually harden and form the pools and terraces one can see in the picture in the middle above. To encourage the restoration of the site, the terraces were divided into twenty sections and are flooded and let dry according to a carefully calibrated system. Whenever the water is turned off, the calcium has a chance to settle and harden and reform the damaged edges of the pools. Significant regeneration has already occurred, but it is expected that it will take another twenty years before the site is fully restored. (We heard another explanation for the water rationing: allegedly there is a serious decline in the ground water level, as a result of increased agricultural activities it has sunk from 50 meter down to only 10 meter. Unfortunately, I have no independent information as to which story is correct. perhaps there is some truth to both.) Along the terraces footpaths have been constructed so one can walk and observe the different parts of the site (and take pictures like the young lady above). There are sanctioned swimming or rather wallowing pools where tourists can cavort in the hot spring water, something that appears to be particularly popular with Russian.