Smyrna (modern Izmir, Turkey)
The church in Smyrna is only mentioned in John’s Revelation. It is exhorted not to fear the coming persecution of “those who say they are Jews and are not” (Rev 2:9 NKJV). Jesus told them they would be thrown in prison as a test. The subsequent history of the city bore these exhortations out.
New Testament era Smyrna is estimated to have been the home of over 100,000 people. It had an aqueduct, a stadium, what may have been the largest grain market in Asia, a theater seating perhaps twenty thousand and “the most magnificent gymnasium in Asia.”1 Because modern Smyrna (Izmir) is the third largest city in Turkey with over 2.6 million residents, much of ancient Smyrna is likely buried under modern buildings.2 Due to this, so far all that has been recovered of ancient Smyrna are the remains of the market.
Located forty miles north of Ephesus, Smyrna became a major seaport on a gulf of the Aegean. Smyrna was noted for its beauty in the ancient world. Some of its coins read “First of Asia in beauty and size”—a statement continually contested by its chief rivals, Ephesus and Pergamum. In 195 B.C. Smyrna became the first city to establish a cult to Rome by building a temple for the deity Roma.
In the basement of this agora, which collapsed in a severe earthquake in A.D. 178, hundreds of graffiti were discovered. The majority of the graffiti are the usual mix of political slogans, pagan religious discussion and statements of civic pride, which are all jumbled together. However, according to Roger Bagnall, one graffito may be the earliest Christian inscription ever found. The inscription is written in Greek and says, “ό δεδωκως πvεύμα (the one who has given the spirit).”3 Bagnall argues this was an encoded message from one Christian to other Christians to let them know there were other believers in the city. The use of code was necessitated by the fact that Christianity was illegal, considered a heretical cult.
The danger to Christians in Smyrna is vividly illustrated by the martyrdom of Polycarp, the city’s bishop either in 154 or 166. According to tradition, the proconsul of Smyrna, Quadratus, commanded that Polycarp deny Christ. When he refused, Polycarp, along with ten other Christians, was put to death by being burned at the stake in the city’s stadium.4 In apparent fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy, the Jews of the city reportedly helped gather the wood for the fires.5\
Edwin Yamauchi, The Archaeology of New Testament Cities, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1980) 58 ↩︎
E.M. Blaiklock, The Archaeology of the New Testament, rev. ed., (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, c. 1970, 1984) 129. ↩︎
Ben Witherington, III, “Biblical Views: The Writing on the Wall.” Biblical Archaeology Review, Vol. 35, No. 3 (May/Jun 2009): 26. Online: http://members.bib-arch.org/publication.asp?PubID=BSBA&Volume=35&Issue=3&ArticleID=5 (accessed April 13, 2010) ↩︎
Edwin Yamauchi, The Archaeology of New Testament Cities, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1980) 61. ↩︎
William M. Ramsay, Letters to the Seven Churches (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1979) 273. ↩︎