Editing Sardis (section)

==Excavation history==
[[File:Sardis Synagogue, late 3rd century AD, Sardis, Lydia, Turkey (19331773400).jpg|thumb|right|The main hall of the [[Sardis Synagogue]]]]
[[File:Sardes_(Sardeis)_wall_tile_with_three_dimensional_effect.JPG|thumb|Sardes wall tile with three dimensional effect]]
{{further|Byzantine churches at Sardis}}

By the 19th&nbsp;century, Sardis was in ruins, with mainly visible remains mostly from the Roman period. Early excavators included the British explorer [[George Dennis (explorer)|George Dennis]], who uncovered an enormous marble head of [[Faustina the Elder]]. Found in the precinct of the Temple of [[Artemis]], it probably formed part of a pair of colossal statues devoted to the Imperial couple. The 1.76&nbsp;metre high head is now kept at the [[British Museum]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=459896&partId=1&place=34488&plaA=34488-3-1&page=1 |publisher=British Museum |title=Research collection online}}</ref>

The first large-scale archaeological expedition in Sardis was directed by a [[Princeton University]] team led by [[Howard Crosby Butler]] between years 1910–1914, unearthing a temple to [[Artemis]], and more than a thousand Lydian tombs. The excavation campaign was halted by [[World War I]], followed by the [[Turkish War of Independence]], though it briefly resumed in 1922. Some surviving artifacts from the Butler excavation were added to the collection of the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] in [[New York City|New York]].

A new expedition known as the Archaeological Exploration of Sardis was founded in 1958 by [[G.M.A. Hanfmann]], professor in the Department of Fine Arts at [[Harvard University]], and by Henry Detweiler, dean of the [[Architecture School at Cornell University]]. Hanfmann excavated widely in the city and the region, excavating and restoring the major Roman bath-gymnasium complex, the synagogue, late Roman houses and shops, a Lydian industrial area for processing [[electrum]] into pure gold and silver, Lydian occupation areas, and tumulus tombs at Bintepe.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hanfmann |first1=George M. A. |title=Sardis from Prehistoric to Roman Times: Results of the Archaeological Exploration of Sardis, 1958-1975 |date=1983 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-78925-8 }}{{page needed|date=February 2022}}</ref>

During the 1960s, the acknowledgment of the local significance of the [[Jews|Jewish]] community in Sardis received notable confirmation through the identification of a substantial assembly hall in the northwestern part of the city, now known as the [[Sardis Synagogue]]. This site, adorned with inscriptions, [[Temple menorah|menorahs]], and various artifacts, establishes its function as a [[synagogue]] from the 4th to the 6th century. Excavations in adjacent residential and commercial areas have also uncovered additional evidence of Jewish life.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rautman |first=Marcus |date=2015 |title=A menorah plaque from the center of Sardis |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-roman-archaeology/article/abs/menorah-plaque-from-the-center-of-sardis/C28861FAB6038738DE5B75570D6183F3 |journal=Journal of Roman Archaeology |language=en |volume=28 |pages=431–438 |doi=10.1017/S1047759415002573 |issn=1047-7594}}</ref>

From 1976 until 2007, excavation continued under [[Crawford H. Greenewalt, Jr.]], professor in the Department of Classics at the [[University of California, Berkeley]].<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Cahill |editor1-first=Nicholas |editor2-last=Ramage |editor2-first=Andrew |title=Love for Lydia: A Sardis Anniversary Volume Presented to Crawford H. Greenewalt, Jr |date=2008 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-03195-1 }}{{page needed|date=February 2022}}</ref> Since 2008, the excavation has been under the directorship of [[Nicholas Cahill]], professor at the [[University of Wisconsin–Madison]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.harvardartmuseums.org/study-research/research-centers/sardis |title=Archaeological Exploration of Sardis, Harvard Art Museums |access-date=January 9, 2013 |archive-date=January 22, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130122202358/http://www.harvardartmuseums.org/study-research/research-centers/sardis |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Some of the important finds from the site of Sardis are housed in the [[Archaeological Museum of Manisa]], including Late Roman mosaics and sculpture, a helmet from the mid-6th&nbsp;century&nbsp;BC, and pottery from various periods.