Want to go deeper?

The following are recommended to help you look deeper into the history and archaeology of Smyrna.

Cecil John Cadoux. Ancient Smyrna: A History of the City from the Earliest Times to 324 A.D. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1938. – Cadoux was born in Smyrna and then went on to become a professor at Oxford. Despite its age, this is one of the most detailed treatments of Smyrna available, though it is currently both out of print and unavailable through Amazon. You may be able to find it at a large library or seminary library.

Recommended for purchase:

Steve Singleton – Overcoming: A Study Guide for the Book of Revelation (DeeperStudy.com, 2004) – Provides the historical background of Smyrna and the other six cities of the Apocalypse, as well as a thorough introduction and brief commentary on the Apocalypse. Get digital edition and save almost 50%!

Steve Singleton – Seven Letters to the Church (2006) – E-book drawn from Overcoming (see above), with additional material. Illustrated commentary on the Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia, as found in Revelation chapters 2 and 3. Includes history, culture, and archaeology of the churches, plus a summary of relevance for today as well as verse by verse comments. Illustrated with drawings & color photos, including satellite images of Ephesus, Pergamum, and Laodicea.

Claude E. Fant & Mitchell G. Reddish – A Guide to Biblical Sites in Greece and Turkey (Oxford, 2003). – Nearly two-thirds of the New Testament, including all the letters of Paul, most of Acts, and the Book of Revelation, are set in either Turkey or Greece. This book serves as a historical, biblical, and archaeological guide to most of these biblical sites. View excerpt

CD-ROM: Turkey: Pictorial Library of Bible Lands (2004) – Series is most complete collection of high resolution Bible Land images available... perfect for worship, class study, or personal Bible study! Highest quality available. This CD features more than 700 high-resolution digitized images, including: Cities of Paul's Journeys (Antioch on the Orontes, Seleucia, Tarsus, Pisidian Antioch, Lystra and Derbe, Colossae, Hierapolis, Assos, Alexandria Troas, and Miletus); seven churches of Revelation: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea; plus Istanbul, Cappadocia, Priene, and Troy.

George Bean – Aegean Turkey: An Archaeological Guide (John Murray, 1989).

J. M. Cook – Old Smyrna Excavations: The Temples of Athena (David Brown, 1998).

Ekrem Akurgal – Ancient Civilizations and Ruins of Turkey: From Prehistoric Times Until the End of the Roman Empire (Haset Kirabevi, 1985). | cheaper, earlier edition – Akurgal was the archaeologist in charge of the excavation of the original Smyrna at Bayrakli.

Online resources:

Wikipedia – Izmir | Smyrna

Christine Eslik, PhD – Recent and current excavations

The Martyrdom of Polycarp – Eng. transl. by Cyril C. Richardson of a document almost contemporary with the event it narrates.

William M. Ramsay – "Smyrna: City of Life" | "The Letter to the Church in Smyrna" 251-267 and 268-280, respectively, from Letters to the Seven Churches & Their Place in the Plan of the Apocalypse, 2nd ed. (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1906).

William M. Ramsay – "Smyrna: City of Life" | "The Letter to the Church in Smyrna" 251-267 and 268-280, respectively, from Letters to the Seven Churches & Their Place in the Plan of the Apocalypse, 2nd ed. (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1906).

Burak Sansal. [History of] Izmir – Sansal is a Turkish professional tour guide.