The letters to the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3 were written to real congregations in real cities, all in what is now western Turkey. All seven can be visited in a few days, and the ruins explain a surprising amount of the text. Here is what is there today.
Ephesus
The largest and best preserved of the seven. You walk down a marble street past the Library of Celsus to the great theater, where the silversmiths rioted against Paul in Acts 19. Paul spent more than two years here, and the letter in Revelation 2 praises the church for its endurance but says it has left its first love. Nearby are the remains of the Basilica of St. John.
Smyrna
Smyrna is modern Izmir, a large city, so most of the ancient town lies under it. The excavated agora gives a sense of the old city. The letter to Smyrna is one of two with no criticism at all, and it warns of persecution to come.
Pergamum
Pergamum sits on a steep hill above the town of Bergama. On the acropolis you see the foundation of the great Altar of Zeus, which many think is the “throne of Satan” in Revelation 2:13. The altar itself was taken to Berlin in the nineteenth century. Below the hill is the Asclepion, a healing center of the ancient world.
Thyatira
Thyatira is the modern town of Akhisar. Only a small block of ruins survives, in the middle of town. It was a city of trade guilds, which helps explain the pressure on the church to compromise that the letter describes.
Sardis
Sardis has the massive columns of the Temple of Artemis, a rebuilt Roman gymnasium, and one of the largest ancient synagogues ever found. The city was famous for a fortress thought too strong to fall, and it was taken twice by surprise, which gives weight to the warning “I will come like a thief.”
Philadelphia
Philadelphia is modern Alaşehir. The great brick piers of a Byzantine church of St. John still stand there. Like Smyrna, Philadelphia receives no criticism, and the letter promises an open door.
Laodicea
Laodicea has been under steady excavation and now has long colonnaded streets, theaters and churches. Across the valley are the hot springs of Hierapolis at Pamukkale, and the cold water of Colossae was not far away. Standing there, the “lukewarm” of Revelation 3:16 makes immediate sense: the water piped into Laodicea was neither one nor the other.
How groups see them
Most groups fly into Izmir and travel by coach in a loop, with nights near Ephesus and Pamukkale. Many add Patmos, the island where John received the Revelation, by boat. Others combine the seven churches with Greece to follow Paul through Philippi, Thessalonica, Athens and Corinth. It works well for a church that has studied Revelation together, and the pastor can teach each letter in the city it was written to.
See the Seven Churches of Revelation expedition and our other Greece and Turkey routes.
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