Archaeological Exploration of Sardis photographs and news releases

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: 15-2-1077

Scope and content

Includes photographs and news releases pertaining to the Cornell-Harvard Sardis Expedition.

Scope and content

Also, 16mm movie film: "Ancient Sardis," "filmed and realized by Charles Lyman," and produced by Atlantic Productions, Inc. The film documents the Harvard-Cornell archaeological expedition and its forty years of excavation of the acropolis, burial mounds, the Roman gymnasium, and the synagogue and demonstrates archaeological methods.

Dates

1963-1965.

Creator

Archaeological Exploration of Sardis (Program) (Organization)

Biographical / Historical

Sardis is the capital of Lydia, located in the West of modern Turkey. During the height of its power in the 8th-6th centuries B.C. under the kings Gyges, Alyattes and Croesus, Sardis controlled the area from the Aegean coast to the Persian border. It was subsequently the western capital of the Persian empire and an important Roman center. Excavations at ancient Sardis have been conducted by Harvard and Cornell Universities under the aegis of the American Schools of Oriental Research since 1958. George M. A. Hanfmann, of Harvard University, founded and directed the project with A. Henry Detweiler and subsequently Stephen W. Jacobs of Cornell as associate directors.