Sardis

or Sardes . Anciently the capital of Lydia, in Asia Minor, stood at the foot of Mount Tmolus, now called Bozdag, about 50 miles northeast from Smyrna; the citadel on a steep rock was almost impregnable, being fortified by three walls. It was thus enabled to hold out when the lower town was taken by the Cimmerians in the reign of Ardys. During the Ionian revolt, 501 B.C. , the insurgents, aided by the A then i ans, took the city. It was taken by the Turks in the 11th century, and suffered a severe blow from Tamer lane, who almost entirely destroyed it about 200 years later.