Bible Synapse
Philadelphia (Alaşehir)
Site · 2nd century BC · The early church · also called Philadelphia in Lydia, Alaşehir
See it on the map and timeline
- Date
- 2nd century BC (the city's founding by the kings of Pergamum)
- Found
- Alaşehir, Manisa Province, Turkey. Most of the ancient city lies under the modern town, and little of it has been excavated.
- Now
- At the site, Alaşehir, Turkey
- Passages
- Revelation 1:11, Revelation 3:7–13
What it is
A city founded in the 2nd century BC by the kings of Pergamum and named after Attalus II Philadelphus. It lies in an earthquake zone: Tacitus lists it among the cities of Asia ruined by the great earthquake of AD 17, and afterwards it took the name Neocaesarea in gratitude for imperial help. Little of the ancient city can be seen today; the main monument is the remains of a large Byzantine church of St John, built around AD 600.
How it connects to the Bible
Revelation's letter to Philadelphia (3:7–13) has no rebuke for the church. It promises an “open door” and says the faithful will be made “a pillar in the temple of my God” who will “go no more out”, bearing a new name. Some commentators read these images against the city's history of earthquakes and its imperial renaming; others take them as general biblical imagery.