Sardis developed at the foot of Mount Tmolus in western Anatolia, beside the fertile valley of the Hermus River. It became the capital of Lydia, whose kings controlled substantial territory during the seventh and sixth centuries BCE. Rulers including Gyges and Croesus acquired reputations for wealth and power. Archaeological evidence for gold refining and early coinage helps explain that reputation, although the history of money involved developments beyond a single invention or ruler. Sardis joined royal authority with agriculture, craftsmanship and regional exchange.

Persian forces under Cyrus conquered Lydia in the sixth century BCE, bringing Sardis into the Achaemenid Empire as an important administrative centre. Its position near routes linking the Aegean with the interior gave it continuing strategic value. During the Ionian Revolt, Greek attackers burned parts of the city in 499 BCE. Alexander's arrival in 334 BCE initiated another political transition. Hellenistic rulers subsequently supported monumental development, including work at the sanctuary of Artemis, whose enormous temple remained a focus through later phases of construction.

Under Roman rule, Sardis flourished as a provincial city, although a devastating earthquake in 17 CE required major rebuilding. Imperial assistance under Tiberius helped recovery and became part of civic memory. Baths, a gymnasium, shops and other public facilities expressed Roman urban habits alongside local traditions. The city also housed varied religious communities. Its early Christian congregation appears in the Book of Revelation, while archaeological remains demonstrate that religious life cannot be understood through Christian texts alone or reduced to a simple sequence of replacement.

The monumental synagogue discovered in 1962 occupies part of the bath and gymnasium complex. Its inscriptions, mosaics and furnishings reveal a substantial Jewish community participating in civic life during late antiquity. Much of its surviving decoration belongs to the fourth and fifth centuries. Evidence associates its abandonment with an early seventh century earthquake, illustrating how later excavation can revise older historical explanations. Byzantine occupation continued in changed forms, and subsequent Turkish settlement added further layers as the ancient city gradually became a landscape of ruins and reused spaces.

Archaeological work, especially the Harvard and Cornell expedition established in 1958, has greatly expanded knowledge of Sardis. Excavations investigate ordinary buildings, fortifications and industrial activity as well as celebrated monuments, while the nearby Bin Tepe burial mounds illuminate the Lydian elite. Conservation seeks to preserve fragile materials alongside massive standing columns. Sardis is important for the continuity and transformation visible across its long history: a royal Lydian capital became a Persian centre, a Roman city and a diverse late antique community within the same strategic landscape.