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This area allows you to search for and learn about artifacts published by the Sardis Expedition. Currently (2020) the database consists of artifacts in the exhibition and catalog “The Lydians and Their World” (Yapı Kredi Vedat Nedim Tör Museum, Istanbul, 2010); Judith Schaeffer, Nancy Hirschland Ramage, and Crawford H. Greenewalt, jr., Sardis M10: Corinthian, Attic, and Lakonian Pottery; Jane Evans, Sardis M13: Coins from the Excavations at Sardis: Their Archaeological and Economic Contexts; Georg Petzl, Sardis M14: Greek and Latin Inscriptions, Part II: Finds from 1958 to 2017; G.M.A. Hanfmann ve N.H. Ramage, Sardis R2: Sculpture from Sardis: The Finds through 1975; and A. Ramage, N.H. Ramage, ve Gül Gürtekin-Demir, Sardis R8: Ordinary Lydians at Home: The Lydian Trenches of the House of Bronzes and Pactolus Cliff at Sardis. In coming years we intend to add objects from other Sardis Reports and Monographs.

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Select an object type from the list below. Certain object types (including architectural terracottas, coins, pottery, sculpture) include subtypes (shape and ware of pottery, denomination and mint of coins) to refine your search.

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Select the language of inscribed texts from the list below.

Refine Metalwork

Refine Pottery

Refine Sculpture

Refine Architectural Terracotta

Select a material from the list below.

Select a museum from the list below.

Select a Sardis CATNUM from the list below. CATNUM is made up from object type, year, and sequential number. BI = Bone Implement; G = Glass; J = Jewelry; L = Lamp; M = Metal; NoEx = not excavated; Org = Organic; P = Pottery; S = Sculpture. Coins are numbered with the year of discovery and a running number, or year, C, and a running number. Currently (Feb. 2020) this doesn't give a complete list, only the first 99 entries; to find a specific CATNUM, please use the full-text search at the top of the page.

Select a historical period from the (alphabetical) list below. Note that periods are defined culturally rather than politically, so Lydian (rather than Archaic) refers to the period ca. 800 BC - ca. 547 BC; Late Lydian or Persian (rather than Late Archaic or Classical) from ca. 547 until ca. 330 BC; Hellenistic until the earthquake of 17 AD; Roman and Late Roman continue until the early 7th century AD, except for coins where, as traditional, Prof. Evans begins the Byzantine period in the 6th century.

Select a publication name from the list below. LATW = Lydians and Their World (2010). R2 = Hanfmann and Ramage, Sculpture from Sardis (1978). R8 = A. Ramage, N.H. Ramage, ve Gül Gürtekin-Demir, Sardis R8: Ordinary Lydians at Home: The Lydian Trenches of the House of Bronzes and Pactolus Cliff at Sardis (2021). M10 = Schaeffer, Ramage, and Greenewalt, The Corinthian, Attic, and Pottery from Sardis (1997). M13 = Evans, Coins from the Excavations at Sardis, 1973-2013 (2018). M14 = Petzl, Sardis: Greek and Latin Inscriptions, Part II (2019).

Select a site from the list below.

The stratigraphic contexts (findspots) of artifacts from Sardis are recorded at different levels of specificity. Sector is the most general, referring to a broad area of the city. Trenches are yearly excavation areas (in current usage) or more specific areas of sectors (in early records which used a different excavation system). A Locus is a single stratigraphic unit, i.e. a single deposit of soil, a destruction level, a grave, a dump or other deposit. For instance, MMS-I 84.1 Locus 34 is the destruction level from one room of a Lydian house just inside the fortification wall in sector MMS, containing a rich deposit of Lydian pottery and other artifacts. Note that loci can be continued over a number of years, and so belong to different trenches, if the same stratigraphic unit is excavated over a number of years. For a list of sectors see Hanfmann and Waldbaum, A Survey of Sardis and the Major Monuments Outside the City Walls (Sardis R1, 1975), 13-16. Currently (2020) in order to search for a specific locus, you must search for Trench first to narrow the results, and then search within that for the locus. Sorry.

The stratigraphic contexts (findspots) of artifacts from Sardis are recorded at different levels of specificity. Sector is the most general, referring to a broad area of the city. Trenches are yearly excavation areas (in current usage) or more specific areas of sectors (in early records which used a different excavation system). A Locus is a single stratigraphic unit, i.e. a single deposit of soil, a destruction level, a grave, a dump or other deposit. For instance, MMS-I 84.1 Locus 34 is the destruction level from one room of a Lydian house just inside the fortification wall in sector MMS, containing a rich deposit of Lydian pottery and other artifacts. Note that loci can be continued over a number of years, and so belong to different trenches, if the same stratigraphic unit is excavated over a number of years. For a list of sectors see Hanfmann and Waldbaum, A Survey of Sardis and the Major Monuments Outside the City Walls (Sardis R1, 1975), 13-16. Currently (2020) in order to search for a specific locus, you must search for Trench first to narrow the results, and then search within that for the locus. Sorry.

The stratigraphic contexts (findspots) of artifacts from Sardis are recorded at different levels of specificity. Sector is the most general, referring to a broad area of the city. Trenches are yearly excavation areas (in current usage) or more specific areas of sectors (in early records which used a different excavation system). A Locus is a single stratigraphic unit, i.e. a single deposit of soil, a destruction level, a grave, a dump or other deposit. For instance, MMS-I 84.1 Locus 34 is the destruction level from one room of a Lydian house just inside the fortification wall in sector MMS, containing a rich deposit of Lydian pottery and other artifacts. Note that loci can be continued over a number of years, and so belong to different trenches, if the same stratigraphic unit is excavated over a number of years. For a list of sectors see Hanfmann and Waldbaum, A Survey of Sardis and the Major Monuments Outside the City Walls (Sardis R1, 1975), 13-16. Currently (2020) in order to search for a specific locus, you must search for Trench first to narrow the results, and then search within that for the locus. Sorry.

Showing 10632 results for:  
  • Marble Sculpture of a Headless Recumbent Sphinx
    Marble Sculpture of a Headless Recumbent Sphinx

    R2 Cat. 41

    Sculpture

    Marble, Stone

    Late 6th or 5th C. BC? (Late Lydian (Persian))

    A straight rectangular cut was made to seat the neck, head, and part of the wing (rectangle: W. 0.19, L. 0.15; dowel hole: diam. 0.035, D. 0.035). Judging from the cutting, the head may have been slightly turned to the proper r. The tail is slung up ...

  • Sphinx, Probably from a Throne
    Sphinx, Probably from a Throne

    R2 Cat. 42

    Sculpture

    Marble, Stone

    4th or 3rd C. BC? (Late Lydian (Persian)?)

    Unlike Cat. 41 (Figs. 142-143), this sphinx is made in one piece with the lower back part of the throne. The body is partly in the round (at the front and on top) and partly in relief and, unlike Cat. 41, the relief background extends under the body ...

  • Relief Fragment of Frog and Support
    Relief Fragment of Frog and Support

    R2 Cat. 43

    Sculpture

    Marble, Stone

    (Lydian?)

    The soft and simple treatment of the frog’s body is very effective. This simplicity (from above the frog looks like an archaic lion) and the very straight line down the spine suggest an archaic monument. The channel might indicate that the piece was ...

  • Relief Fragment with Rearing Animal
    Relief Fragment with Rearing Animal

    R2 Cat. 44

    Sculpture

    Marble, Stone

    5th-4th C. BC? (Late Lydian (Persian)?)

    The thick relief block shows an animal charging or rearing to the l. Only the body remains; most of the neck, legs, and tail are broken off. Perhaps the tail curved over the back since there is a trace of the end in the appropriate position. Accordin...

  • Fragment of Anthemion
    Fragment of Anthemion

    R2 Cat. 46

    Sculpture

    Marble, Stone

    530-520 BC (Late Lydian (Persian))

    Fragment of a stele with lotus-volute finial (anthemion).The general type is made clear by the stele Cat. 45 (Figs. 148-149; and a closely comparable fragment from Daskylion (Fig. 152). Preserved is the central part of the finial and the broad raised...

  • Chamber Tomb Stele
    Chamber Tomb Stele

    R2 Cat. 47

    Sculpture

    Limestone, Stone

    520-480 BC (Late Lydian (Persian))

    The plain shaft rises from a simple low rectangular base. The proportion of shaft H. to W. is 4:1. Unlike Cat. 45 and Cat. 46 (Figs. 148-151) the convex volutes rose from two central stems; the eye was an elaborate plastic rosette. A thin, "mannerist...

  • Fragment of Anthemion
    Fragment of Anthemion

    R2 Cat. 48

    Sculpture

    Marble, Stone

    500-450 BC (Late Lydian (Persian))

    The finial consisted of two spirals symmetrically placed in lyre-like design. H.C. Butler writes, "The two double reversed scrolls carried some crowning feature like a palmette. The scrolls were described by pulvinated bands with raised flat edges. T...

  • Anthemion Stele Fragment with Lydian Inscription
    Anthemion Stele Fragment with Lydian Inscription

    R2 Cat. 49

    Sculpture

    Marble, Stone

    Later 5th or 4th C. BC? (Late Lydian (Persian)?)

    The carefully cut ornament includes part of a downward-pointed lotus with five thin leaves, a concave leaf-like ending to the lower part of a volute, and a rounded part above. The finial projected sideways from the shaft. The leaf-like volute end con...

  • Decorated Marble Slab
    Decorated Marble Slab

    R2 Cat. 50

    Sculpture

    Marble, Stone

    6th C. BC? (Lydian?)

    The slab, probably a door lintel rather than a doorjamb, must come from a chamber tomb in the mound. It is decorated on one side with two connected spirals incised within a panel with raised edges. K. J. Frazer observed that the rougher areas outside...

  • Fragment of Sima Frieze?
    Fragment of Sima Frieze?

    R2 Cat. 51

    Sculpture

    Marble, Stone

    520-500 BC (Late Lydian (Persian))

    The tall relief is crisply cut and smoothed. Part of the lotus and the tip of a palmette are at the top l. The central leaf rises to a sharp median ridge, the l. leaf to a less marked one. Found in the top layer of LA 2, the late archaic piece may be...

  • Fragment with Lotus and Volute Palmette
    Fragment with Lotus and Volute Palmette

    R2 Cat. 52

    Sculpture

    Marble, Stone

    520-500 BC (Late Lydian (Persian))

    The fragment has part of a double lotus with five (?) leaves arching over a large seven-petalled palmette between two Ionic volutes (only the l. preserved). A smaller downward-pointed palmette has five petals. The floral decoration is on a straight f...

  • Torso Fragment with High-Girt Chiton
    Torso Fragment with High-Girt Chiton

    R2 Cat. 53

    Sculpture

    Marble, Stone

    (Hellenistic)

    The lady wears a high-girt chiton, tied beneath the breasts with a ribbon belt ending in a double knot. The diagonal folds of the bound-up cloth of the himation are slung across her hips. The banded border at the neckline of the chiton comes to a sli...