Sardis is located in western Turkey, 60 miles inland from Izmir, currently the third largest city in Turkey. It is situated on the edge of a fertile plain with mountains behind it making for a remarkable landscape. Houses, fortification walls, religious buildings, and cemeteries surrounding the city have all been excavated. Sardis, the capital of the Lydian kingdom, was a major city in many different periods, including the Lydian, Persian, Greek, Roman, and Byzantine. There is evidence of human activity in the region as early as 50,000 B.C. Sardis was a pivotal site of interaction and exchange among these cultures over hundreds of generations.