The Hellenistic period at Sardis is best represented by the Temple of Artemis, a large and elegant temple of the Ionic order begun in the third century B.C. Several Roman emperors visited Sardis and the remains of the Roman era are quite impressive. The late Roman era (the fourth to the seventh centuries A.D.) is the most conspicuous era in material culture of Sardis because it was its last phase as a major city. Public buildings, private houses, churches, and the largest synagogue of antiquity all date from that era. Following the late Roman period, the city declined; there are few excavated remains from the later Byzantine and Ottoman eras.