Smyrna
A port city on the Aegean coast of Asia Minor, now İzmir. One of the seven churches of Revelation, it was the church of Polycarp, where Ignatius stopped on his way to Rome and where Polycarp was burned.
Smyrna stood at the head of a gulf on the west coast of Asia Minor, about 55 kilometres north of Ephesus. The book of Revelation addresses one of its seven letters to the church there and warns it of coming imprisonment (Revelation 2:8–11). Ignatius of Antioch wrote four of his letters from the city when Polycarp was its bishop (Ignatius, To the Ephesians 21) (Eusebius, Church History 3.36), and the church of Smyrna later sent out the account of Polycarp’s death in its stadium (Martyrdom of Polycarp greeting). Irenaeus of Lyon says that as a boy he saw Polycarp “in lower Asia” (Eusebius, Church History 5.20.5).
What happened here
- about AD 110, traditional dateIgnatius of Antioch Writes on the Road to Martyrdom
Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, is taken under guard to Rome to be thrown to wild beasts. On the way he writes seven letters that urge unity around the bishop, insist that Christ truly suffered, and ask the Roman Christians not to save him.
- c. AD 155–156, estimated dateThe Martyrdom of Polycarp
Polycarp, the aged bishop of Smyrna, is arrested, refuses before the proconsul to curse Christ, and is burned in the stadium. His church describes his death in a letter and keeps his bones and the anniversary of his death.
Primary sources
Scripture
Church History
- Eusebius, Church History 3.36newadvent.org
- Eusebius, Church History 5.20.5newadvent.org