Archaeologists Make Shocking Discovery in Turkey

Archaeologists digging in an ancient city famously mentioned in the Bible have uncovered a massive marble figure that had been lying face-down and hidden for centuries.

The remarkably preserved statue was discovered in Sardis, an ancient city in western Turkey that appears in the Book of Revelation as one of the seven churches of Asia Minor.

Dating back roughly 2,500 years, the enormous figure stands about 7.2 feet tall and depicts a young man dressed in clothing researchers say may offer new clues about the mysterious Lydian culture that once dominated the region.

Turkey’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced the discovery earlier this month, calling it an “extraordinary” find.

What makes the discovery even more striking is how the statue survived.

Researchers believe the ancient figure was later reused as paving material along a colonnaded street during the Roman period. It was placed face-down, a strange twist of fate that may have protected its facial features from centuries of weather and destruction.

Photos from the excavation show archaeologists carefully exposing the young man’s face from beneath layers of earth and hardened deposits.

The statue appears to be holding a piece of fruit in one hand and is wearing several layers of clothing unlike anything typically seen on similar statues from ancient Greece or Anatolia.

Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said those unusual details could provide important information about everyday life, religion and cultural interaction in Sardis.

The figure wears a thick himation, a thinner chiton and another distinctive garment marked with horizontal lines.

Officials said that particular combination has not been found on comparable sculptures from the region, suggesting the statue may have been created according to distinctly local Lydian traditions.

Sardis was once the capital of the wealthy Lydian Kingdom before falling under Persian rule. The newly discovered statue is believed to date to around the fifth century B.C., during the Persian period.

Centuries later, Sardis became important in early Christianity.

The city is one of seven churches addressed in the Book of Revelation, alongside Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Philadelphia and Laodicea.

Revelation 3 famously begins its message to the city with the words, “To the angel of the church in Sardis write…”

Although the statue predates Christianity by hundreds of years, its discovery at a site so closely associated with the New Testament is adding another fascinating layer to the city’s already extraordinary history.

Experts now plan to determine whether the statue was once brightly painted.

While many people picture ancient Greek and Roman statues as plain white marble, sculptures from the ancient world were frequently covered in vivid pigments that disappeared over time.

Conservators will carefully remove the hardened material covering the Sardis statue while searching for tiny surviving traces of paint. Researchers will also examine soil surrounding the figure for evidence of ancient color.

Once the painstaking restoration process is finished, officials plan to put the towering statue on display at the Manisa Museum in western Turkey.

The discovery comes amid a string of intriguing archaeological finds at cities connected to the Book of Revelation.

Earlier this summer, archaeologists uncovered an ancient mosaic at Smyrna, located in modern-day İzmir. Researchers working at Ephesus have also discovered a Roman-era marble bathtub and part of another male statue that, remarkably, had also been reused as paving material.

For archaeologists, Sardis continues to prove that thousands of years after its glory days, the ancient biblical city is still hiding secrets beneath the ground.