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Philadelphia was Located at an important road junction. Both the Royal Road between Smyrna and the East and the road southeast from Pergamum to Attalia on the Mediterranean coast passed through it. All east-west and north-south trade in the province of Asia passed through Philadelphia. Its position made it an outpost of Hellenism, founded to spread Greek language and culture in Lydia and Phrygia. Lacking an heir, Attalus III Philometer, the last of the Attalid kings, willed his kingdom, including Philadelphia, to his Roman allies upon his death in 133 BC. In 129 BC Rome established the province of Asia by combining Ionia and the former Kingdom of Pergamum.

Like other towns in the region, Philadelphia prospered through agriculture. The soil was suited to growing grapes. Wine was an important product, thus the city was a center of worship of Dionysus, god of wine and fertility. The flocks that grazed in the area supplied wool and hides for textiles and leather production. Philadelphia was easily defended but the surrounding district was disastrously earthquake prone. A massive earthquake in 17 AD completely ruined the city; the citizens lived in fear of aftershocks for years afterward.

There is not much to see from the early city. The site is now covered by modern Alasehir ("city of Allah" or God). The only extant remains are the old acropolis, ruins of a 7th century AD church, an unexcavated theater, and a length of the city walls and gate from the Byzantine era. Below, Google Earth view of modern Alasehir.

Below, Overall view of modern Alasehir, successor to ancient Philadelphia.

Below, Low dark hill in the center is the area of the ancient city, at the foot of Bozdag (Mount Tmolus in antiquity).

Below, Unexcavated theater on the northern foot of the acropolis of the ancient city.

Below, view of modern Alasehir, successor to ancient Philadelphia.

Below, Sign identifying the remains of "St. Jean Kilisesi" (Turkish, "St. John Church").

Below, tucked into a quaint neighborhood in the modern Alasehir is a city block, enclosed by a wall, containing the large piers of a Byzantine basilica, the church of St. John (c. 600 AD).

Scattered around the church site are small stone sarcophagi, headstones with Christian and Arabic inscriptions and other remains.

Below, Typical multi-story buildings of modern Alasehir; population about 40,000.

Below, Broken section of the Byzantine-era city walls, composed of rough stone blocks of coarse workmanship, recalling Strabo's reference to the ancient city's untrustworthy walls.

 

To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:

These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars. I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you. Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth. I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches

Through John's eyes:

Philadelphia is the sixth of the seven churches mentioned in Revelation, and like the Smyrna church it received unqualified praise.

As in his letter to Smyrna John uses the words "synagogue of Satan." This was not an a attack against Jews in general but a reference to those Jews in Philadelphia who denounced Jewish Christians before Roman officials for not being "true Jews." In Philadelphia as elsewhere Jewish Christians had been excommunicated from their synagogues. John's earlier gospel refers to this: "For already the Jews had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue" (John 9:22). Jews were exempt from participation in the emperor worship cult, but Jewish Christians, because of their exclusion from the Jewish community, did not enjoy the same legal protection.

Placed directly over a seismic fault Philadelphia was shaken by recurrent quakes for 20 years following the 17 AD quake. The historian, Strabo (64 BC-21 AD) wrote: "Philadelphia has no trustworthy walls, but daily in one direction or another they keep tottering and falling apart." Strabo was astonished that a city had been founded in such a place and questioned the sanity of the people for re-entering the ruined city to rebuild. Because of this situation, many of the people preferred living outside the city working the fertile countryside. For the Christians of Philadelphia, who lived in this atmosphere of insecurity, the promise expressed in John's letter: "never again will he leave it," would seem especially poignant.

Philadelphia guarded an important pass through the mountains between the Hermus and Meander River valleys. It held the key to the door through which all east-west trade and commerce passed. The immediate background of the phrase "who holds the key of David" was the claim by the Jews of Philadelphia that they were the true people of God who held the key to the Kingdom of God. John contradicts this claim, asserting that the key to salvation really belongs to Jesus as the Davidic messiah.

Another possible interpretation of the "open door" is that the Philadelphia church had a wide-open opportunity to evangelize the entire region.

Following the destructive earthquake in 17 AD. the emperor Tiberius offered to help rebuild the city. John's words "I will also write on him my new name" were certainly inspired by a proposal to rename the city Neocaearea, "new (city of) Caesar," in gratitude for the emperor's generosity. During the reign of Vespasian (69-79 AD), the city was called Philadelphia Flavia, after the emperor's family name. Another name of the city was Decapolis (Greek "ten cities"), because it was considered as one of the ten cities of the plain. It was further known as "Little Athens" because of the magnificence of the temples and other public buildings which adorned it. Philadelphia was a city of many names. The "new name" given to believers would not be dictated by changing circumstances, it would last forever.

Also of note are the remains of a temple on the city's acropolis. According to one commentary, the phrase in John's letter, "Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God" may refer to such a temple. The believer who "overcomes" would be an immovable pillar in God's temple.

Reflection questions

What is the most down-and-out group in your community? What are you doing to reach them?

Are you equipping the people in your church to "go where no man has gone before" in ministry to your community?

What kind of evaluation process do you have that examines existing ministries and suggests new forms of outreach?

Did you know?

AlaÅŸehir is the trade center for a region where tobacco, fruit, and mineral water are produced. Within Turkey, the city's name is synonymous with raisins from Sultana grapes (Thompson seedless in the United States).

After biblical times

1190 - Frederick Barbarossa entered Philadelphia on his crusade.

1306 and 1324 - It was besieged by the Seljuk Turks, but it retained its independence until after 1390, when it was captured by the combined forces of the Turks and Byzantines.

1403 - It was captured by Tamerlane. It is said he built a wall of the corpses of his victims around it.

Philadelphia was the last Byzantine stronghold in inner Asia Minor. Its Greek inhabitants fled the town during World War I and created Nea Filadelfeia or Nea Filadelfia ("New Philadelphia"), a northern suburb of Athens, Greece.

Despite Muslim invasion and pressure, a Christian presence was maintained in the town through medieval (5th century to the early 16th century) and into modern times.