Drone Flight over Sardis: Panorama from above the Temple of Artemis

original .mov file, shot with a DJI Phantom 3 quadcopter Beginning near the temple of Artemis the flight rises, then circles for a panoramic view around the city. The sheer cliffs of the Acropolis demonstrate why Polybius called Sardis “the strongest spot in the world,” besieged many times in antiquity but never captured by main force. The “Flying Towers” perched on the cliffs are part of the Byzantine fortifications of the citadel. Rising further, we see the former Izmir-Ankara highway traversing the site, and on the far side of the highway, the reconstructed horseshoe-shaped Marble Court of the Bath-Gymnasium Complex, which was located at the western edge of the city. Nearby is the Lydian Gate (on which, further below), and the nearer side of the highway is the colossal Lydian fortification (Sector MMS, mostly under white roofs). Extending from the Bath-Gymnasium Complex towards the upper right is a row of mounds. These mark the north side of the ancient city, just inside the Roman city wall. The core of these mounds is the continuation of the Lydian fortification, which has been detected in geophysical survey and excavated at two points at Mound 2. Here it is at least 20 m wide, the same width (or greater) than it is preserved at sector MMS, and excavation beginning at the base of the mound reached the stone socle of the wall about 10 meters below modern ground level; the original height of the fortification must have been significantly greater. In one area a masonry wall, perhaps part of another gate, has been excavated. Beyond the mounds is the plain of the Hermus River, the town of Sart Mahmout, and in the distance at right, Salihli. A series of long fingers or spurs of land reach from the Acropolis into the lower city. Some of these were terraced in the Lydian period to form part of the palace complex, intermediate between the Acropolis and the lower city proper. Panning to the right we see the Tmolus (Bozdağ) mountains; the deep cleft of the Mağara Dere, whose marble quarries supplied the marble for the Temple of Artemis and other buildings at Sardis; the broader valley of the Pactolus River, famous for its gold, stretching to the southwest; the Necropolis hill and the horribly nasty Pomza mine; and the villages of Sart Mustafa and Sart Mahmout, Bintepe, the Gygaean Lake, and the mountains of northern Lydia. Descending slightly we return to a view of the Acropolis at sunset.