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The Visual Atlas
Places, art and manuscripts across time. First era: the apostolic and early church, from Pentecost to the early fourth century.
Smyrna
Not in Acts. Revelation writes to its church, Ignatius wrote letters from it, and its bishop Polycarp died in its stadium.
- 38.417196
- 27.141387
The real question: what do we know about Smyrna's church from people who were there, and what only from later lists? Your grandmother says she met the mayor when she was a girl. That is one kind of memory. A plaque put up a century later listing the town's first council is another. Which kind is each source on Smyrna?
Revelation addresses a letter to the church in Smyrna, warning of tribulation and prison (Revelation 2:8-11). Ignatius, on his way to Rome, writes from Smyrna to Ephesus, Magnesia and other churches, where Polycarp is bishop (Church History 3.36.5; Ignatius, To the Magnesians 15). Irenaeus says Polycarp was appointed bishop of Smyrna by apostles in Asia, and that he saw him in his own youth (Against Heresies 3.3.4). The church of Smyrna's letter tells Polycarp's death in the stadium before Gentiles and Jews of the city (Church History 4.15; Martyrdom of Polycarp 16, 19).
Smyrna is not named in Acts. Its church appears in the New Testament in Revelation 1:11 and 2:8-11.
Eusebius calls Polycarp a disciple of the apostles who was entrusted with the church of Smyrna by those who had seen the Lord (Church History 3.36.1). He reprints most of the Smyrnaean letter on Polycarp's martyrdom, with other martyrs of the same city (4.15). The Martyrdom calls Polycarp bishop of the Catholic Church in Smyrna and counts him the twelfth martyred there, counting those from Philadelphia (Martyrdom of Polycarp 16, 19). Polycrates lists Polycarp and Thraseas as sleeping in Smyrna (5.24.4). Polycarp also went to Rome in the time of Anicetus (5.24.16).
- https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/44e2d38c-de57-85e9-407c-3e3f4946a770/full/843,/0/default.jpg
- Bronze coin of Smyrna, dated 175 to 200, showing a draped bust of the Amazon Smyrna with a double axe over her shoulder, inscribed with the city's name.
- Art Institute of Chicago, Coin Depicting the Amazon Smyrna, gift of William F. Dunham
- https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/142880
- Public domain (is_public_domain true in the Art Institute of Chicago API)
No manuscript in the sources read here is tied to Smyrna in this era. The Martyrdom of Polycarp is itself a letter from the church of Smyrna, but no copy of it is tied to the city in these sources.
The Smyrnaean letter and Irenaeus are close witnesses: one from the church, one from a man who says he saw Polycarp. The list of the seventy among the dubious and spurious pieces attributed to Hippolytus makes Apelles bishop of Smyrna, which no earlier source read here supports. That is legend. Pleiades identifies the ancient city with modern Izmir, so the map point marks a city still lived in, not an excavated site.
Not one of the churches Paul founded. Acts does not record a visit to Smyrna, and the entry does not assume one.
- Revelation 1:11
- Revelation 2:8-11
- Revelation, checked in the King James Version
- Ignatius, Epistle to the Magnesians, ANF vol. 1, ch. 15
- The Martyrdom of Polycarp, ANF vol. 1, ch. 16 and 19
- Irenaeus, Against Heresies, ANF vol. 1, 3.3.4
- Eusebius, Church History, trans. McGiffert, NPNF2 vol. 1 (1890), 3.36, 4.14-15, 5.24
- Pseudo-Hippolytus, On the Seventy Apostles, ANF vol. 5, Appendix of Dubious and Spurious Pieces
- Pleiades gazetteer, place 550893, Smyrna/Eurydikeia, places.csv
- Art Institute of Chicago, object 142880, API record
