Smyrna

The city itself was founded around 1100 B.C. and it was located on the west coast of Asia Minor, right where the Hermus River flows into the Smyrna Gulf, 40 miles north of Ephesus, and was in the same region of modern day Izmir in Turkey. It was located on the edge of a trade route which made it an important seaport. It was a very prosperous and wealthy city and surrounded by much rich farmland and in Apostle John's day the population could have been around 100,000 to 200,000 people.

It was most well known in Roman times for its beauty and dedication to Rome. They build a temple to Emperor Tiberius in A.D. 29 and later another temple to Hadrian. It became a host for many Roman emperor worshipping cults. Later archaeological discoveries show many coins minted in Smyrna with many different Roman Emperors on them. It was also known for its Medicine and Science. It had many "guilds" of fishermen and "rare metalsmiths". These guilds were religiously cultish and offered sacrifices to pagan deities; perhaps even the Emperor.

They were also known in the Ancient world for their well paved streets including a street called "the Street of Gold" which was considered one of the finest streets in all of the ancient world and on one edge of this street was a temple to the "god" Zeus and on the other end a temple to "goddess" Cybele.

Though not certain, many scholars believe Paul may have founded the church in Smyrna. The Christians in Smyrna were faithful to Christ and it is one (out of two) of the Asia Minor Churches in Revelation that was not condemned by Christ's words. It was also the same city where early Christian Polycarp was martyred around 169 A.D (there was also Jewish population in Smyrna which some scholars believe could have participated in the killing of Polycarp).