Historical Site
Martyrdom Site of Polycarp, Smyrna
POL-ee-karp of SMUR-nuh · Modern İzmir, Turkey · 38.4141° N, 27.1456° E
Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna and a disciple of the Apostle John, was burned and then stabbed to death in this city's Roman stadium around AD 155-156, according to the Martyrdom of Polycarp, one of the earliest and most detailed martyrdom accounts outside the New Testament. Smyrna is one of the seven churches addressed in Revelation 2:8-11, where the risen Christ warns the congregation of coming tribulation and promises "the crown of life" to those faithful unto death — words later Christians read as a direct foreshadowing of Polycarp's fate.
Archaeology
The Roman stadium of Smyrna stood on the southwest slope of Mount Pagos (modern Kadifekale) but was progressively dismantled, most severely by an Ottoman vizier in 1675, and is now entirely built over by the modern city; no visible remains survive. Its approximate location is established from 19th- and early 20th-century travelers' accounts and old maps rather than modern excavation.
On a modern map
Further reading
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