This city, about seventy kilometres north of Ephesus, was located on a peaceful bay of the Aegean Sea, with an excellent harbour. A river provided transportation into the interior, as did a major road. As a result, Smyrna was in the days of John a city of some 100,000 inhabitants. Its trade attracted a substantial Jewish population, complete with their own synagogue. Worship of the Roman emperor was well established in Smyrna.
8 “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life.