Saparda
Saparda is an ancient city mentioned in the Bible, located in the region of Asia Minor in modern-day Turkey. Known today as Asia Minor.
Biblical History
Saparda is referenced in connection with Assyrian records and biblical accounts of deportation and exile. While not mentioned by name in the canonical Hebrew text, Saparda (also rendered Sepharad) has been connected by some scholars to the location mentioned in Obadiah 1:20, where the prophet speaks of exiles from Jerusalem dwelling in Sepharad. The identification of Saparda with a region in western Asia Minor rests on Assyrian inscriptions from the reign of Sargon II (eighth century BC), which list Saparda as a province or territory within the empire. If this identification holds, it represents one of the far-flung locations to which Israelite captives were dispersed following the Assyrian conquests. The passage in Obadiah carries a message of hope: even those scattered to distant lands like Saparda would eventually return to possess the cities of the Negev. This prophetic vision of restoration from the farthest reaches of exile underscores God's faithfulness to His covenant people regardless of their geographic displacement.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
The identification of Saparda remains debated among scholars. Assyrian cuneiform texts from the eighth and seventh centuries BC mention Saparda as a western province, variously located in Asia Minor (modern Turkey) near the Lydian kingdom. Some scholars associate it with the region around Sardis, the Lydian capital, while others place it further east in Media. The connection to biblical Sepharad (Obadiah 1:20) has generated centuries of discussion, with Jewish tradition eventually associating the term with the Iberian Peninsula, giving rise to the designation "Sephardic" Jews. Archaeological evidence from western Anatolia confirms significant population movements during the Neo-Assyrian period, consistent with the deportation practices described in biblical and Assyrian sources.
Verse Appearances (0)
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- OpenBible.info (n.d.) Bible Geocoding. Available at: https://www.openbible.info/geo/. [CC BY 4.0]
- Bagnall, R. et al. (eds.) (n.d.) Pleiades: A Gazetteer of Past Places. Available at: https://pleiades.stoa.org. [CC BY 3.0]
- Wikidata contributors (n.d.) Wikidata. Available at: https://www.wikidata.org. [CC0]
- Lawrence, D. et al. (2025) Villages to Empires: a settlement dataset for the Southern Levant. doi:10.5281/zenodo.15111732. [CC BY 4.0]
- Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]