Difference between revisions of "Thyatira"

<p> ''(Lydia, The [[Probable]] [[Agent]] Of [[Carrying]] The [[Gospel]] To Her Native Town.)'' (See [[Lydia]] .) Thyatira lay a little to the left of the road from Pergamos to [[Sardis]] (Strabo 13:4, who calls it "a Macedonian colony"); on the Lycus, a little to the S. of the Hyllus, at the N. end of the valley between Mount Tmolus and the southern ridge of Tetanus. Founded by Seleucus Nicator. On the confines of [[Mysia]] and Ionia. A corporate guild of dyers is mentioned in three inscriptions of the times of the Roman empire between [[Vespasian]] and Caracalla. To it probably belonged Lydia, the seller of purple ''(I.E. Scarlet, For The [[Ancients]] Called Many Bright Red [[Colors]] "Purple")'' stuffs (&nbsp;Acts 16:14). The waters are so suited for dyeing that nowhere is the scarlet of fezzes thought to be so brilliant and permanent as that made here. Modern Thyatira contains a population of 17,000. </p> <p> In &nbsp;Revelation 2:18-25, "the Son of God who hath eyes like unto a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass," stands in contrast to the sun god. Tyrimnas, the tutelary god of Thyatira, represented with flaming rays and feet of burnished brass. Christ commends Thyatira's works, charity, service, faith, and patience. Thyatira's "last works were more than the first," realizing &nbsp;1 Thessalonians 4:1, instead of retrograding from "first love and first works" as Ephesus (&nbsp;Revelation 2:4-5); the converse of &nbsp;Matthew 12:45; &nbsp;2 Peter 2:20. Yet Thyatira "suffered that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce My servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols." (See [[Jezebel]] .) Some self-styled prophetess, or collection of prophets (the feminine in Hebrew idiom expressing a multitude), closely attached to and influencing the Thyatira church and its presiding bishop or "angel" ''(The Alexandrinus And Vaticanus [[Manuscripts]] Read "Thy Wife" For "That Woman")'' as Jezebel did her weak husband Ahab. </p> <p> The presiding angel ought to have exercised his authority over the prophetess or prophets so-called, who seduced many into the libertinism of the Balaamites and Nicolaitans of Thyatira's more powerful neighbour Pergamos (&nbsp;Revelation 2:6; &nbsp;Revelation 2:14; &nbsp;Revelation 2:16). (See BALAAMITES; NICOLAITANS.) The Lord encourages the faithful section at Thyatira. "Unto you (omit 'and' with the Alexandrinus and the Vaticanus manuscripts, the Sinaiticus manuscript reads: 'among ') the rest in Thyatira I say, ... I will put upon you none other burden (save abstinence from and protestation against these abominations: this the seducers regarded as an intolerable burden, see &nbsp;Matthew 11:30); but that which ye have hold fast until I come." A shrine outside Thyatira walls was sacred to the sibyl Sambatha, a [[Jewess]] or Chaldaean, in an enclosure called "the Chaldaean court." </p>

<p> '''Thyati'ra.''' A city on the Lycus, founded by Seleucus Nicator, lay to the left of the road from Pergamos to Sardis, 27 miles from the latter city, and on the very confines of Mysia and Ionia, so as to be sometimes reckoned, within the one and, sometimes, within the other. [[Dyeing]] apparently formed an important part of the industrial activity of Thyatira, as it did of that of [[Colossae]] and Laodicea. It is first mentioned in connection with Lydia, "a seller of purple." &nbsp;Acts 16:14. One of the Seven Churches of Asia was established here. &nbsp;Revelation 2:18-29. </p> <p> The principal deity of the city was Apollo; but there was another superstition, of an extremely curious nature, which seems to have been brought thither, by some of the corrupted Jews of the dispersed tribes. A fane stood outside the walls, dedicated to ''Sambatha'' - the name of the sibyl who is sometimes called Chaldean, sometimes Jewish, sometimes [[Persian]] - in the midst of an enclosure designated "the Chaldaeans' court." </p> <p> This seems to lend an illustration to the obscure passage in &nbsp;Revelation 2:20-21, which some interpret of the wife of the bishop. Now, there is evidence to show that in Thyatira, there was a great amalgamation of races. If the sibyl Sambatha was in reality a Jewess, lending her aid to the amalgamation of different religions, and not discountenanced by the authorities of the Judeo-Christian Church at Thyatira, both the censure and its qualification become easy of explanation. (The present name of the city is ''Ak-Hissar'' , (''"White Castle"'' ). It has a reputation for the manufacture of scarlet cloth. Its present population is 15,000 to 20,000. There are nine mosques. - Editor). </p>

<p> City in the district of Lydia in Asia Minor. The disciple Lydia, of Philippi, was from this city, which was famed for its dyeing. It is not known how the church was formed there, but it was chosen as one of the seven representative churches to which the Revelation was sent, with the special message addressed to this church. &nbsp;Acts 16:14; &nbsp;Revelation 1:11; &nbsp;Revelation 2:18,24 . See REVELATION. The city was founded by Seleueus Nicator, who during the war with Lysimachus stationed a colony of [[Macedonians]] there. At the commencement of the Christian [[Era]] there was a preponderance of the Macedonian element in the population. It is now called <i> Ak-hissar; </i> there are no ancient ruins. </p>

<p> [[Thyatira]] (''Thȳ'A-Tî'Rah'' ). A city of Asia Minor, on the northern border of Lydia. Dyeing was an important branch of its business from Homer's time, and the first New [[Testament]] mention of Thyatira, &nbsp;Acts 16:14, connects it with the purple-seller, Lydia. Three votive inscriptions have been found among its ruins purporting to have come from the guild of "The Dyers." Thyatira was the seat of one of the seven churches of Asia. &nbsp;Revelation 2:18-29. Its population now is estimated at from 17,000 to 20,000. </p>