• Stcph. Bvz. a.v. So Iconlum woa ' the last city of Phryjpa.'
t So Steph'anuB ; but Schuchhardt (AUim. Mitth. 18SK, p. 1 ff.)
attributes the new foundation to a later date in the 3rd ccut.
758
THYATIRA
THYATIRA
city dates from that time ; and it continued to be a rich and busy commertial city throughout antient times. The peacefulness and prosperity of its de- velopment aflord little for the historian to record. Antiochus tlie Great lay encamped there for a time in B.C. 130, until he was forced to retire on Mag- nesia ; and the decisive battle against the Romans under Scipio was fought between the two cities. Thyatira derived its importance strictly from the valley in which it was situated, and not from lying on a great trade route. Hence it was limited in its development by the restriction of its range, and it never became a mL-tropolis or leading city of Asia, nor was it honoured with the Neokorate in the State cultus of tlie emperors. Ptolemy, indeed, styles it metropolis of Lydia (V. ii. 16) j but the title never occurs in inscriptions or on coins, and is probably erroneous! j' given. The epithets by which Thyatira sought to glorify itselt are therefore rather vague in character, XafiirpoTdTr), JiacrTjKordTi;, fuyldTi], etc. But in A.D. 215 Caracalla passed through the city, and issued an edict (which came before, and was probably addressed to the Koinon of Asia, and was of course carried into eflect by I'ote of the Koinon), ordering that it should be one of the seats of conventus of the Province (iSuipJiaaTO rjj irarpidi ijfiCip rrfv dyopdj' tCiv biKCiv),
In regard to religion, Thyatira also rejoiced in the title ' the holy city of the irpo-rdTup 8t6; "H\ios mSio^ Tvpi/Mfiuoi 'AiroXXuK ' (just as Ephesus boasted itself the city of Artemis) ; and the inscriptions often mention the patron god. The coins often show the horseman-god Tyrimnos, with double- axe on shoulder (a figure common under various names in Lydian and Phrygian cities), and a god- dess of the Greek Artemis type, called Boreitene. But Boreitene is simply a surname of the god- dess who was worshipped along with the patron god, probably derived from some locality in the territory of the city with which the goddess was specially associated. The Boreitene Artemis was, undoubtedly, closely related to the Ephesian Artemis on the one hand, and to the East Lydian and Pontic Anaitis (Persian in origin, called Persike on the coins of the neighbouring Hierocipsareia) on the other. Apollo Tyrimnaios is known only from the inscriptions, which show that there was a sacred temenos, with a propylmum, containing doubtless a temple : games called Tyrimnaia, in honour of the god, are also men- tioned. The priest of Apollo and the priestess of Artemis were husband and wife (Bull. Corresp. HelUn. xi. p. 478, No. 57), showing how intimate was the relation between the two deities in the Thyatiran cult. This deity was n^6iro\is (with his temple in front of, not inside, the city) and IIpo- vdrup (patron of the city, and ancestor of some leading family or families, doubtless priestly fami- lies, in it). Tyrimnos was evidently the ancient Lydian sun-goo,* identiGed with the Greek Apollo Pythias. Under the Roman emiiire the worship of Apollo Tyrimnaios was unitea with the cult of the emperors, as we see in the ceremony of the Sebasto - Tyrimniean festival (njs Ze^currelov xal tvpinv-qov TravTiyOpeu!). The worship of Artemis and Apollo was conjoined with mysteries, which were under the direction of the priestess {CIG 3507).
Further, there was outside of the city (irpi Tijs iriXeus) a shrine of the Oriental (Chalda'an, or Persian, or Hebrew) Sibyl Sambcthe, or Sambathe, in the sacred precinct of the Chalda;an {irptis ry
uid regards Thyatira as a Seleucld garrUon founded to resist the growing Perjfanienian power.
* We cannot adopt the view of Blakesley In Smith's DB and others, that Tyrininas (as they wron(;ly call him) was a Mace- donian deity brought by the colonist.'^ from their own country. They ma^ have brought the name (Tyrinimas was a mythical Uacedoiii&a king), but not the religious institution.
^afi^aOclip iv ti} XaXSalov wepi^6\(p* CIG 3509). It may be taken as certain that this shrine was a seal of soothsaying, and that a prophetess was the re- cipient of inspiration and uttered the oracles at the shrine. It is also highly probable that this foundation arose from an eclectic religious system, combininrr some Hebrew conceptions with pagan forms and customs. So much may be taken as generally admitted ; but to this Sehurer (Die Pro- jjhetiti ladbcl in Thyativa t) has added the, at first sight, attractive theory that the woman Jezebel of Rev 2-" was the prophetess at the shrine, who perhaps played the part of the Sibyl herself, and whose character was perhaps not purely heathen but contained a mixture of Jew ish elements. We cannot, however, consider this probable. While we must agree with Schiirer and many older scholars that 'Jezebel' here denotes a dehnite woman, the context seems to require a woman of great influ- ence within the Thyatiran Church (like Jezebel within the kingdom of Israel), in all probability an otKcial, active, prominent in religious observ- ances, claiming to be and accepted in the Church (d^eis) as one of those prophetesses who were so im- portant in the early Church, using her position to disseminate her own views, maintaining and teach- ing the doctrine (against which the letter inveighs so bitterly) that it was possible to be a Christian and yet remain a member of ordinary pagan society and belong to the social clubs, which were so char- acteristic of pagan life, and fulfilled many useful purposes of a charitable or beneficial kind, but were (according to St. John and St. Paul alike) inextric- ably implicated in idolatrous observances, and con- ducive to luxury and sensual enjoyment.J: The person who was condemned so strenuously by the author was not a pagan prophetess, but a danger w itliin the Church, and tlie Church itself is cen- sured for treating her with allowance and respect instead of casting her out with abhorrence. \ et a time for repentance is granted even to her, before her punishment shall come upon her.