1 he guild of coppersmiths (xaX«<s) seems to have
been inlluential in Thyatira (see inscription in
Bull. Corr. Hell. x. p. -JUT, belonging to the early
imperial times). The typo on coins, Hephaistos
•IColo'*-".
forging a helmet, probably refers to the bronze trade; and perhaps the enigmatic allusion *o the unknown x<i'^'>"'^'r'<"''» would be umlers'.ojd, if more could be learned about the Thyatiran bronze or copper work. Mr. Blakesley has suggested that the description of the Son of God, whose feet were like chnlcolibrinos (Rev 2'*), may have been sug- gested by the way in which the tutelary deity of the city was reiiresented in Thyatira.
The guild of dyers is mentioned in several in- scriptions. M. Clerc's view, that the dyeing in Thyatira was performed in ancient times with madder-root, rxbia (as in the medi;uval and modem trade), not with the jtiice of the -shell-tish (as in TjTe and Laconia), nor with the worm Coccus ilicis ((t6«Kos), may be regarded as practically certain ; and in that case the purple stutJ's which the Thyatiran Lydia sold in Pliilippi (Ac 16") were dyed with what is, in modem times, called ' Turkey red ' (as the purple proper, the scarlet of the coccus, and the red of rubia seem to have been all included under the generic title purple).
Thyatira lay close to the road connecting Per- gamuni with Sardis, and hence is placed between the two in the list of the Seven Churches of Asia (Rev 1"). No evidence remains as to how and when Christianity reached the city, except that, if we press the words of Ac 19'°, the new religion was preached there by some of St. Paul's coadjutors and helpers during his first residence in Ephesus.
The modem town of Ak-His.sar occupies the site, approximately, of the ancient Thyatira. It is a busy commercial town, possessing a railway station and a considerable industry in carpet-making, etc. The population is about 20,000, of whom 7000 are Christians.
LiTEKATURE.— Clerc, de rebus Thyatirmarum, Paris, 1893; Stoseh, Antitjuitatum Thyatireiiarum Libri duo, ZwoIIeb, 17C3 ; Zaka, ^ipi TM* Trfi ToAiatf ^uoLTufivt, Athens, 1900 (tr. from Cierc, with some additions and corpus of Thyatiran inscriptions); Imliooi-Btumer in Hevuc iiuisae Numism. Vii.
W. AI. Ramsay. THYINE WOOD (ii\o» eavov, lignum thyinum). — The product of Thuja articulata, Desf., a tree of the order Coniferce, gro\ving in the Atlas. It is of the same genus as the lignum vitm, and was specially valued by the Greeks anil Romans for tables. It formed part of the precious merchandise of Babylon [Rome] (Rev 18'" AVm ' sweet wood '). It is dark brown, very hard and durable, and withal fragrant. G. E. Post.
TIBERIAS (TijSfpids) Is unlike most cities in Palestine in that we have a delinite account of its origin, and can fix pretty accurately the date when it was built. Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee, was its founder, and it was named in honour of the emperor Tiberius. In the very beginning of his reign Antipas had already honoured Julia the mother of Tiberius, by rebulMing Betharamatha or Betharamptha (tlie Betli-harani of Jos 13-''), and calling it Julias or Livias. Tliis was on the Shittim Plain east of Jericho. At a later period, some time between A.D. 20 and A.D. 30, Tiberias was built on the west shore of the Sea of Galilee. We are able to lix its site, because Josephus (A nt. xviu. ii. 3) says that there were warm baths at no great distance from it in a place called Emmaus (the Hamniath of Jos 1U*>).
To secure sufficient room for the new city, an old cemetery had to be removed ; and this fact, on account of the law of delilement by dead bodies, created a prejudice against it in the minds of the stricter Jews, w liich took a long time to overcome. Hammath was an ancient fortified town, and, as was customary, the dead were buried witliout the walls. These graves may have been a part of the cemetery of that old city, since the site of Antipas' new city was nearly a mile to the north of it. It
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TIBERIAS
TIBNI
is a curious historical fact that, while at the beginning the Jews thought Tiberias unclean, so that they could hardly be forced to settle there, at last in the course of time tliey chose it as one of their sacred cities (see below).
People from various quarters helped to make up the first inhabitants of Tiberias. Some foreigners came, some poor people were compelled to make it their residence, and many persons who were ' not quite freemen' were brought thither and given certain priWleges in the way of houses and lands. Some of tliose who settled there, however, are described as persons of wealth and position. The place gi'ew rapidly, gates, colonnades, and marble statues made the streets attractive. Soon Tiberias could boast of ' the finest synagogue in (Jalilee,' a device of Herod to conciliate the Jews. From all accounts at our command, the city, toucliing the water of the lake, must have been beautiful, and its social and political importance were assured when Antipas removed thither from Sepphoris, till then the capital of Galilee, the seat of his govern- ment. His palace was a building of elegance, with costly furnishings, and in it was a large amount of the ro3al treasure (Jos. Life, xii. 13).