The generic term Xirxvos has been consistently rendered 'lamp' in the RV, 'candle,' which is erroneous, having been dropped (Rev 18'-^ 22'), and 'light,' which is indefinite, having been displaced (2 P 1"*, Rev 21-^). No information can be gathered from these passages as to the tj'pe of lamp.
Although candle has been dropped, candlestick (t] \vxvia — with one exception plur.) has been re- tained, and ' lampstand ' placed in the margin (Rev p2. 13. 20 21. 5 114), He 92 stands apart from this, 'candlestick' alone being employed. The reference in this case is to the furniture of the tabernacle (for a description of the Golden Candle- stick [Lampstand] see HDB iv. 663 f.). The re- maining instances quoted, all in Rev., also hark back to OT parallels (Ex 25=" 37=^, Zee 4^). There is, however, difierence amid similarity. By the necessity of the case, since there are seven churches (Rev 1* etc.), the lampstands are single and number seven, instead of being one shaft, divided into seven branches. The parallel to Zee 4^ does not extend to the number of the lampstands (two in Rev 11^, one in Zee), although the number of the olive trees is the same. This point is elaborated in HDB iv. 255.
In conclusion, reference may be made to the representation of the seven-branched lampstand on the Arch of Titus, often reproduced, which is probably a copy of the original (EBi, art. ' Candle- stick ') ; to contemporary Roman practice in light- ing (see H. B. Swete, The Apocalypse of St. John, 1907, p. 240) ; and to the abundant materials for studying the development of the lamp within Christian times provided by H. Leclercq, Manuel d'archiologie chrUienne, 1907, ii. 509 fl'., 556 fF.
W. Cruickshank.
LAODICEA (X has AaoSt/cfa everywhere. B has this form of the word in Col 2^, Rev 1" 3", but Aaoot/ceia in Col 4^*- ^^" ^^ [the latter is the form used by almost all Gr. authors] ; Lat. Laodicea [in-
correctly Laodicia]). — Laodicea was an important seat of commerce in the Roman province of Asia, one of three cities in the Lycus valley which were evangelized about the same time. It was 11 miles W. of Colossae and 6 miles S. of Hierapolis. Founded probably by the Seleucid king Antiochus II. (261-246 B.C.), and named after his wife Laodice, it was known as ' Laodicea on the Lycus ' {AaodiKia i) irpos [or iiri] ry AvKy, Laodicea ad Lyctitn). Being some distance east of 'the Gate of Phrygia,' it is classed by Polybius (v. 57) and Strabo (XII. viii. 13) among Phrygian cities, while Ptolemy sets it down as Carian. It stood on a small plateau about 2 miles S. of the Lycus, and had behind it to the S. and S.W. the snow-capped mountains Salbakos and Kadmos, each over 8,000 ft. above sea-level. Designed, like the other Seleucid foun- dations in Asia Minor, to be at once a strong gar- rison city and a centre of Hellenic civilization, it occupied a strategic position on the great eastern trade-route, where the narrow Lycus gorge opens into the broad Mseander plain. ' Formerly a small town ' (Strabo, XII. viii. 16), its prosperity dated from the peaceful time which followed the Roman occupation (133 B.C.).
' The country around Laodicea breeds excellent sheep, re- markable not only for the softness of their wool, in which they surpass the Milesian sheep, but for their dark or raven colour. The Laodiceans derive a large revenue from them, as the Colosseni do from their flocks, of a colour of the same name ' (Strabo, xii. viii. 16).
The native religion of the district was the cult of Carian Men, whom the Hellenists of Laodicea identified with Zeus. His temple was at Attuda, 13 miles W. from Laodicea. In connexion with it, but probably in Laodicea itself, was 'a large Herophilian school of medicine under the direction of Zeuxis, and afterwards of Alexander Philalethes ' (Strabo, xil. viii. 20). The physicians of Laodicea were skilful oculists, and a preparation for weak eyes, called 'Phrygian powder' {ricppa <ppvyla), was well known. Nearly the whole basin of the Mseander was subject to earthquakes [ib. 17). Im- perial funds were usually given for the restoration of cities thus injured, and Laodicea accepted a grant from Tiberius after such a calamity, but of a later visitation Tacitus writes : ' The same year [a.D. 60] Laodicea, one of the most famous cities of Asia, having been prostrate by an earthquake, recovered herself by her own resources (propriis opibus revaluit), and without any relief from us' {Ann. xrv. xxvii.). She had long been rich and increased in goods, and had need of nothing (Rev 3"). More than a century before (in 51 B.C.), Cicero proposed to cash his treasury Bills of Exchange at a Laodicean bank (Ep. ad Fam. iii. 5).
Such a thriving commercial centre had great attractions for a colony of Jews. If the first settlers were sent thither by the founder of the city, or by Antiochus the Great, who is said to have planted 2,000 Jewish families in Phrygia and Lydia (Jos. Ant. XII. iii. 4), they would enjoy equal rights of citizenship with the Greeks. When Flaccus, Roman governor of Asia (62 B.C.), forbade the Jews to send contributions of money to Jerusalem, he seized as contraband twenty pounds weight in gold in the district of which Laodicea was the capital (Cicero, pro Flacco, 28). Calculated at the rate of a half-shekel for each man, this sum represents a Jewish population of more than 11,000 adult fi'eemen, women and children being exempted. Josephus preserves a letter from ' the magistrates of the Laodiceans to Cains Rubilius' (c. 48 B.C.), guaranteeing religious liberty to the Jews of the city (Ant. XIV. x. 20).