LiTBRATURE. — The Speaker's Coynmentary, iil. [London, 1881] 469 t. ; B. F. Westcott, The Epistle to the Hebrews, do., 18S9, p. 152 f. ; J. B. Ligrhtfoot, St. Paul's EpUtle to the Galatians^, do., 1876, p. 186 fl. ; SDB, pp. 600, 688 ; HDB iv. 753; EBi ii. 1466, in. 3620. P. g. P. HANDCOCK.
THOUSAND YEARS.- See Apocalypse.
THREE.— See Numbers.
THREE TAVERNS {rpeis ra^ipvat, representing the Lat. Tres TaberncB). — Three Taverns was a station on the Via Appia, and probably a village of some importance on account of the stream of traffic constantly flowing through it. Cicero (ad Att. ii. 11) mentions it as the point where a branch road from Antium joined the Appian Way. Here St. Paul, who bad landed at Puteoli and was pro- ceeding to Rome, was met by a company of Chris- tian brethren who had come from the capital to welcome him (Ac 28'°). According to the Antonine Itinerary, the station was 10 Roman miles nearer Rome than Appii Forum (where the Apostle had already been met by Roman brethren), and 17 Roman miles from Aricia, which is known to have been 16 Roman miles south of Rome. Tres Tabernae probably stood about 3 miles from the modern Cisterna, on the road to Terracina, and very near the northern end of the Pontine Marshes.
Literature. — C. Baedeker, Southern Italy and Sicity^^f London, 1908, p. 12. JaMES STRAHAN.
THRONE (Spifos).— 'Throne' in the NT always implies a seat of office (cf. Ac 2'°). Metaphorically it is used of God's sovereignty in Heb. and Rev. (cf. Rev 42-«- »• '") and of Christ's (He 1', Rev 3" 20"). In Rev 20' there are thrones for the judges, where ' the plural is perhaps meant to include Christ and His assessors, the Apostles (Mt 19^*) and Saints (1 Co 6^)' (H. B. Swete, The Apocali/pse of St. John', 1907, p. 261). In Rev 4* 11"= RV the elders are on thrones round about the throne of God. We also read of 'Satan's throne' (Rev 2'3 RV) established at Pergamum, which is probably ex- plained by the fact that Pergamum was the chief seat of Caesar-worship, and the first city in Asia
TllUXDEK
TIIYATIKA
to erect a temple to Auj;ustus ; otlieis connect it with the worsliip of yEscnliii>iiis, for whicli the city WHS also famous (cf. l.'V- KV : 'the <irn^i)ii J4ave him his throne,' anil 16'" KV : 'the throne of the beast'). In Col 1"* 'thrones' form one of the classes of angels — the term occurs only here in the NT — but in systems of anf;elology ' thrones' belong to the highest grade. These angels may be so called as sitting on thrones round the throne of God, the imagery expressing tlieir consiiicuous and serene dignity (so Origen, Lightfoot, Meyer, Abbott, etc.). Clement of .■Moxandria thought that they were so called because they form or support t he throne of (Jod, like the cherubim (Ezk 10' 11-"-, Ps 99'), with which several of the Fathers identilied them (Gregory of Nyssa, Chrysostom, Theodoret, Augustine). See Principalitv.
W. H. DUNDAS. THUNDER ((SpovT^).— Thunder, the noise due to the disturbance of the air by the discharge of electricity, was regarded throughout the ancient world as supernatural. One of the elements of a tlieophanj' was 'the voice that shook the earth' (He l^-"), words reminiscent of Ps 46' and of the manifestation on Sinai (E.\ 19'* 20"). 'The thun- der to the feeling of the ancients is the most im- portant part of the storm, seeming to be the com- manding voice, the terrifying exclamation of Jali- w6'(H. A. von Ewald, Co»M;icn/«)'y ore ihe Psalms, Eng. tr., i. [London, 1880] 94). Tiiunder is one of the most impressive categories of the Book of Reveljition. Like the seven stars, churches, seals, trumpets, and bowls, the seven thunders 'form a complete portion of the apocalj-ptic machinery' (H. Alford, The Greek Testanwni, iv.' [London, 1S75], on Rev 10'-^). To the prophet's imagina- tion, thunder is now a celestial warning to wicked men, now a majestic chorus in praise of God. When an angel casts a censer filled with lire upon the earth, and another pours his bowl u|>on the air, there are lightnings and thunders (8' 16'^). When the lost Ark of the Covenant is restored to its place, the thunders of Sinai are again heard (11"). To conscience-stricken men it always appeared that lightnings and thunders proceeded from the very throne of God (4^) ; and even a modern poet says that 'if He thunders by law, the thunder is still His voice.' But thunder does not always suggest terrible things to the apocalyptist. His ear catches the echoes of thunder-music in heaven. The voice of harpers harping with their harps is as the voice of a great thunder (I4-) ; and the voice of a great multitude is .as the voice of mighty thunders, .say- ing Hallelujah (19"). James Strahan.
THYATIRA (eicti-fipa, neut. pi.).— Thyatira was a busy commercial city of northern Lydi.a, close to the southern border of Mysia. Situated a little to the south of the mountain ridge which is the water- shed of the Caicus and the Hernius (.Strabo, XIII. iv. 4), it controlled the trallic of the open and fer- tile valley of the Lycus, which flows S.W. to join the Ilermns. Doubtless an old Lydian settlement, it retained its Lydian name, but its history begins with its refounding by Seleucus Nicator, the lirst of the Seleucid kings of Syria, who saw the ad- vantage of establishing garrison cities and centres of Greek culture throughout his dominions, which extended from Western Asia to the Indus. The refounded city, ' a colony of tlu; Maced<mians ' (Strabo, loc. fit.), was intended as a defence against Lysimachns, the master of northern Asia Minor. Some of tbe2,000.Iewish families whom Antiochus the Gre.nt di'ported from Mesopotamia and Baby- lonia to Phrygi.-i ami Lydia(.Jos. Ant.Xll. iii.4) nmst have been settled in Thyatira. In the Roman period the town became an important station on the overland route by the Hellespont (Dardanelles) VOL. II. — 37