The principal deity of the city was Apollo, wor- shipped as the sun-god under the surname Tyrimnas. He was no doubt introduced by the Macedonian col- onists, for the name is Macedonian. One of the three mythical kings of Macedonia, whom the genealogists placed before Perdiccas — the first of the Temenidaj that Herodotus and Thucydides recognise — is so called; the other two being Caranus and Cmmx, manifestly imper- sonations of the chief and the tribe. The inscriptions of Thyatira give Tyrimnas the titles of 7rp(i7roX(c and TTpoTrdrojp ^toQ, and a special priesthood was attached to his service. A priestess of Artemis is also men- tioned, probably the administratrix of a cult derived from tlie earlier times of the city, and similar in its nature to that of the Ephesian Artemis. Another su- perstition of an extremely curious nature which existed at Thyatira, seems to have been brought thither by some of the corrupted Jews of the dispersed tribes. A fane stood outside the walls dedicated to Samhatha — the name of the sibyl who is sometimes called Chal- dnsan, sometimes Jewish, sometimes Persian — in the midst of an enclosure designated " the Chaldajan's court" (roil XaX^aiov Trepi'/SoXoc). This lends an ad- ditional illustration to the above passage (Rev. ii, 20, 21). which seems to imply a form of religion that had become condemnable from the admixture of foreign alio}', rather than one idolatrous ah initio. Now there is evidence to show that in Thyatira there was a great amalgamation of races. Latin inscriptions are frequent, indicating a considerable influx of Italian immigrants; and in some Greek inscriptions many Latin words are introduced. Latin and (ireek names, too, are found ac- cumulated on the same individuals, such as 1 itus An- tonins Alfenus Arignotns and Julia Scverina Stratonicis. But amalgamation of difterent races in pagan nations always went together with a syncretism of different religions, every relation of life having its religious sanc- tion. If the sibyl Sambatha was really a Jewess, lend- ing her aid to this proceeding, and not discountenanced by the authorities of the Judso-Christian Church at Thyatira, both the censure and its qualification become easy of explanation. It seems also not improbable that the imagery of the description in Kev. ii, 18, 6 ty^wv TOVQ bcp^aXfioi'Q avTOV uq (fKoya, Kcti ol ttuCeq aliToHJ ofioint x"XKo\ii3dv(j), may have been suggested b_v the current pagan representations of the tutelary deity of the city. See a parallel case at Smyrna (q. v.). Be- sides the cults which have been mentioned, there is
THYINE WOOD
397
TIARA
evidence of a deification of Rome, of Hadrian, and of the imperial family. Games were celebrated in honor of Tyrimnas, of Hercules, and of the reigning emperor. On the coins before the imperial times, the heads of Bacchus, of Athena, and of Cybele are also found ; but the inscriptions only indicate a cult of the last of these. — Smith ; Fairbairu.
Coin of Thyatira.
See Strabo, xiii. 4; Pliny, Hist. Nat. v, 31 ; Livy, xxxvii, 8, 21, -il; Polybius, xvi, 1; xxxii, 25; ^lian, Var. Hist, xii, 35: Bockh, Inscrtpt. Grcec. Thyatir.. es- pecially Nos. 348i-3499; Jablonski, De Ecclesia Thya- tirensi (Francof. ad V. 1739); 8tosch, Antiq. Thyatiren, (ZwoU. 1763); Hoffmann, Gritchenland, ii, 1714; Svobo- da. Seven Churches of A sia Minor, p. 48 sq. ; Barber, Pat- mos and Seven Chiirches (Bridgeport, 1851), p. 187 sq. ; and the works cited under Asia Minor and Revela- tion.
Thy'ine Wood {Ivkov ^iiivov, Vulg. ligmtm thy- imini) occurs once in Rev. xviii, 12 (margin " sweet" [wood]), where it is mentioned as one of the valuable articles of commerce that should be found no more in Babylon (Rome), whose fall is there predicted by John. Symmachus and the Vulg. also understand it to be meant by the algum-trees of 1 Kings x, 11. There can be little doubt that the wood here spoken of is that of the Thuya articulata, Des Font., the Callitris quadri- valcis of present botanists. Most of our readers are
Thyine-tree {Callitris quadrivalvis).
familiar with the "arbor vitse," Thuja accident alts, so common in our shrubberies. Closely allied to this — in the same cypress-like division of the Conifers; indeed, until lately included in the genus Thuja — is the tree in question. This wood was in considerable demand by the Romans, being much employed by them in the or-
namental wood-work of their villas, and also for tables, bowls, and vessels of different kinds. It was also fra- grant (.Elian, \'ar. I/isl. v, (!). It is noticed by most ancient authors from the time of Theophrastus {Plant. V, 5; see ^Elian, Aniui. ii, 11 ; Strabo, iv, 202). It was the citron-wood of the Romans; thus Salmasius, "Bin Theophrasti est ilia citrus, quae citreas mensas dabat Roraanis inter lautissinia opera" (Celsius, Hierobol. ii, 25). It was produced only in Africa, in the neighbor- hood of Mount Atlas, and in Granada, "citrum, arborem Africa3 peculiarem esse, nee alibi nasci." It grew to a goodly size, "quarum amplitiido ac radices oestimari possunt ex orbibus" (Pliny, Hist. Nat. xiii, 15). Fab- idous prices were given for tables and other orna- mental furniture made of citrus -wood (see Pliny, /oc.
cit.^.
This cedar or citron-wood (Callitris quadi-ivalvis, the Thuja articulata of Linnfeus) is a native of Mount At- las, and of other uncultivated hills on the coast of Afri- ca. It grows to a height of from fifteen to twenty-five feet. In the kingdom of INIorocco, according to Brous- souel, this tree produces the Sandarach resin of com- merce. Captain Cook, in his Sketches in Spain (vol. ii), brought to light the fact that the wood-work of the roof of the celebrated mosque now the Cathedral of Cordova, built in the 9th centur}', is of this wood; it had previously been thought to be that of the larch, from the resemblance of the Spanish word alerce, which is ajiplied to the wood of Callitris quadrivalvis in Spain and Barbary, to the Latin word la?ix, " By a singular coincidence, the subject has been undergoing investi- gation about the same time in Africa. Mr. Hay, the British consul at Tangiers, had, by tracing the Arabic etymology of the word alerce (no doubt al arz or ei-es), by availing himself of the botanical researches of the Danish consul in Morocco, and b}- collating the ac- counts of the resident Moors, made out that the alei-ce was the Thuja articulata which grows on Mount Atlas. In corroboration of his views, a plank of its timber was sent to London. This plank, which is in possession of the Horticultural Society, is one foot eight inches in width. The Cordova wood is highly balsamic and odoriferous, the resin, no doubt, preventing the ravages of insects as well as the influence of the air" (Loudon, Arboret. iv, 2463). The wood is dark nut-brown, close- grained, and is very fragrant (Tristram, Nat. Hist, of the Bible, p. 402). Lady Calcott {Script. Herbal, p. 2) regards it as the almug (q. v.) of the Old Test. See Botany.