seat of large money transactions and of an extensive trade in wood. ‘The citizens developed a taste for Greek art, and were distinguished in science and literature. Laodicea was the seat of a great medical school. During the Roman period it was the chief city of a Roman conventus or political district, in which courts were held by the proconsul of the province, and where the taxes from the subordinate towns were collected. Cicero held his court there, and many of his letters were writ- ten thence. The conventus represented by Laodicea comprised not less than twenty-five towns, and inscriptions refer to the city as “the metropolis.” The Greek word 6S:0/enous, corre- sponding to the Latin conventus, was subsequently applied to an ecclesiastical district, and appears in diocese. The tutelary deity of the city was Zeus (Jupiter). Hence its earlier name, Diospolis, or City of Zeus. Many of its inhabitants were Jews. It was subject to frequent earthquakes, which eventually re- sulted in its abandonment. It is now a deserted place, but its ruins indicate by their magnitude its former importance. Among these are a racecourse, and three theatres, one of which is four hundred and fifty feet in diameter, An important church council was held there in the fourth century.
The Amen. Used only here as a proper name. See Isa. Ixy. 16, where the correct rendering is the God of the Amen, instead of A. V. God of truth. The term applied to the Lord signifies that He Himself is the fulfilment of all that God has spoken to the churches.
Faithful (rucrds). The word occurs in the New Testament in two senses: trusty, faithful (Matt. xxiv. 45; xxv. 21, 23; Luke xii. 42); and belzeving, confiding (John xx. 27; Gal. iii. 9; Acts xvi. 1). Of God, necessarily only in the former sense.
True (ddnIwos). See on ver. 7. The veracity of Christ is thus asserted in the word facthful, true being not true as dis- tinguished from false, but true to the normal idea of a witness.
The beginning (7 dpy7). The beginner, or author ; not as Col. i. 15, the first and most excellent creature of God’s hands.