Thyatira
The fourth of the seven churches to receive a letter from John. Thyatira was an important commercial center about 55 miles northeast of Smyrna. It was situated in a long valley that extended north and south, connecting the Caicus and Hermus valleys (Pergamum and Smyrna). These two valleys opened to the east and to the west, joining the plateau of Asia Minor to the Aegean Sea. Trade between them passed through the valley
in which Thyatira was located:
Nature has marked out this road, a very easy path for the tide of communication which in all civilised times must have been large between the one valley and the other. The railway transverses its whole length now: in ancient times one of the chief routes of Asia Minor traversed it.
This highway was the most important in the whole country, and was the reason Pergamum held such a high position:
Its importance as the one great route from Pergamum to the south-east (including all the vast regions of the central Anatolian plateau, Syria and the East generally) was proportionate to the importance which the official capital of the Province [Pergamum] retained under the Roman administration.
Thyatira was built in the 3rd century
B
.
C
. by Seleucus Nicator, founder of the Seleucid dynasty after the death of Alexander the Great. It was considered by some to be a city of Mysia,
26
and by others, of Lydia. Mysia comprised the area of northwest Asia Minor, whereas Lydia
27
was the neighboring region to the south.
Seleucus named the city Thyatira after he was informed about the birth of a daughter (
daughter
in Greek is
thygater
). His realm extended from the Hermus valley to the Himalayas. The whole Caicus Valley went with the kingdom of Pergamum. Thyatira contained a garrison that commanded the road, first from the Seleucid side and then from the side of Pergamum.
So long as the kings of Pergamum were masters of Thyatira they were safe from Seleucid attack; but if the Syrian kings possessed that key to the gate of the Caicus Valley, Pergamum was narrowed in its dominion and weakened in its defenses. Thus, the relation between the two cities was necessarily a very close one.
The condition of Thyatira was the best measure of the power of Pergamum
.
Thyatira was not naturally fortified and lacked even a proper acropolis. Thus, between 300 and 282
B
.
C
., the Macedonians carefully fortified the city and stationed in it a trained loyal garrison.
Thyatira came directly under Roman control when the kingdom of Pergamum passed to Rome in 133
B
.
C
. Thus, under the protection of the Roman Empire, Thyatira’s function as a military outpost declined, while it retained its military character. As a center of communication, large numbers of people passed through Thyatira and the city grew large and wealthy. It also commanded a large and fertile valley. Thus, the city enjoyed a considerable amount of prosperity when John wrote his letter (Rev. 2:18-29), but it was not until the 2nd century
A
.
D
. that Thyatira reached the pinnacle of its prosperity.
Trade-guilds were more numerous at Thyatira than at any other Asian city. Inscriptions mention wool-workers, linenworkers, makers of outer garments (other classes of garments are inferred), leather-workers, tanners, potters, bakers, slavedealers, and bronze-smiths.
One of the people who heard Paul preach in Philippi “was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God.” After Lydia hearkened to Paul and was baptized, she prevailed upon Paul and Silas to stay in her house (Acts 16:13-15). Lydia had moved from Thyatira, apparently to promote the purple trade in
Macedonia.
In John’s letter to Thyatira, he acknowledged the people’s love, faith, and service. He had one thing against them, however: some Christians were tolerating the woman Jezebel, a self-proclaimed prophetess who was “teaching and beguiling my servants to practice immorality, and to eat food sacrificed to idols” (Rev. 2:20-21). Others openly followed her teachings.
Thyatira’s guilds were accompanied by patron gods and by social events that sometimes turned into immoral orgies. Jezebel apparently was encouraging the Christians to participate in these activities, since membership in a guild was important to make a living. She likely argued that sexual libertinism, eating food offered to idols, and participating in other pagan practices could not hurt their faith as Christians. John, however, denounced Jezebel’s ideas as representing “the deep things of Satan.” The people who hold fast to what they have learned, John argued, who conquer by keeping the works of God until the end, will be given “power over the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron” (Rev. 2:24-27).
The promise sets the true and victorious Christian in the palace and dignity of the Roman Emperor. Rome was the only power on earth that exercised authority over the nations, and ruled them with a rod of iron, and smashed them like potsherds: to the Roman State that description is startlingly applicable. Accordingly the promise here designates the victor as heir to a greater, more terrible, more irresistible strength than even the power of the mighty Empire with all its legions.”
Thyatira (Bible Study)
Acts 16:14.
The first convert in Europe was named Lydia, “from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods.”
Acts 19:10.
The gospel probably reached Thyatira in the days of Paul’s third missionary journey, when Ephesus was the base of his activities.
Rev. 1:11.
Pergamum was one of the seven churches of Asia to receive a letter from John the Revelator.
Rev. 2:18-29.
“The Church of Thyatira is increasing in faith and endurance, and in love to God and man. But a party in the Church have led unfaithful lives, and they will be punished unless they repent. Let the rest of the Church continue faithful”
Rev. 2:20-23.
A false prophetess named Jezebel was condemned for practicing libertinism, and for teaching others to do the same.
Rev. 2:24-29.
Those who overcome the world by holding fast to what they have learned are promised “power over the nations” and the “morning star.”
28