Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898)
THYATI'RA, a city of Asia Minor, on the northern border of Lydia, near the road from Pergamos to Sardis, and some 27 miles from the latter city. It lay near the river Lycus and was a Macedonian colony, bearing successively the names of Pelopia, Semiraiuis and Euhippia. Dyeing was an important branch of its business from Homer's time, and the first N.T. mention of Thyatira, Acts 16:14, connects it with the purple seller, Lydia. Three votive
inscriptions have been found among its ruins purporting to have come. from the guild of "The Dyers." It has been supposed that perhaps Lydia returned to her own city and aided in establishing Christianity there. Thyatira was the seat of one of the seven churches of Asia. Rev 2:18-29. Its population was made up of various races, and it is a question what is meant by the reference to Jezebel. A shrine stood outside the walls, in the midst of the
"Chaldtean's court," dedicated to Sambath, a sibyl, Chaldaean, Jewish, or Persian. Grotius refers it to the wife of the bishop. Present Condition. - The city is now called ak-Hissar, or "white castle." The scarlet cloth dyed there has the reputation of being unsurpassed for brilliancy and permanence of color. The population is estimated at from 17,000 to 20,000. There are a Greek church and several mosques.