Thyatira
(Continual Sacrifice)
Background
Thyatira was
a city of the province of Lydia in Western Asia Minor situated on the road from
Pergamos to Sardis. The city was on the southern bank of the Lycus River, a
branch of the Hermus River.
Thyatira was
founded by one of Alexander the Great’s successors, Seleucus, as a military
outpost guarding the north-south road. It later changed hands and came under
the rule of Lysimachus, who ruled Pergamum.
Thyatira’s
main industry was the production of wool and dyed goods (especially purple
goods, dyed with purple dye extracted from the madder root – Acts 16:14), but
inscriptions also mention guilds for linen workers, makers of outer garments,
dyers, leather workers, tanners, potters, bakers, slave dealers, and bronze
smiths.
Archaeologists
have uncovered evidence of many trade guilds and unions here. Membership in
these trade guilds, necessary for financial and social success, often involved
pagan customs and practices such as superstitious worship, union feasts using
food sacrificed to pagan idols, and loose sexual morality.
The primary
god worshipped by the Thyatirans was the Greek sun god, Apollo. Apollo has been
variously recognized as a god of light and the sun, truth and prophecy,
healing, plague, music, poetry, and more. Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto,
and has a twin sister, the chaste huntress Artemis. Apollo is known in
Greek-influenced Etruscan mythology as Apulu. As the patron of Delphi, Apollo
was an oracular god—the prophetic deity of the Delphic Oracle. Medicine and
healing are associated with Apollo, whether through the god himself or mediated
through his son Asclepius, yet Apollo was also seen as a god who could bring ill-health
and deadly plague. Apollo became associated with dominion over colonists, and
as the patron defender of herds and flocks. As the leader of the Muses and
director of their choir, Apollo functioned as the patron god of music and
poetry. Hermes created the lyre for him, and the instrument became a common
attribute of Apollo. Hymns sung to Apollo were called paeans.
The book of
revelation refers to a certain woman known as “Jezebel” who taught and beguiled
the Christians at Thyatira to conform to the paganism and sexual immorality of
their surroundings (Revelation 1:11; 2:18-29).
©2012 Kenute P. Curry.
All rights reserved.
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