LYDIA
(from “Ludos”, alleged founder of this nation, according to Herodotus 1:7).
(a) Western maritime region of Asia Minor; Its capital was Sardis.
The cities of Thyatira and Philadelphia belonged to Lydia. It was a fertile region, with a mild climate, and very populated.
Its inhabitants had Semitic-type customs, and their religion was associated with the Syrian and Phrygian cults.
In 549 BC, Cyrus defeated Croesus, the last king of Lydia, and made it a Persian province. Antiochus III of Syria was forced to cede Lydia to the Romans (cf. 1 Mac. 8:8).
There were numerous Jews there (Ant. 12:3, 4), Christians founded churches there (Rev. 1:11).
(b) Woman of Thyatira, in Lydia, we do not know if the name of this merchant woman is derived from the geographical term.
Thyatira was famous for its purple dye industry. Lydia lived in Philippi, and lived from the sale of dyes or fabrics dyed this color. This woman, of pagan origin, was a proselyte of Judaism.
Upon hearing the gospel, the Lord opened her heart, and she was the first convert to the gospel in Macedonia and Europe, thanks to Paul’s preaching. The apostle and his companions in her work agreed to pose at her house.
When Paul and Silas left prison, where they had been locked up because of a riot caused by their testimony, they returned to Lydia’s house (Acts 16:14, 15, 40).