[B-Greek] Thyatira

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Sun Apr 10 07:20:23 EDT 2005


At 9:50 PM +0100 4/9/05, Ben Crick wrote:
>On Thu  7 Apr 2005 (16:23:11), rminton at bible.edu wrote:
>> Does anyone know what the Greek word for Thyatira (Rev. 2:18) means?
>>
>
> I seem to remember being told that it is from the Greek verb QUW, to
> sacrifice. Apparently there were many trade guilds in the city, each with its
> shrine to Apollo or Astarte or Sambathe. Christians who belonged to one of
> these guilds had to attend the meetings, which incorporated a sacrifice to
> the god and a feast on the idol meat. After the meal, the immoral fun began.
> Hence the strong language of condemnation in the Letter to Thyatira.
>
> Jezebel is from the Hebrew 'iY:ZeBeL, "without cohabitation"; i.e. chaste.
> Queen Jezebel, wife of King Ahab, was the very opposite of this (2 Kings
> 9:22). The Thyatiran woman code-named Jezebel must have brought the worship
> of the heathen gods and goddesses into the ambit of the Church in Thyatira.
>
> The best I can do...

It might be just about as worth while guessing how Blood River got its
name. One could readily imagine several possible etymologies, any one of
which or none might be valid.
-- 

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/



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