Search the Site

Donate

Lydia


Lid´ee-uh

1 An area in south-central Asia Minor whose most famous king was Croesus (sixth century BCE). Successively occupied by the Persians, Alexander the Great and his successors, and the Romans, who incorporated it into the province of Asia, it is mentioned in (1Macc 8:8). Thyatira, Sardis, and Philadelphia (Rev 2:18-3:13) were located in Lydia. 2 A woman who, according to (Acts 16:12-15), was Paul’s first convert in Europe (at Philippi in Macedonia). Lydia was apparently a traveling merchant who sold luxurious purple-dyed cloth for a living. According to Acts, she had sufficient means to give extended hospitality to Paul and Silas in her home (Acts 16:15; Acts 16:40).

  • Powell, Mark Allan, ed. HarperCollins Bible Dictionary. Abridged Edition. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2009.