LYDIA (Wel'i-6.), (Gr. Ayala, derived front .1t056s its founder).
1. A province in the west of Asia Minor, sup posed to have derived its name from Lud, the fourth son of Shem (GCB. X:22). (SBC NATIONS, DISPERSION OF.) It was bounded on the east by Greater Phrygia, on the north by, /1:olis or Mysia, on the west by Ionia and the zEgean Sea, and on the south it was separated from Caria by the Mmander. The country is for the most part level. Among the mountains that of Tmolus %vas c,elebrated for its saffron and red wine. In the palmy days of Lydia its kings ruled from the shores of the lEgean to the river Halys; and Crcesus. who was its king in the time of Solon and of Cyrus, was reputed the richest monarch in the world. He was able to bring into the field an army of .42o,000 foot and 6o,000 horse against Cyrus, by whom, how ever, he was defeated. and his kingdom annexed to the Persian empire (Herod. 6). Lydia aft erwards formed part of the kingdom of the Seleucidx; and it is related in Mace. viii:3, that Antiochus the Great was compelled by the Romans to cede Lydia to king Eumenes. In the time of the travels of the Apostles it was a prov ince of the Roman empire. Its chief towns
were Sardis (the capital), Thyatira, and Phila delphia, all of which are mentioned in the New Testament, although the name of the province itself does not occur. The manners of the Lydians were corrupt even to a proverb (Herod. i :92).
2. A woman of Thyatira, 'a seller of purple,' who dwelt in the city of Philippi in Macedonia (Acts xvi :t4, 15). Lydia was not by birth a Jewess, but a proselyte 'who worshiped God' (cregoAltni Top 0e6v). She %vas converted by the preaching of Paul ; and after she and her household had been baptized, she pressed the use of her house so earnestly upon him and his asso ciates that they were constrained to accept the invitation. The Lydians were famous for the art of dyeing purple vests. and Lydia, as 'a seller of purple,' is supposed to have been a dealer in vests so dyed, rather than in the dye itself. (See Kuinoel on Acts xvi :14). (A. D. 47.) LYDIANS (Pydri-anz), (Jer. xlvi:9). See LUD; LUDIM; LYDDA.