Thessalonica in Easton's Bible Dictionary
a large and populous city on the Thermaic bay. It was the
capital of one of the four Roman districts of
Macedonia, and was
ruled by a praetor. It was named after Thessalonica,
the wife of
Cassander, who built the city. She was so called by
her father,
Philip, because he first heard of her birth on the
day of his
gaining a victory over the Thessalians. On his
second missionary
journey, Paul preached in the synagogue here, the
chief
synagogue of the Jews in that part of Macedonia, and
laid the
foundations of a church (Acts 17:1-4; 1 Thes. 1:9).
The violence
of the Jews drove him from the city, when he fled to
Berea (Acts
17:5-10). The "rulers of the city" before whom the
Jews "drew
Jason," with whom Paul and Silas lodged, are in the
original
called politarchai, an unusual word, which was
found, however,
inscribed on an arch in Thessalonica. This discovery
confirms
the accuracy of the historian. Paul visited the
church here on a
subsequent occasion (20:1-3). This city long
retained its
importance. It is the most important town of
European Turkey,
under the name of Saloniki, with a mixed population
of about
85,000.
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