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Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

LYDIA (Place)

Name designating a geographical area occurring in Jeremiah 46:9, Ezekiel 27:10, and 30:5 in the NLT. In other versions, it is listed as “Lud” (see NLT mg) or “Ludim.” But the identification of Lydia with Lud or Ludim in the OT is not certain. Jeremiah mentions Lud in connection with the North African countries of Put (Libya) and Ethiopia (Jer 46:9). Ezekiel mentions Lud in connection with Put and Persia (Ez 27:10), as well as Arabia (30:5). Josephus considered the Lydians to have been founded by Lud (Antiquities 1.6.4).

In any event, it appears that Lydia refers to a province in the western part of the Roman province of Asia (modern Turkey) bounded on the north by Mysia, on the east by Phrygia, on the south by Caria, and on the west by the Greek cities in Ionia. It is listed among the provinces taken by the conquering Romans from the Syrian king Antiochus the Great and given to Eumenes II, the king of Pergamum, after the battle of Magnesia in 190 BC.

The capital of Lydia, Sardis, was considerably inland, and the province never showed any significant maritime development. Herodotus referred to Lydia as a fertile land and to its abundance of silver (Persian Wars 5.49), while Tacitus spoke of the rich countries around Sardis (Annals 4.55). According to Herodotus, the Lydians “were the first nation to introduce the use of gold and silver coin, and the first who sold goods by retail” (Persian Wars 1.94).

By NT times, Lydia had become a part of the Roman province of Asia, having been given to Rome in 133 BC by the Pergamene king Attalus III. Five of the churches to which the book of Revelation was addressed were in Lydia (Ephesus, Smyrna, Sardia, Philadelphia, and Laodicea).