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Bible Encyclopedias
Thessalonica
Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
or Thessaloni´ca, now called Salonichi, is still a city of about sixty or seventy thousand inhabitants, situated on the present gulf of Salonichi, which was formerly called Sinus Thermaicus, at the mouth of the River Echedorus. It was the residence of a praeses, the principal city of the second part of Macedonia, and was by later writers even styled metropolis. Under the Romans it became great, populous, and wealthy. It had its name from Thessalonice, wife of Cassander, who built the city on the site of the ancient Thermae, after which town the Sinus Thermaicus was called. Thessalonica was 267 Roman miles east of Apollonia and Dyrrachium, 66 miles from Amphipolis, 89 from Philippi, 433 west from Byzantium, and 150 south of Sophia. A great number of Jews were living at Thessalonica in the time of the apostle Paul, and also many Christian converts, most of whom seem to have been either Jews by birth or proselytes before they embraced Christianity by the preaching of Paul. Jews are still very numerous in this town, and possess much influence there. They are unusually exclusive, keeping aloof from strangers. The apostolical history of the place is given in the preceding article. The present town stands on the acclivity of a steep hill, rising at the northeastern extremity of the bay. It presents an imposing appearance from the sea, with which the interior by no means corresponds. The principal antiquities are the propylaea of the hippodrome, the rotunda, and the triumphal arches of Augustus and Constantine.
Public Domain.
Kitto, John, ed. Entry for 'Thessalonica'. "Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature". https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/kbe/t/thessalonica.html.
