Smith's Bible Dictionary.pdf - Online Christian Library

Smith's Bible Dictionary
a great amalgamation of races. If the sibyl Sambatha was in reality a Jewess, lending her aid to the
amalgamation of different religions, and not discountenanced by the authorities of the Judeo-Christian
Church at Thyatira, both the censure and its qualification become easy of explanation. (The present
name of the city is ak-Hissar (“white castle”). It has a reputation for the manufacture of scarlet
cloth. Its present population is 15,000 to 20,000. There are nine mosques.—ED.)
Thyine Wood
occurs in (Revelation 18:12) where the margin has “sweet” (wood). There can be little doubt
that the wood here spoken of is that of the Thuya articulata, Desfont the Callitris quadrivalvis of
present botanists. It is a cone bearing tree and allied to the pine. This tree was much prized by
Greeks and Romans on account of the beauty of its wood for various ornamental purposes. By the
Romans the tree was called citrus, the wood citrum . It is a native of Barbary, and grows to the
height of 15 to 25 feet.
Tiberias
a city in the time of Christ, on the Sea of Galilee; first mentioned in the New Testament, (John
6:1,23; 21:1) and then by Josephus, who states that it was built by Herod Antipas, and was named
by him in honor of the emperor Tiberius. Tiberias was the capital of Galilee from the time of its
origin until the reign of Herod Agrippa II., who changed the seat of power back again to Sepphoris,
where it had been before the founding of the new city. Many of the inhabitants were Greeks and
Romans, and foreign customs prevailed there: to such an extent as to give offence to the stricter
Jews. It is remarkable that the Gospels give us no information that the Saviour who spent so much
of his public life in Galilee, ever visited Tiberias. The place is only mentioned in the New Testament
in (John 6:23) History .—Tiberias has an interesting history apart from its strictly biblical
associations. It bore a conspicuous part in the wars between the Jews and the Romans. The Sanhedrin,
subsequent to the fall of Jerusalem, after a temporary sojourn at Jamnia and Sepphoris, became
fixed there about the middle of the second century. Celebrated schools of Jewish learning flourished
there through a succession of several centuries. The Mishna was compiled at this place by the great
Rabbi Judah Hakkodesh, A.D. 190. The city has been possessed successively by Romans, Persians
Arabs and Turks. It contains now, under the Turkish rule, a mixed population of Mohammedans,
Jews and Christian, variously estimated at from two to four thousand. Present city .—The ancient
name has survived in that of the modern Tubarieh, which occupies the original site. Near Tubarieh,
about a mile farther south along the shore, are the celebrated warm baths, which the Roman
naturalists reckoned among the greatest known curiosities of the world. Tiberias is described by
Dr. Thomson as “a filthy place, fearfully hot in summer.” It was nearly destroyed in 1837 by an
earthquake, by which 800 persons lost their lives.
Tiberias, The Sea Of
(John 21:1) [Gennesaret, Sea Of, SEA OF]
Tiberius
(in full, Tiberius Claudius Nero), the second Roman emperor, successor of Augustus, who
began to reign A.D. 14 and reigned until A.D. 37. He was the son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and
Livia, and hence a stepson of Augustus. He was born at Rome on the 18th of November, B.C. 45.
He became emperor in his fifty-fifth year, after having distinguished himself as a commander in
various wars, and having evinced talents of a high order as an orator and an administrator of civil
affairs. He even gained the reputation of possessing the sterner virtues of the Roman character, and
was regarded as entirely worthy of the imperial honors to which his birth and supposed personal
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William Smith