Thessalonica

3 definitions found

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  Thessalonica
       n : a port city in northeastern Greece on an inlet of the Aegean
           Sea; second largest city of Greece [syn: {Thessaloniki},
           {Salonika}, {Salonica}]

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:



  Thessalonica
     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.
     

From Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary (late 1800's) [hitchcock]:

  Thessalonica, victory against the Thessalians