City of Thessalonica
Way back in 315 B.C. Cassander, son of Antipater conquered the city, reconstructed it, and then came the best part when he renamed the city to Thessalonica, after his wife. Cassander’s wife was the daughter of Phillip of Macedon, Alexander the Great half sister (Wiersbe,156).
Thessalonica had a population of roughly 200,000 people, which was second to Athens. It was the capital and largest city of the Roman four provinces of Macedonia. The city served as great trading ports and commerce. Many well-to-do Romans settled there, including the Jewish merchants (Acts 17: 4). Most of those people lived through manual labor. It also served as a great military high way, which connected Rome with the east, and ran parallel to the sea line of communication by way of Corinth. The City was famous for evil and licentiousness, it was a strange mixtures of seaports: sites of the worship of Cabiri. Ironically, it was a free city and enjoyed autonomy. However, the governor has no civil authority, they were call politarchs.
In Acts 17: 1-15, Luke recorded that they—Paul, Silas, and Luke himself—passed by Amphipnica and Apollonia, and went straight to Thessalonica. Unlike Mao Zedong, Paul did not attack the small city with the gospel; instead, he conquered Thessalonica in less than three weeks period. Paul went to Macedonia in response to a ‘call’ from a man in Macedonia who said, in his vision, “ come over into Macedonia and help us “ (Acts 16:9).
Today the population is 300,000. The guides nowadays call it Thessaloniki, or Saloniki, instead of Thessalonica (Wiersbe, 156).
Wiersbe, warren. The Bible Exposition Commentary, New Testament volume I. Colorado Springs: Victor, 1989.
