Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/732

 702 THESSALONIANS THESSALONIANS, Epistles to the, two canonical books of the New Testament, addressed to the church at Thessalonica by the apostle Paul. They are expressly referred to by Ireneeus, Clement of Alexandria, and Tertullian. In modern times the authenticity of both epistles has been doubted by Noack, Van der Vries, and Volkmar, and that of the second by Lip- sius, Hilgenfeld, Weisse, Hausrath, Pfleiderer, and others. Special treatises in support of their authenticity have been written by W. Grimm, Lunemann, and others. The first epistle to the Thessalonians, commonly be- lieved to have been the first of the Pauline epistles, is supposed to have been written from Corinth about A. D. 52 or 53. The occasion seems to have been the favorable report of the faith of the Thessalonians which Timothy brought on his return from Macedonia. Chap- ters i. to iii. express the apostle's feelings re- specting their religious condition, and his own kindly reception among them. Then follow an exhortation to holiness (iv. 1-12), an in- struction on the fate of the dead at the ex- pected return of Christ (iv. 13-18), an admo- nition to be always prepared for that event (v. 1-11), several other admonitions, and the conclusion. The second epistle is believed by most of the theologians who regard it as authentic to have been written soon after the first, in the year 53 or 54. It was designed to correct some errors into which the church had fallen, especially respecting the coming of Christ. The apostle commends the Thes- salonians for their patience and faith in their persecutions, and announces that those who, trouble them will be punished (ch. i.) ; he shows that the arrival of Christ was not near at hand, but must be preceded by a great apostasy -and the appearance of the Anti- christ (ii. 1-12), and gives them appropriate admonitions (ii. 13-17, and iii.). Among the most valuable commentaries on these epistles are those by Schott (Leipsic, 1834), Jowett (London, 1856), Lunemann (Gottingen, 1859), Ellicott (2d ed., 1862), Hofmann (1862), and Auberlen and Riggenbach in Lange's Bibelwerk (2d ed., 1867; English translation by Lillie). THESSALONICA. See SALONIOA. THESSALY (Gr. eeoaaMa or QerraMa), the lar- gest political division of ancient Greece, com- prising in its fullest extent the country between Thermopylae and the Cambunian mountains in one direction, and between the range of Pindus and the ^Egean sea in the other. But Thessaly proper was the plain between the Cambunian mountains on the north, Ossa arid Pelion on the east, Mt. Othrys on the south, and the Pindus range on the west. This plain, whose natural enclosure of mountains is broken only at the northeast by the vale of Tempe, was the most fertile region and the largest that was continuously productive in Greece, and was supposed by its inhabitants to have once been a lake, of which the lakes Nessonis (now Kara Tchair) and Bcebeis (Karla) were the THESSALY remains. It was drained by the Peneus (Se- lembria or Salamvria) and its tributaries, and was divided into two plains, which in anti- quity were called Upper Thessaly and Lower Thessaly; the former embracing Thessaliotis and Hestiaiotis, between Jginium in the north- west and Thaumaci in the south, and having Pharsalus for its chief city ; the latter, Pelas- giotis, stretching from Mts. Olympus and Ossa on the north to Mt. Othrys and the gulf of Pagasa? (now of Volo) on the south, and hav- ing Larissa as its most important town. Thes- saly proper was early divided into the four districts of Thessaliotis, Hestiaeotis, Pelasgio- tis, and Phthiotis; and this division, the ori- gin of which is sometimes ascribed to Aleuas, the founder of the Aleuadae, was continued down to a very late time. In addition to Thessaly proper, the name was extended over Malis or Malia, a narrow valley between Mts. Othrys and (Eta, through which the river Spercheus enters the Maliao gulf ; and to Magnesia, a region lying along the coast and stretching S. from the vale of Tempe, and almost encircling the gulf of Pagasse. The Thessalians were said to have been originally emigrants from Thesprotia in Epirus, who conquered the Pelasgian inhabitants of the plain of the Peneus, which is said by Hero- dotus to have then been called ^Eolis. Du- ring the historic period three classes inhabited the country. The first was a body of rich oli- garchical proprietors, who owned most of the soil. Of these the most powerful families were the Aleuadaa of Larissa, the Scopadfe of Crannon, and the Creonidse of Pharsalus ; the second were the subject Achaeans, Magnetes, and Perrheebi, who retained their tribe names and separate votes in the Amphictyonic coun- cil ; the third were the Penestaa or serf culti- vators of the soil, who could not be sold out of the country, and who kept up among them- selves the relations of family and community. These were no doubt earlier inhabitants re- duced to serfdom ; but whether they were Pe- lasgians or Boeotians, as Grote suggests, it is impossible to determine. The language spoken in Thessaly was ^Eolic Greek. The four divi- sions of the country formed a political union, existing rather in theory than in fact. To en- force obedience to the common authority a chief or tagus was sometimes elected ; but con- stant feuds between the larger cities prevented Thessaly from occupying its rightful position in Greece. The inhabitants were early en- gaged in a constant war with the Phocians; they joined by constraint the army of Xerxes in his invasion of Greece, but took no part in the Peloponnesian war. About 400 B. C. Pherse rose to political supremacy in Thes- saly under Lycophron, who had made himself tyrant, and his successor Jason, who reduced all Thessaly to his authority, and meditated not only the conquest of Greece, but the over- throw of the Persian empire; but before he had time to mature his designs he was assas-