LIDIA. — I. Heb. Lâdh, Gr. Αυδδα (Gen 10:22; 1 Chr 1:17; 1 Macc 8:8): a region of western Asia Minor on the Aegean coast, situated between Mysia to the north, Phrygia to the east, and Caria to the south, in a fertile and wealthy land, a necessary thoroughfare between continental Europe and Asia Minor. Its borders often varied during the course of its history, which certainly began in 685 BC with the victories of King Gyges over the Greek cities of the coast. After the unfortunate Croesus was defeated by Cyrus the Great in 546 BC, Lydia lost its autonomy and became a Persian satrapy. Antiochus III of Syria was forced to cede it to the Romans in 190 BC (1 Macc 8:8), who later incorporated it into the Roman province of Asia.
In the New Testament the name is not mentioned, but its cities, inhabited by numerous Jews, were soon evangelized, and in the Apocalypse the letters written to the Churches of Ephesus, Smyrna, Thyatira, Sardis, and Philadelphia are recorded (Rev 1:4; 2:2, 1–2; 18–29; 3:1–13). The first letter of St Peter sent to the Churches of Asia included the ancient cities of Lydia.
II. Lâdh, Lâdhîm (Lydia, Lydians: Isa 66:19; Ezek 27:10; 30:5; cf. Gen 10:13; 1 Chr 1:13): a region and people perhaps in North Africa.