Lydia (lyd'i-ah). 1. A Jewish proselyte from the city of Thyatira, in Lydia, engaged in the purple trade, possessed of wealth, and temporarily residing at Philippi, where she heard Paul preach. Acts 16:14. She accepted the gospel, was baptized together with her household, and Paul stayed at her house. 2. Ezekiel 30:5, E. V. "Lud," where it probably refers to a people or place in Africa. It was also a coast region of Asia Minor, and formed in olden times the centre of a great empire under Crœsus; afterward it belonged successively to Syria, Pergamus, and the Romans. Its principal cities were Sardis, Thyatira, and Philadelphia. It is mentioned in 1 Maccabees 8:8 among the provinces which the Romans transferred from Syria to Pergamus.