In early Christian times, Thyateira was home to a significant Christian church, mentioned as one of the seven Churches of the Book of Revelation in the Book of Revelation. According to Revelation, a woman named Jezebel (who called herself a prophetess) taught and seduced the Christians of Thyateira to commit sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. However, some commentators such as Benson and Doddridge have concluded that what is being here practised in Thyatira is the same apostasy promoted in Israel by Jezebel as mentioned in the Books of Kings and that use of her name here is a direct reference to such. Indeed, as Doddridge notes, "the resemblance appears so great" that, in his view, it is the "same heresy which is represented"