achaia Summary and Overview

the name originally of a narrow strip of territory in Greece, on the north-west of the Peloponnesus. Subsequently it was applied by the Romans to the whole Peloponnesus, now called the Morea, and the south of Greece. It was then one of the two provinces (Macedonia being the other) into which they divided the country when it fell under their dominion. It is in this latter enlarged meaning that the name is always used in the New Testament (Acts 18:12, 27; 19:21; Rom. 15: 26; 16:5, etc.). It was at the time when Luke wrote the Acts of the Apostles under the proconsular form of government; hence the appropriate title given to Gallio as the "deputy," i.e., proconsul, of Achaia (Acts 18:12).

(trouble) signifies in the New Testament a Roman province which included the whole of the Peloponnesus and the greater part of Hellas proper, with the adjacent islands. This province, with that of Macedonia, comprehended the while of Greece; hence Achaia and Macedonia are frequently mentioned together in the New Testament to indicate all Greece. #Ac 18:12; 19:21; Ro 15:26; 16:5; 1Co 16:15; 2Co 7:5; 9:2; 11:10; 1Th 1:7,8| In the time of the emperor Claudius it was governed by a proconsul, translated in the Authorized Version "deputy," of Achaia. #Ac 18:12|

ACHA'IA (trouble), a Roman province in the New Testament times nearly co-extensive with the modern kingdom of Greece. Paul visited the churches in that region. Acts 18:12,Acts 18:27 ;Acts 19:21 ; Rom 15:26 ;Rom 16:5 ; 2 Cor 1:1; 2 Cor 9:2;2 Cor 11:10 ; 1 Thess 1:7,1 Kgs 15:8. For its towns see Corinth, Cenchrea.

In New Testament, a Roman province, including the whole Peloponnese, and most of Hellas proper, with the islands. This province, with Macedonia, comprehended all Greece (Acts 18:12; Acts 19:21). The name was given by the Romans, when they took Corinth and destroyed the Achaian League (146 D.C.), which, beginning with the narrow northern region of the Peloponnese called Achaia, afterward included several Grecian states. In Acts 18:12 Gallio, with the minute propriety that marks historical truth, called "deputy" (proconsul). Achaia had only just been restored under Claudius to the senate, whose representatives in the provinces were proconsuls, from having been an imperial province under Tiberius, whose representatives were procurators.