galatia Summary and Overview

has been called the "Gallia" of the East, Roman writers calling its inhabitants Galli. They were an intermixture of Gauls and Greeks, and hence were called Gallo-Graeci, and the country Gallo-Graecia. The Galatians were in their origin a part of that great Celtic migration which invaded Macedonia about B.C. 280. They were invited by the king of Bithynia to cross over into Asia Minor to assist him in his wars. There they ultimately settled, and being strengthened by fresh accessions of the same clan from Europe, they overran Bithynia, and supported themselves by plundering neighbouring countries. They were great warriors, and hired themselves out as mercenary soldiers, sometimes fighting on both sides in the great battles of the times. They were at length brought under the power of Rome in B.C. 189, and Galatia became a Roman province B.C. 25. This province of Galatia, within the limits of which these Celtic tribes were confined, was the central region of Asia Minor. During his second missionary journey Paul, accompanied by Silas and Timothy (Acts 16:6), visited the "region of Galatia," where he was detained by sickness (Gal. 4:13), and had thus the longer opportunity of preaching to them the gospel. On his third journey he went over "all the country of Galatia and Phrygia in order" (Acts 18:23). Crescens was sent thither by Paul toward the close of his life (2 Tim. 4:10).

(land of the Galli, Gauls). The Roman province of Galatia may be roughly described as the central region of the peninsula of Asia Minor, bounded on the north by Bithynia and Paphlagonia; on the east by Pontus; on the south by Cappadocia and Lycaonia; on the west by Phrygia. --Encyc. Brit. It derived its name from the Gallic or Celtic tribes who, about 280 B.C., made an irruption into Macedonia and Thrace. It finally became a Roman province. The Galatia of the New Testament has really the "Gaul" of the East. The people have always been described as "susceptible of quick impressions and sudden changes, with a fickleness equal to their courage and enthusiasm, and a constant liability to that disunion which is the fruit of excessive vanity. --The Galatian churches were founded by Paul at his first visit, when he was detained among, them by sickness, #Ga 4:13| during his second missionary journey, about A.D 51. He visited them again on his third missionary tour.

GALA'TIA , a central province of Asia Minor, subject to the Roman rule, bounded by Bithynia and Paphlagonia on the north, Pontus on the east, Cappadocia and Lycaonia on the south, and Phrygia on the west. Its boundaries, however, were often changed. In Ptolemy's time it extended to the Euxine or Black Sea, and at one time included Lycaonia on the south. Its capitals were Tavium, Pessinus, and Ancyra. The country is chiefly high tableland between the two rivers Halys and Sangarius. The Galatians were originally Gauls or Celts who 300 years before Christ moved from the regions of the Rhine back toward the east, and there mingled with Greeks and Jews. Their character resembled that of the modern French, and combined quick temper, prompt action, inconstancy, and changeableness. So they appear in the Epistle of Paul to them. Galatia was a part of Paul's missionary-field. He visited it once with Silas and Timothy, Acts 16:6; again, on his third tour, he "went over all the country of Galatia," Acts 18:23, and received a collection for the saints from its churches, 1 Cor 16:1. Crescens also appears to have been sent there near the close of Paul's life. 2 Tim 4:10.

(guh lay' shuh) Geographical name derived from Gaul because its inhabitants were Celts or Galli (Gauls). The original settlement was in central Asia Minor. See Asia Minor. King Nicomedes of Bithynia invited the Celtic warriors across the Bosporus River to help him fight his brother in 278 B.C. The invaders fought on their own capturing cities until stopped by Antiochus I in 275 B.C. They then occupied the northern part of Asia Minor, bounded on the north by Pontus and Bithynia, on the east by Tavium and Pessinus in the west. For the most part, true Galatians lived in open areas, leaving city occupation to their predecessors, the Phrygians. The true Galatians constantly switched sides in ongoing battles in the area. Finally, in 25 B.C. Rome made Galatia a province of the empire and extended its borders, adding Lycaonia, Isauria, and Pisidia with Ancyra serving as the governmental center. Various Roman rulers added and subtracted territory from the province, so its precise boundaries are difficult to draw. Paul visited Galatia (Acts 16:6; Acts 18:23), though his precise route is not clear. Did he visit Phrygian-dominated cities or the true Galatians in the countryside? Was his letter addressed to the original territory in the north or to the Roman province with its southern additions? See Galatians. Compare 1 Corinthians 16:1; 2 Timothy 4:10, where some manuscripts have Gaul, and 1 Peter 1:1.