phrygia Summary and Overview

dry, an irregular and ill-defined district in Asia Minor. It was divided into two parts, the Greater Phrygia on the south, and the Lesser Phrygia on the west. It is the Greater Phrygia that is spoken of in the New Testament. The towns of Antioch in Pisidia (Acts 13:14), Colosse, Hierapolis, Iconium, and Laodicea were situated in it.

(dry, barren). Perhaps there is no geographical term in the New Testament which is less capable of an exact definition. In fact there was no Roman province of Phrygia till considerably after the first establishment of Christianity in the peninsula of Asia Minor. The word was rather ethnological than political, and denoted in a vague manner the western part of the central region of that peninsula. Accordingly, in two of the three places where it is used it is mentioned in a manner not intended to he precise. #Ac 16:6; 18:23| By Phrygia we must understand an extensive district in Asia Minor which contributed portions to several Roman provinces, and varying portions at different times. (All over this district the Jews were probably numerous. The Phrygians were a very ancient people, and were supposed to be among the aborigines of Asia Minor. Several bishops from Phrygia were present at the Councils of Nice, A.D. 325, and of Constantinople, A.D. 381, showing the prevalence of Christianity at that time --ED.)

PHRYG'IA (dry, barren), a district of Asia Minor, whose limits varied so much at different times that no exact boundaries can be given. Its settlement was very early. Phrygian traditions and those of the Egyptians make them the most ancient race of men in the world. Profane writers say that the Phrygians migrated from Macedonia long before the Trojan war. Phrygia is mentioned in Homer's Iliad. It then appears to have included a large part of Central Asia Minor. Later it was divided into Phrygia Major on the south, and Phrygia Minor on the west. It was of a very irregular and undefined shape; and when Galatia was a part of it, Phrygia touched, so it was said, upon every other province in Asia Minor. The Romans divided it into three districts. Part of it belonged to the province of Asia and part to Cilicia, and in N.T. times it was not a regularly-defined Roman province, but an ancient country, apportioned to other provinces, but mostly included in the province of Asia. Within its limits were the cities of Laodica'a, Hierapolis, Colossal, and Antioch of Pisidia. Phrygia is mentioned three times in the book of the Acts. People from there were present at Pentecost. Acts 2:10, and the apostle Paul twice traversed the country. Acts 16:6; Acts 18:23. Some converts were made, and we find Paul "strengthening all the disciples." Acts 18:23. At the Council of Nice, a.d. 325, the Phrygian churches were represented by eight bishops, and still more attended the Council of Constantinople, a.d. 381.

The W. part of the center of Asia Minor; varying in its definition at different times, and contributing parts to several Roman provinces (Acts 2:10). Paul passed through Phrygia in his second (Acts 16:6) and third (Acts 18:23) missionary journeys. An ethnological not political division. The Taurus range separated Phrygia from Pisidia on the S.; Caria, Lydia, Mysia, Bithynia were on its W. and N.; Galatia, Cappadocia, and Lycaonia on the E. It is a tableland. The Phrygia meant in Scripture is the southern portion (called "greater Phrygia") of the region above, and contained Laodicea, Hierapolis, Colosse, and Iconium. It was peopled by an Indo Germanic race from Armenia, who formed the oldest population of Asia Minor.