GALATIA (Gr. raXaria, ah).
Galatia was a province of Asia Minor, bounded on the north by Bithynia and Pa phlagonia, on the south by Lycaonia, on the east by Pontus and Cappadocia, and on the west by Phrygia and Bithynia.
It derived its name from the Gallic or Keltic tribes who, about 28o years B.C., made an irrup tion into Macedonia and Thrace. At the invitation Nicomedes, king of Bithynia, they passed over the Hellespont to assist that prince against his brother Ziboeta or Zipcetes. Having accomplished this object, they were unwilling to retrace their steps ; and strengthened by the accession of fresh hordes from Europe, they overran Bithynia and the neighboring countries, and supported them selves by predatory excursions, or by imposts exacted from the native chiefs. After the lapse of forty years, Attains I, king of Pergamus, succeed ed in checking their nomadic habits, and confined them to a fixed territory. Of the three principal tribes, the Trocmi settled in the eastern part of Galatia near the banks of the Halys ; the Tecto sages in the country round Ancyra ; and the Tolistobogii in the southwestern parts near Pes sinus. They retained their independence till the year B. C. 189 when they were brought under the power of Rome by the consul Cn. Manlius (Livy, xxxviii ; Polybius, xxii :24), though still governed by their own princes. In the year B. C. 25 Ga latia became a Roman province. Under the suc
cessors of Augustus the boundaries of Galatia were so much enlarged that it reached from the shores of the Euxine to the Pisidian Taurus. In the time of Constantine a new division was made, which reduced it to its ancient limits, and by Theodosius I or Valens it was separated into Galatia Prima. the northern part, occupied by the Trocmi and Tectosages, and Galatia Secunda or Salutaris: Ancyra was the capital of the former, and Pessinus of the latter.
From the intermixture of Gauls and Greeks Galatia was also called Gallo-Grxcia (Strabo. xii: 5), and its inhabitants Gallo-Grmci. But even in Jerome's time they had not lost their native language. The gospel was introduced into this province by the Apostle Paul. His first visit is recorded in Acts xvi :6, and his second in Acts xviii :23. J. E. R.
"Few Jewish or Jewish-Christian inscriptions can be detected in South Galatian cities, because the names are usually unrecognizable and few emblems or Jewish formul are employed.
"Christian inscriptions are comparatively nu merous in Galatic Phrygia and Lycaonia, especial ly in the country that lies north and northwest of Iconium; and. though none are dated, yet style indicates that some must be as early as the third century." (W. M. Ramsay, Hastings' Bib. Dict.)