ASIA. This term does not occur in the O. T. In the books of Maccabees it is found—I. As the designation of the territory of Antiochus the Great (1 Macc. viii. 6), in which case it is nearly iden tical with what was subsequently called Asia Minor ; 2. As the designation of the territory of the king of Pergamos (1 Macc. viii. 6) ; in which case it comprehends Mysia, Lydia, and Phrygia ; and 3. As the designation of the territory claimed by the kings of Antioch, who called themselves kings of Asia, though only Cilicia really belonged to them (1 Macc. xii. 39 ; xiii. 32 ; 2 Macc. iii. 3), By Attains III. the kingdom of Pergamos was 33) bequeathed to the Romans, and thence forward became the Roman province of Asia, and was governed by a till the time of Augustus, who made it a senatorial province, and placed over it a proconsul (civelOwaros, Acts xix. 38). This is the territory which Ptolemy describes as I7 laiws KaXotmevri 'Atria (Geogr. v. 2) ; it comprehended Phrygia, Mysia, Lydia, and Caria ; its chief town was Ephesus. As used in the N. T., it is only the portion of this territory exclusive of Phrygia, which the term Asia commonly denotes (Acts ii. 9 (where it is expressly distinguished from Phrygia) ; xvi. 6 ; xix. IO, 22, 26, 27 ; xx. 4, t6, I8 ; xxi. 27 • xxvii. 2 ; Rom. xvi. 5 (where the reading of the best authorities is 'Areas in place of 'Axatas) ; 1 Cor. xvi. 19 ; 2 Cor. i. 8 ; 2 Tim. i. 15). In some of these passages the wider meaning is given to the term by some interpreters, but without sufficient reason. In Acts vi. 9, I Pet. i. t, and Rev. i. 4, however, this must be admitted. In these passages Asia must be taken to include Phrygia as well as Mysia, Lydia, and Caria, so as to correspond nearly with what was afterwards called Proconsular Asia. The word Asia is traced by Bochart to the Phoenician 'Yn nze idle, qu. ' id est pars ilia qute media est inter Africam et Europam ' (Geogr. Sac. iv. 33, p. 298, ed. 1682). With greater pro bability, Pott derives it from anti s, ?Ps, dohs, gcbs (Sansc. ushas aurora), so that it denotes Orient, Levant, Anatolia, as opposed to Hesperia' (Etyma. Borsch. ii. 19o).—W. L. A.
ASIARCHiE Arredpxac, Acts xix. 31 ; Vulg.
AsUe principes ; Tertull. prosides sacerclotales ; Auth. Vers. certain of the chief of Asia'). These asiarchte, who derived their appellation from the name of the province over which they presided (as Syriarch, 2 Macc. xii. 2, Lyciarch, Cariarch, etc.), were in the province of Asia the chief presi dents of the religious rites, whose office it was to exhibit solemn games in the theatre every year, in honour of the gods and of the Roman emperor. This they did at their own expense (like the Roman mdiles), whence none but the most opulent persons could bear the office, although only of one year's continuance. The appointment was much as fol lows : at the beginning of every year (i. e., about the autumnal equinox), each of the cities of Asia held a public assembly, in order to nominate one of their citizens as asiarch. A person was then sent to the general council of the province, at some one of the principal cities, as Ephesus, Smyrna, Sardis, etc., to announce the name of the indi vidual who had been selected. Of the persons thus nominated by the cities the council designated ten. Some suppose that the whole ten presided as a college over the sacred rites (comp. Strabo, xiv. p. 649) ; but as in Eusebius (Hist. .Eccles. iv. 15) Polycarp is said to have suffered martyrdom when Philip was asiarch and Statius Quadratus proconsul of Asia,' it has been inferred by others that, as in the case of the Irenarch, the names of the ten nominated by the general council were submitted to the proconsul, who chose one of the number to be asiarch ; whilst others again think that one chosen by the proconsul was pre-eminently the asiarch, but that the other nine acted as his assessors and also bore that title. Winer contends that the solitary testimony of Eusebius amounts to no more than that one asiarch, Philip, then and there presided at the public games, but not that the arrangements of all the games were made and provided by that one asiarch. (See Kuinoel, Ham mond, Bloomfield, etc., on Acts xix. 31 ; and Winer's L'iblisches Realworterbuch, s. v. Asian dim,' with the authorities there cited).—J. K.