CHAPTER 38 THE GEOGRAPHY OF GALATIA Gal 1:2; Act 18:23; 1 Cor 16:1 Mark Wilson KEY POINTS • Galatia is both a region and a province in central Asia Minor. • The main cities of north Galatia were settled by the Gauls in the third cen- tury bc. • The main cities of south Galatia were founded by the Greeks starting in the third century bc. • Galatia became a Roman province in 25 bc, and the Romans established colonies in many of its cities. • Pamphylia was part of Galatia in Paul’s day, so Perga and Attalia were cities in south Galatia. GALATIA AS A REGION and their families who migrated from Galatia is located in a basin in north-cen- Thrace in 278 bc. They had been invited tral Asia Minor that is largely flat and by Nicomedes I of Bithynia to serve as treeless. Within it are the headwaters of mercenaries in his army. The Galatians the Sangarius River (mode rn Sakarya) were notorious for their destructive and the middle course of the Halys River forays, and in 241 bc the Pergamenes led (modern Kızılırmak). The capital of the by Attalus I defeated them at the battle Hittite Empire—Hattusha (modern of the Caicus. The statue of the dying Boğazköy)—was in eastern Galatia near Gaul, one of antiquity’s most noted the later site of Tavium. The name Galatia works of art, commemorates that victo- derives from the twenty thousand Gauls ry. 1 The three Galatian tribes settled in 1 . For the motif of dying Gauls, see Brigitte Kahl, Galatians Re-imagined: Reading with the Eyes of the Vanquished (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2010), 77–127. For a Roman copy of the original 483 484 Lexham Geographic Commentary on Acts through Revelation Galatia, Pamphylia, and Lycaonia Juliopolis Via Sebaste (Roman road built ~6 B.C.) ! Hattusha Ancyra ! ! Dorylaeum Midaion ! ! ! Tavium Germa ! Pessinus ! PHRYGIA Amorion ! Dokimeion ! GALATIA Caesarea! !Prymnessos ! CAPPADOCIA S u l t Synnada a n M Philomelium ! Pisidian Antioch o ! ! u Tyraion Colonia n ! Claudiolaodicea t a ! Dabenae R Hadrianoupolis s i n ! Apamea ! u s ! ! Parlais t hi ! An Neopolis Apollonia ! Lake Limnae ! ! Timbriada s ! Pappa LYCAONIA n t a i n Lake Askania PISIDIA Lake Karalis Iconium o u ! s M Lysinoe ! ! ! Cybistra u Malos Lystra ! r a u Sagalassus ! R Mistea ! T n Sidamaria ! ! o Adada d ! Tynna (Dana) e ! Cremna R m Derbe y Podandos Olbasa s ! r Cilician Gates ! o Kodylessos ! r u t s ! Selge E ! Pyrgoi Comama e Isauria ! K ! T a ! Posala ! ! u Ilistra CILICIA PEDIAS PAMPHYLIA r u Laranda Termessos s CILICIA ! ! M ! ! Etenna o u ! Perga n t ! LYCIA Aspendos a i n Attalia s Pompeiopolis Tarsus ! ! Side Ninica ! Phaselis Korakesion Arykanda! ! ! CILICIA TRACHEIA Syedra Korykos Olympus ! ! ! Seleucia! Limyra! Myra! Celenderis ! 0 60 mi ! Anemourion © 2018 Faithlife 0 60 km these cities in Galatia: the Tolistobogii MAIN CITIES IN 3 at Pessinus, the Tectosages at Ancyra, NORTH GALATIA and the Trocmi at Tavium (Livy, History Pessinus (modern Ballıhisar) was sit- 38.16.10–12). The Romans became active uated in western Galatia on the west side in Galatia in the second century bc, and of sacred Mount Dindymus. In the third in 65 bc Pompey defeated the Pontic century bc the Tolistobogii, the west- king Mithradates VI Eupator, thereby ernmost Galatian tribe, made Pessinus removing his hegemony over the region. their capital. The city was famous for its A council and tetrarchs ruled until 63 bc shrine of the Phrygian mother goddess when Deiotarus killed his fellow tribal Cybele. According to Diodorus Siculus kings and assumed the sole monarchy. the Phrygian king Midas founded the Other leaders followed until Rome took temple in the eighth century bc (3.59.8). direct control of the region in 25 bc after Its priests called Galli were notorious for the death of the Galatian king Amyntas being eunuchs; however, castration for (reigned 36–25 bc).2 Romans was forbidden by the Roman Senate and later outlawed by Domitian (Suetonius, Life of Domitian 7.1).4 Cybele’s statue from Pergamum, see the website of the Musei Capitolini in Rome, “Statue of ‘Capitoline Gaul,’” http://www.museicapitolini.org/en/collezioni/percorsi_per_sale/palazzo_nuovo/ sala_del_gladiatore/statua_del_galata_capitolino. 2 . A detailed discussion of Galatia’s geography and history can be found in Stephen Mitchell, Anatolia: Lands, Men, and Gods in Asia Minor (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992), 1:13–58. 3 . For a more detailed discussion of these cities, see chapter 46, “Peter’s Communities in Asia Minor.” 4. This practice has been cited as a background for Paul’s comment that those agitating the Galatians should castrate themselves (Gal 5:12); see Susan M. Elliott, Cutting Too Close The Geography of Galatia 485 cult stone was believed to have fallen northern cities became Roman colonies: from heaven (compare the Ephesian Ancyra—Sebasteni Tectosages Ancyrani; Artemis, Acts 19:35). In 204 bc the Romans Pessinus—Sebasteni Tolistobogii brought the black meteorite stone to Pessinuntii; and Tavium—Sebasteni Rome as a talisman in their fight against Trocmi Taviani. An imperial cult temple Hannibal (Livy, History 29.10.4–29.11.9). In for Augustus was started between 10 bc– 191 bc it was installed in a temple erected ad 10 and completed around ad 19/20 on the Palatine Hill to honor the Great by Tiberius. Perhaps the most famous Mother (Magna Mater). Roman inscription from antiquity— Ancyra (modern Ankara) was founded, called the “Queen of Inscriptions”—is according to one myth, by the Phrygian found on its walls: the bilingual (Greek king Midas. Situated on a rocky acropolis, and Latin) Monumentum Ancyranum, or it was at the junction of seven key routes. Res Gestae Divi Augusti (“Deeds of the Ancyra became the second metropolis of Deified Augustus”). Before his death on Phrygia after Gordium. Around 265 bc August 19, ad 14, Augustus composed the Galatian tribe, Tectosages, made an account of his personal achieve- Ancyra its capital after receiving the site ments during his reign. While the orig- from the Pontic kingdom. inal bronze tablets upon which it was Tavium (modern Büyüknefes) and its engraved in Rome are lost, it is preserved two mounds show continuous occupation almost in its entirety on the Ancyra tem- since prehistoric times. Around 232 bc the Trocmi, the easternmost Galatian tribe, made it their primary settlement. Tavium sat at an important junction of four highways with an orientation toward Cappadocia and the Euphrates River Basin. GALATIA AS A ROMAN PROVINCE In 25 bc a hostile Pisidian tribe killed Rome’s client king Amyntas, and Augustus then annexed the province of Galatia (Dio Cassius 53.26.3). He made Ancyra its capital. The new province included not only geographic Galatia but also Pisidia, eastern Phrygia, Lycaonia, Isauria, and Pamphylia. In 6 bc Paphlagonia and in 3/2 bc Pontus Galaticus were also added. Around 22–21 bc Galatia’s three Portion of the Res Gestae Divi Augusti for Comfort: Paul’s Letter to the Galatians in its Anatolian Cultic Context (London: T&T Clark, 2003), 158–257. 486 Lexham Geographic Commentary on Acts through Revelation ple.5 At the Roman colony of Pisidian the strategic value of a remote site like Antioch (modern Yalvaç) fragments of Lystra began to decrease. the Latin text were found at the entrance Pisidian Antioch9 (modern Yalvaç) of the Augustus temple built in the early was one of sixteen cities founded by first centuryad , while fragments of the Seleucid ruler Antiochus I. It is sit- the Greek version were discovered in uated on a plateau in the foothills of the Apollonia (modern Uluborlu).6 On the Sultan Mountain range (Sultandağı). temple’s southern wall another Greek The Anthius River (Yalvaç Çay) flows inscription lists twenty high priests of below the acropolis’ eastern face. Called the Galatian assembly (κοινόν, koinon) Colonia Caesarea Antiochia, it was settled who served during the reign of Tiberius. by approximately three thousand veter- Further imperial cult activity is evident ans of Legions V Gallica and VII and their in Pessinus where a Corinthian imperial families, suggesting a total population of cult temple (Sebasteion) was built during around ten thousand. The city was strate- the reign of Tiberius (approximately gically located on the common, or south- ad 25–35). Tavium hosted games related ern, highway that ran from the Cilician to the imperial cult that were sponsored Gates to Ephesus. The Via Sebaste pro- by the provincial assembly (koinon). vided a link to the Mediterranean coast at Pamphylia. BIBLICAL CITIES IN Iconium (modern Konya) was THE PROVINCE founded as a Phrygian settlement on To contain the hostile Homanadenses the western edge of a vast fertile plain. in their strongholds in the Taurus The city became a Roman colony under Mountains, Augustus founded thirteen Augustus; however, the Greek polis was colonies with military veterans after allowed to exist alongside the colony 25 bc including Pisidian Antioch and until the time of Hadrian (approximately Lystra. In 6 bc he built the Via Sebaste ad 135) when the Roman colony absorbed from Perga to connect these colonies. the polis. Around ad 41/42 during Pisidian Antioch was its caput viae Claudius’ reign the city received the hon- (roadhead) because it was the apex of orific title Claudiconium. Iconium was a the Pisidian triangle.7 Pacification of major transportation node in south-cen- southern Galatia was completed by ad 6 tral Galatia with six roads branching in by Quirinius (Tacitus, Annales 3.48),8 and every direction to major cities. 5 . See page XXX for an image of a replica with part of the inscription. Alison E.