(Ægialeia).
The name, before the Roman conquest in 146 B.C., of a strip of land between the gulf of Corinth in the north and Elis and Arcadia in the south, embracing twelve cities leagued together. The Achaean League was prominent in the struggle of the Greeks against Roman domination. It is probably due to this fact that the name was afterwards extended to the whole country south ofMacedonia and Illyricum, corresponding approximately to modernGreece. During the Roman period Achaia was usually governed as a senatorial province. The Governor was an ex-Praetor ofRome, and bore the title of Proconsul. Corinth was the capital. WhenSt. Paul came into Achaia (Acts 18), Gallio, a brother of Seneca, was proconsul. His refusal to interfere in the religious affairs of theJews and thetolerance of his administration favoured the spread ofChristianity. In Corinth theApostle founded a flourishing church. In his Second Epistle to the Corinthians, he salutesChristians "in all Achaia" (1:1) and commends theircharity (9:2).
RAMSAY in HASTINGS, Dict. of the Bible; MOMMSEN, Provinces of the Roman Empire (Rom. Gesch.), V, vii.
APA citation.Reilly, W.(1907).Achaia. InThe Catholic Encyclopedia.New York: Robert Appleton Company.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01101c.htm
MLA citation.Reilly, Wendell."Achaia."The Catholic Encyclopedia.Vol. 1.New York: Robert Appleton Company,1907.<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01101c.htm>.
Ecclesiastical approbation.Nihil Obstat. March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
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