Galatia (/ɡəˈleɪʃə/;Ancient Greek:Γαλατία,Galatía) was an ancient area in the highlands of centralAnatolia, roughly corresponding to theprovinces ofAnkara andEskişehir in modernTurkey. Galatia was named after theGauls fromThrace (cf.Tylis), who settled here and became a small transient foreign tribe in the 3rd century BC, following theGallic invasion of the Balkans in 279 BC. It has been called the "Gallia" of the East, "Gallacia" ultimately deriving from the northwest of ancient Spain.[1]
The terms "Galatians" came to be used by the Greeks for the three Celtic peoples of Anatolia: theTectosages, theTrocmii, and theTolistobogii.[2][3] By the 1st century BC, the Celts had become soHellenized that some Greek writers called themHellenogalatai (Ἑλληνογαλάται).[4][5] The Romans called themGallograeci.[5] Though the Celts had, to a large extent, integrated intoHellenistic Asia Minor, they preserved their linguistic and ethnic identity.[2]
By the 4th century BC, the Celts had penetrated into theBalkans, coming into contact with theThracians and Greeks.[6] In 380 BC, they fought in the southern regions ofDalmatia (present day Croatia), and rumors circulated around the ancient world thatAlexander the Great's father,Philip II of Macedonia had been assassinated by someone using a dagger of Celtic origins.[7][8]Arrian writes that "Celts established on the Ionic coast" were among those who came to meet Alexander the Great during a campaign against theGetae in 335 BC.[9] Several ancient accounts mention that the Celts formed an alliance withDionysius I of Syracuse who sent them to fight alongside theMacedonians against theThebans.[10] In 279 BC, two Celtic factions united under the leadership ofBrennus and began to push southwards from southern Bulgaria towards the Greek states. According toLivy, a sizable force split off from this main group and headed towardAsia Minor.[11]
For several years, a federation of Hellespontine cities, includingByzantion andChalkedon, prevented the Celts from entering Asia Minor.[5][2] During the course of the power struggle betweenNikomedes I ofBithynia and his brotherZipoetes II, the former hired 20,000 Galatian mercenaries. The Galatians split into two groups headed byLeonnorius and Lutarius, which crossed theBosporus and theHellespont, respectively. In 277 BC, when the hostilities had ended the Galatians came out of Nikomedes' control and began raiding Greek cities in Asia Minor while Antiochus was solidifying his rule in Syria. The Galatians lootedCyzikus,Ilion,Didyma,Priene,Thyatira andLaodicea on the Lycus, while the citizens ofErythras paid them ransom. Either in 275 or 269 BC, Antiochus' army faced the Galatians somewhere on the plain ofSardis in the Battle of Elephants. In the aftermath of the battle, the Celts then settled in northernPhrygia, a region that eventually came to be known as Galatia.[12]
Upon the death ofDeiotarus, the Kingdom of Galatia was given toAmyntas, an auxiliary commander in the Roman army of Brutus and Cassius who gained the favor of Mark Antony.[14] After his death in 25 BC, Galatia was incorporated byAugustus into the Roman Empire, becoming a Roman province.[15] Near his capital Ancyra (modern Ankara), Pylamenes, the king's heir, rebuilt a temple of thePhrygian godMen to venerate Augustus (theMonumentum Ancyranum), as a sign of fidelity. It was on the walls of this temple in Galatia that the major source for theRes Gestae of Augustus were preserved for modernity. Few of the provinces proved more enthusiastically loyal to Rome.
Josephus related the Biblical figureGomer to Galatia (or perhaps to Gaul in general): "For Gomer founded those whom the Greeks now call Galatians, [Galls], but were then called Gomerites."[16] Others have related Gomer toCimmerians.
In an administrative reorganisation (c. 386–395), two new provinces succeeded it,Galatia Prima andGalatia Secunda orSalutaris, which included part of Phrygia. The fate of the Galatian people is a subject of some uncertainty, but they seem ultimately to have been absorbed into the Greek-speaking populations of Anatolia.
^Esler, Philip Francis (1998).Galatians. Routledge. p. 29.ISBN978-0-415-11037-2.Galatai was the Greek word used for the Celts from beyond the Rhine who invaded regions of Macedonia, Greece, Thrace and Asia Minor in the period 280-275 BCE
^abcEnenkel, K. A. E.; Pfeijffer, Ilja Leonard (January 2005).The Manipulative Mode: Political Propaganda in Antiquity : a Collection of Case Studies. Brill.ISBN978-90-04-14291-6.
Encyclopedia, MS Encarta 2001, under article "Galatia".
Barraclough, Geoffrey, ed.HarperCollins Atlas of World History. 2nd ed. Oxford: HarperCollins, 1989. 76–77.
John King, Celt Kingdoms, pg. 74–75.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, VI: Epistle to the Galatians.
Stephen Mitchell, 1993.Anatolia: Land, Men, and Gods in Asia Minor vol. 1: "The Celts and the Impact of Roman Rule." (Oxford: Clarendon Press) 1993.ISBN0-19-814080-0. Concentrates on Galatia; volume 2 covers "The Rise of the Church". (Bryn Mawr Classical Review)
David Rankin, (1987) 1996.Celts and the Classical World (London: Routledge): Chapter 9 "The Galatians".
Coşkun, A., "Das Ende der "romfreundlichen Herrschaft" in Galatien und das Beispiel einer "sanften Provinzialisierung" in Zentralanatolien," in Coşkun, A. (hg),Freundschaft und Gefolgschaft in den auswärtigen Beziehungen der Römer (2. Jahrhundert v. Chr. – 1. Jahrhundert n. Chr.), (Frankfurt M. u. a., 2008) (Inklusion, Exklusion, 9), 133–164.
Justin K. Hardin:Galatians and the Imperial Cult. A Critical Analysis of the First-Century Social Context of Paul's Letter. Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, Germany 2008,ISBN978-3-16-149563-2.
Sartre, Maurice (2006).Ελληνιστική Μικρασία: Aπο το Αιγαίο ως τον Καύκασο [Hellenistic Asia Minor: From the Aegean to the Caucaus] (in Greek). Athens: Ekdoseis Pataki.ISBN9789601617565.
As found in theNotitia Dignitatum. Provincial administration reformed anddioceses established byDiocletian,c. 293. Permanentpraetorian prefectures established after the death ofConstantine I. Empire permanently partitioned after 395. Exarchates ofRavenna andAfrica established after 584. After massive territorial losses in the 7th century, the remaining provinces were superseded by thetheme system in c. 640–660, although inAsia Minor and parts of Greece they survived under the themes until the early 9th century.
_centuries_BC.jpg)
