Phrygia
Summary
Phrygia was an ancient region in the western part of central Asia Minor, with vague and shifting boundaries, which Paul traversed on his second and third missionary journeys and where Jews from the area were present at Pentecost.
☩Geography and Boundaries
Phrygia occupied the western portion of the central plateau of Asia Minor, very mountainous with tablelands reaching 4,000 feet in height. Its boundaries were always vague and shifted with nearly every age. At one time it extended from the Aegean to the Halys River and from the mountains of Bithynia to the Taurus range, but it was gradually contracted on all sides. The Maeander and Hermus were its chief rivers. The country was generally level and abundant in corn, fruit, and wine, with a celebrated breed of cattle and fine raven-black wool. In Roman times, there was no province called Phrygia; the term was ethnological rather than political, denoting in a vague manner the western part of the central region.
☩People and History
The Phrygians were a very ancient people, believed to have formed part of the aborigines of Asia Minor along with the Pelasgi. Their name derives from Phryges, a tribe from Thrace that invaded the country in early times. To the early Greeks, Phrygia was home to a heroic, conquering race who left remarkable monuments along the upper Sangarius River. The Cimmerian invasion in the seventh century BC broke the spirit of the race, and they fell into peaceful indolence interrupted by fits of wild religious excitement. In 278 BC, the Gauls took possession of northeastern Phrygia, thereafter known as Galatia.
☩Jewish Presence and Christianity
Jews were probably numerous throughout Phrygia. Antiochus the Great (223-187 BC) transplanted 2,000 Jewish families from Mesopotamia and Babylon to Lydia and Phrygia. Jews from Phrygia were present in Jerusalem at Pentecost (Acts 2:10). Christianity was introduced into Phrygia by Paul and Barnabas, though it did not spread rapidly at first. Churches were later founded at Colossae, Laodicea, and Hierapolis, and Antioch in Pisidia was also within Phrygian territory. Phrygia became one of the first parts of Asia Minor to be generally Christianized, with many Christian monuments from the second and third centuries discovered in the region.
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Phrygia," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. VIII (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.James Orr (ed.), "Phrygia," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. IV (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).
- 3.James Hastings (ed.), "Phrygia," in Dictionary of the Apostolic Church, vol. II (T. & T. Clark, 1915–1918).
- 4.F. N. Peloubet & M. A. Peloubet (ed.), "Phrygia," in Smith's Bible Dictionary (Porter & Coates, 1884).