Difference between revisions of "Achaia"

<p> [[Achaia]] ( ''A-Kâ' Yah'' or ''A-Kä'Yah'' ). This was the original name of a district in the northwest of the Peloponnesus: in New [[Testament]] times it had a wider signification; for the Roman provinces of Achaia and Macedonia comprehended the whole of Greece. It is in this larger sense that Achaia must be understood. &nbsp;Acts 18:12; &nbsp;Acts 18:27; &nbsp;Acts 19:21; &nbsp;Romans 15:26; &nbsp;Romans 16:5; &nbsp;1 Corinthians 16:15; &nbsp;2 Corinthians 1:1; &nbsp;2 Corinthians 9:2; &nbsp;2 Corinthians 11:10; &nbsp;1 Thessalonians 1:7-8. Achaia was first a senatorial province, and had proconsuls. Tiberius changed it into a province imperial under procurators; and Claudius restored it to the senate. Hence Gallio, before whom Paul appeared, was proconsul. Corinth was the capital city. </p>

<p> ''''' a ''''' - ''''' kā´ya ''''' ( Ἀχαιά , <i> ''''' Achaiá ''''' </i> ): The smallest country in the Peloponnesus lying along the southern shore of the [[Corinthian]] Gulf, north of Arcadia and east of Elis. The original inhabitants were Ionians, but these were crowded out later by the Acheans, who came from the East. According to Herodotus, the former founded twelve cities, many of which retain their original names to this day. These cities were on the coast and formed a confederation of smaller communities, which in the last century of the independent history of Greece attained to great importance (Achaean League). In Roman times the term Achaia was used to include the whole of Greece, exclusive of Thessaly. Today Achaia forms with [[Elis]] one district, and contains a population of nearly a quarter of a million. The old Achean League was renewed in 280 bc, but became more important in 251, when [[Aratus]] of Sicyon was chosen commander-in-chief. This great man increased the power of the League and gave it an excellent constitution, which our own great practical politicians, [[Hamilton]] and Madison, consulted, adopting many of its prominent devices, when they set about framing the [[Constitution]] of the United States. In 146 bc Corinth was destroyed and the League broken up (see 1 Macc 15:23); and the whole of Greece, under the name of Achaia, was transformed into a Roman province, which was divided into two separate provinces, Macedonia and Achaia, in 27 bc. </p> <p> In &nbsp;Acts 18:12 we are told that the Jews in Corinth made insurrection against Paul when Gallio was deputy of Achaia, and in &nbsp; Acts 18:27 that Apollos was making preparations to set out for Achaia In &nbsp; Romans 16:5 , "Achaia" should read "ASIA" as in the Revised Version (British and American). In &nbsp;Acts 20:2 "Greece" means Achaia, but the oft-mentioned "Macedonia and Achaia" generally means the whole of Greece (&nbsp; Acts 19:21; &nbsp;Romans 15:26; &nbsp;1 Thessalonians 1:8 ). Paul commends the churches of Achaia for their liberality (&nbsp;2 Corinthians 9:13 ). </p> Literature <p> See Gerhard, <i> Ueber den Volksstamm der A </i> . (Berlin, 1854); Klatt, <i> Forschungen zur Geschichte des achaischen Bundes </i> (Berlin, 1877); M. Dubois, <i> Les ligues étolienne et achéenne </i> (Paris, 1855); Capes, <i> History of the Achean League </i> (London, 1888); Mahaffy, <i> Problems </i> , 177-86; Busolt, <i> Greek Staatsalter </i> , 2nd edition (1892), 347ff; Toeppfer, in Pauly's <i> Realencyclopaedie </i> . </p> <p> For Aratus see Hermann, <i> Staatsalter </i> , 1885; Krakauer, <i> Abhandlung ueber Aratus </i> (Breslau, 1874); Neumeyer, <i> Aratus aus Sikyon </i> (Leipzig, 1886); Holm, <i> History of Greece </i> . </p>

<p> ( '''''Ἀχαϊ''''' v '''''Α''''' , derivation uncertain), a region of Greece, which in the restricted sense occupied the north-western portion of the Peloponnesus, including Corinth and its isthmus (Strabo, 7, p. 438 sq.). By the poets it was often put for the whole of Greece, whence '''''Ἀχαιοί''''' '', Acheans,'' i.e. ''Greeks.'' The cities of the narrow slip of country, originally called Achaia, were confederated in an ancient league, which was renewed in B.C. 280 for the purpose of resisting the Macedonians. This league subsequently included several of the other Grecian states, and became the most powerful political body in Greece; and hence it was natural for the Romans to apply the name of Achaia to the Peloponnesus and the south of Greece when they took Corinth and destroyed the league in B. C. 146 (Pausan. 7:16, 10). Under the Romans Greece was divided into two provinces, Macedonia and Achaia, the former of which included Macedonia proper, with Illyricum, Epirus, and Thessaly; and the latter, all that lay southward of the former (Cellar. 1, p. 1170, 1022). It is in this latter acceptation that the name of Achaia is always employed in the New Testament (&nbsp;Acts 18:12; &nbsp;Acts 18:16; &nbsp;Acts 19:21; &nbsp;Romans 15:26; &nbsp;Romans 16:25; &nbsp;1 Corinthians 16:15; &nbsp;2 Corinthians 1:1; &nbsp;2 Corinthians 9:2; &nbsp;2 Corinthians 11:10; &nbsp;1 Thessalonians 1:7-8). In the division of the provinces by Augustus between the emperor and the senate in B.C. 27, Achaia was made a senatorial province (Strabo, 17, p. 840), and, as such, was governed by proconsuls (Dion. Cass. 53, p. 704). In A.D. 16 Tiberius changed the two into one imperial province under procurators (Tacit. Annal. 1, 76); but Claudius restored them to the senate and to the proconsular form of government (Suet. I Claud. 25). Hence the exact and minute propriety with which Luke expresses himself in giving the title of proconsul ( '''''Ἀνθύπατος''''' , "deputy") to Gallio (q.v.), who was appointed to the province (see Smith's Dict. of Class, Ant. s.v.) in the time of Claudius </p> <p> (&nbsp;Acts 18:12). (See generally Smith's ''Dict. Of Class. Geog.'' s.v.) </p>