Difference between revisions of "Achaia"
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== Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament <ref name="term_55032" /> == | == Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament <ref name="term_55032" /> == | ||
<p> [[Achaia]] (Ἀχαΐα) was, in the classical period, merely a strip of fertile coast-land stretching along the south of the [[Gulf]] of Corinth, from the river Larisus, which separated it from Elis, to the Sythas, which divided it from Sicyonia, while the higher mountains of Arcadia bounded it on the south. Its whole length was about 65 miles, its breadth from 12 to 20 miles, and its area about 650 sq. miles. </p> <p> The Achaeans were probably the remnant of a Pelasgian race ones distributed over the whole Peloponnesus. Though they were celebrated in the heroic age, they rarely figured in the great Hellenic period, keeping themselves as far as possible aloof from the conflicts between the Ionian and [[Doric]] States, happy in their own almost uninterrupted prosperity. It is not till the last struggle for Hellenic independence that they appear on the stage of history. </p> <p> The cities which formed the famous Achaean [[League]] became the most powerful political body in Greece; and, when the Romans subdued the country (146 b.c.), they at once honoured the brave confederation and spared the feelings of all the Hellenes by culling the new province not [[Greece]] but Achaia. As constituted by [[Augustus]] in 27 b.c., the province included Thessaly, aetolia, Acharnania, and part of Epirus (Strabo, XVII. iii. 25), being thus almost co-extensive with the modern kingdom of Greece. As a senatorial province Achaia was governed by a proconsul, who was an ex-praetor. In a.d. 15 [[Tiberius]] took it from the Senate, adding it to [[Macedonia]] to form an Imperial province under the government of a <i> legatus </i> ; but in 44 [[Claudius]] restored it to the Senate. ‘Proconsul’ (ἀνθύπατος, Acts 18:12) was therefore the governor’s correct official title at the time of St. Paul’s residence in Corinth. Nero, as ‘a born ‘Philhellene,’ wished to make Greece absolutely free. </p> <p> ‘In gratitude for the recognition which his artistic contributions had met with in the native land of the [[Muses]] … [he] declared the [[Greeks]] collectively to be rid of Roman government, free from tribute, and, like the Italians, subject to no governor. At once there arose throughout Greece movements, which would have been civil wars, if these people could have achieved anything more than brawling; and after a few months [[Vespasian]] re-established the provincial constitution, so far as it went, with the dry remark that the Greeks had unlearned the art of being free’ (Mommsen, <i> Provinces </i> , i. 262). </p> <p> To the end of the empire Achaia remained a senatorial province. The administrative centre was [[Corinth]] ( <i> q.v. [Note: quod vide, which see.] </i> ), where the governor had his official residence. During a prolonged mission in that city, St. Paul was brought into contact with the proconsul [[Gallio]] ( <i> q.v. [Note: quod vide, which see.] </i> ), the brother of Seneca. The rapid progress of the gospel in Achaia is partly explained by the fact that [[Judaism]] had already for centuries been working as a leaven in many of the cities of Greece. [[Sparta]] and [[Sicyon]] are named among the numerous free States to which the Romans sent letters on behalf of the [[Jews]] about 139 b.c. ( 1 [[Maccabees]] 15:23), and Philo’s <i> Legatio ad Gaium </i> (§ 36) testifies to the presence of Jews in Bœotia, aetolia, Attica, Argos, and Corinth. Only three Achaean cities are mentioned in the NT-Athens, Corinth, and Cenchreae-but the address of 2 Cor. to ‘all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia,’ and the liberality of ‘the regions of Achaia’ ( 2 Corinthians 9:2; 2 Corinthians 11:10), prove that there must have been many other unnamed centres of [[Christian]] faith and life in the province. While 1 Corinthians 16:15 refers to the house of [[Stephanas]] as ‘the firstfruits of Achaia,’ Acts 17:34 rather indicates that the Apostle’s brief visit to [[Athens]] had already borne some fruit, ‘Dionysius, Damaris, and others with them’ being Achaean believers. Athens ( <i> q.v. [Note: quod vide, which see.] </i> ) was either reckoned by itself or else entirely overlooked. </p> <p> Literature.-The [[Histories]] of [[Polybius]] and Livy; A. Holm, <i> History of Greece </i> , Eng. translationLondon, 1894-98, vol. iv.; T. Mommsen, <i> The Provinces of the Roman [[Empire]] </i> 2, Eng. translation, London, 1909, i. 290 ff.; J. Marquardt, <i> Röm. Staatsverwaltung </i> , new ed., Leipzig, 1885, i. 321f.; C. v. Weizsäcker, <i> [[Apostolic]] Age </i> , Eng. translationi.2 [London, 1897] p. 303ff.; | <p> [[Achaia]] (Ἀχαΐα) was, in the classical period, merely a strip of fertile coast-land stretching along the south of the [[Gulf]] of Corinth, from the river Larisus, which separated it from Elis, to the Sythas, which divided it from Sicyonia, while the higher mountains of Arcadia bounded it on the south. Its whole length was about 65 miles, its breadth from 12 to 20 miles, and its area about 650 sq. miles. </p> <p> The Achaeans were probably the remnant of a Pelasgian race ones distributed over the whole Peloponnesus. Though they were celebrated in the heroic age, they rarely figured in the great Hellenic period, keeping themselves as far as possible aloof from the conflicts between the Ionian and [[Doric]] States, happy in their own almost uninterrupted prosperity. It is not till the last struggle for Hellenic independence that they appear on the stage of history. </p> <p> The cities which formed the famous Achaean [[League]] became the most powerful political body in Greece; and, when the Romans subdued the country (146 b.c.), they at once honoured the brave confederation and spared the feelings of all the Hellenes by culling the new province not [[Greece]] but Achaia. As constituted by [[Augustus]] in 27 b.c., the province included Thessaly, aetolia, Acharnania, and part of Epirus (Strabo, XVII. iii. 25), being thus almost co-extensive with the modern kingdom of Greece. As a senatorial province Achaia was governed by a proconsul, who was an ex-praetor. In a.d. 15 [[Tiberius]] took it from the Senate, adding it to [[Macedonia]] to form an Imperial province under the government of a <i> legatus </i> ; but in 44 [[Claudius]] restored it to the Senate. ‘Proconsul’ (ἀνθύπατος, Acts 18:12) was therefore the governor’s correct official title at the time of St. Paul’s residence in Corinth. Nero, as ‘a born ‘Philhellene,’ wished to make Greece absolutely free. </p> <p> ‘In gratitude for the recognition which his artistic contributions had met with in the native land of the [[Muses]] … [he] declared the [[Greeks]] collectively to be rid of Roman government, free from tribute, and, like the Italians, subject to no governor. At once there arose throughout Greece movements, which would have been civil wars, if these people could have achieved anything more than brawling; and after a few months [[Vespasian]] re-established the provincial constitution, so far as it went, with the dry remark that the Greeks had unlearned the art of being free’ (Mommsen, <i> Provinces </i> , i. 262). </p> <p> To the end of the empire Achaia remained a senatorial province. The administrative centre was [[Corinth]] ( <i> q.v. [Note: quod vide, which see.] </i> ), where the governor had his official residence. During a prolonged mission in that city, St. Paul was brought into contact with the proconsul [[Gallio]] ( <i> q.v. [Note: quod vide, which see.] </i> ), the brother of Seneca. The rapid progress of the gospel in Achaia is partly explained by the fact that [[Judaism]] had already for centuries been working as a leaven in many of the cities of Greece. [[Sparta]] and [[Sicyon]] are named among the numerous free States to which the Romans sent letters on behalf of the [[Jews]] about 139 b.c. ( 1 [[Maccabees]] 15:23), and Philo’s <i> Legatio ad Gaium </i> (§ 36) testifies to the presence of Jews in Bœotia, aetolia, Attica, Argos, and Corinth. Only three Achaean cities are mentioned in the NT-Athens, Corinth, and Cenchreae-but the address of 2 Cor. to ‘all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia,’ and the liberality of ‘the regions of Achaia’ ( 2 Corinthians 9:2; 2 Corinthians 11:10), prove that there must have been many other unnamed centres of [[Christian]] faith and life in the province. While 1 Corinthians 16:15 refers to the house of [[Stephanas]] as ‘the firstfruits of Achaia,’ Acts 17:34 rather indicates that the Apostle’s brief visit to [[Athens]] had already borne some fruit, ‘Dionysius, Damaris, and others with them’ being Achaean believers. Athens ( <i> q.v. [Note: quod vide, which see.] </i> ) was either reckoned by itself or else entirely overlooked. </p> <p> Literature.-The [[Histories]] of [[Polybius]] and Livy; A. Holm, <i> History of Greece </i> , Eng. translationLondon, 1894-98, vol. iv.; T. Mommsen, <i> The Provinces of the Roman [[Empire]] </i> 2, Eng. translation, London, 1909, i. 290 ff.; J. Marquardt, <i> Röm. Staatsverwaltung </i> , new ed., Leipzig, 1885, i. 321f.; C. v. Weizsäcker, <i> [[Apostolic]] Age </i> , Eng. translationi.2 [London, 1897] p. 303ff.; A. C. McGiffert, <i> Apostolic Age </i> , Edinburgh, 1897, p. 256 ff. </p> <p> James Strahan. </p> | ||
== Bridgeway Bible Dictionary <ref name="term_18348" /> == | == Bridgeway Bible Dictionary <ref name="term_18348" /> == | ||
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== Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature <ref name="term_17482" /> == | == Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature <ref name="term_17482" /> == | ||
<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 | <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 ( Acts 18:12; Acts 18:16; Acts 19:21; Romans 15:26; Romans 16:25; 1 Corinthians 16:15; 2 Corinthians 1:1; 2 Corinthians 9:2; 2 Corinthians 11:10; 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> ( Acts 18:12). (See generally Smith's ''Dict. Of Class. Geog.'' s.v.) </p> | ||
== Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature <ref name="term_15037" /> == | == Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature <ref name="term_15037" /> == | ||
