Phrygia

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

(Φρυγία)

Phrygia, the land of the Phryges, was the western part of the central plateau of Asia Minor. Its boundaries were vague and varying. At one time it extended from the aegean to the Halys, and from the mountains of Bithynia to the Taurus, but it was gradually contracted on every side. To the early Greeks Phrygia was the home of a heroic and conquering race, who have left in the country drained by the upper Sangarius many astonishing monuments of their greatness.

‘In Phrygia once were gallant armies known

In ancient time, when Otreus filled the throne,

When godlike Migdon led his troops of horse’

(Hom. Il. iii. 185 f.).

But to the later Greeks and the Romans Phrygia was politically unimportant, and the once illustrious names of Midas and Manes were given to Phrygian slaves. The Kimmerian inundation in the 7th cent. broke the spirit of the race, who sank into a state of peaceful indolence, disturbed only by fits of wild religious excitement. Their land became an easy prey to every spoiler, and in 278 b.c. the Gauls took possession of N.E. Phrygia, which was henceforth known as Galatia. Attalus 1. of Pergamos (241-197 b.c.) seized the territory in which lay the towns of Kotiaion and Dorylaion, and which was thereafter called ‘Acquired Phrygia’ (Phrygia Epictetus). In the S.E. was Iconium (q.v._), which the natives continued to regard as Phrygian. while Roman writers assigned it to Lycaonia. In the S. was Pisidian Phrygia (Ptol. v. v. 4) or Phrygia towards Pisidia (πρὸς Πισιδίᾳ [Strabo, xii. pp. 557, 566]), the most important town of which was called Antioch towards Pisidia; but as Pisidia gradually extended northwards this Antioch ceased to be Phrygian and was called Pisidian Antioch (q.v._). Only in the S.W. did the Phrygians show any sign of expansion. Hierapolis was apparently once Lydian, and Laodicea Carian; but in the Roman period all the cities of the Lycus Valley were regarded as Phrygian. ‘The Gate of Phrygia’ was below the junction of the Lycus and Maeander; Polemon of Laodicea was known as ‘the Phrygian’; and ‘Phrygian powder’ was a Laodicean preparation.

In the Roman provincial system of government Asia Minor was cut and carved with but little regard for old national and historical distinctions. While the eastern part of Phrygia (with Iconium) and the southern (with Pisidia) were attached to the province of Galatia, the western part, which was much the larger, was included in the province of Asia. The former was called Phrygia Galatica and the latter Phrygia Asiana.

Phrygia was traversed by the great route of traffic and intercourse which joined the aegean with Syria and the Euphrates. Along this line the early Seleucids planted a series of Greek cities for the defence of their Empire and the diffusion of Hellenic culture. Here the Greek language gradually displaced the Phrygian, which was ‘perhaps similar in character to the Armenian’ (T. Mommsen, The Provinces of the Roman Empire, Eng. tr._, 1909, i. 328), but the latter continued to hold its ground in the rural districts down to the 3rd cent. of our era. A striking feature in the life of these cities was the presence of Jews in large numbers.

Their status is indicated by Josephus (Ant. XII. iii. 1). ‘The Jews also obtained honours from the kings of Asia, when they became their auxiliaries; for Seleucus Nicator made them citizens of those cities which he built in Asia … and gave them privileges equal to those of the Macedonians and Greeks, who were the inhabitants, insomuch that these privileges continue to this very day.’ Antiochus the Great (223-187 b.c.) ‘thought proper to remove 2000 families of Jews, with their effects, out of Mesopotamia and Babylon’ to Lydia and Phrygia (XII. iii. 4).

In these Hellenistic cities the Jews relaxed their strictness so much that the orthodox counted them degenerate. There is a bitter saying in the Talmud to the effect that the baths and wines of Phrygia had separated the ‘Ten Tribes’ from the brethren (A. Neubauer, La Géogr. du Talmud, 1868, p. 315). This very liberalism, however, probably made the reaction of the Jews on their environment all the greater, and St. Paul found in the cities of Phrygia numerous proselytes, whose minds proved the best soil for the seed of the evangel. The case of Timothy of Lystra, the son of a Greek father and a Jewish mother, uncircumcised and yet acquainted from his childhood with the Scriptures, was probably typical.

Phrygia was one of the first parts of Asia Minor to be generally Christianized. Not a few Christian monuments of the 2nd cent., and very many of the 3rd, have been found in the country. Eusebius (HE_ viii. 11) says that in the time of Diocletian there was a Phrygian city in which every single soul was Christian. The enthusiasm with which the pagan Phrygians were in the habit of throwing themselves into the worship of Cybele re-appeared in the Phrygian type of Christianity, which gave birth to Montanism with its spiritual ecstasies and prophetic visions.

For the difficult phrases τὴν Φρυγίαν καὶ Γαλατικὴν χώραν ( Acts 16:6) and τὴν Γαλατικὴν χώραν καὶ Φρυγίαν (18:23) and the rival theories of the North and South Galatians see Galatia, and Galatians, Epistle to the, 5.

Literature.-C. Ritter, Die Erdkunde von Asien, 1822-59; W. M. Ramsay, The Church in the Roman Empire, 1893, p. 74 f., St. Paul the Traveller, 1895, p. 194 f., Hist. Com. on Galatians, 1899, The Cities of St. Paul, 1907; G. and A. K. Körte, Gordion, 1904; C. v. Weizsacker, The Apostolic Age of the Christian Church, Eng. tr._, 1894-95, i. 273 f.; A. C. McGiffert, A History of Christianity in the Apostolic Age, 1897, p. 235; J. Moffatt, LNT_, 1911, p. 93 f.

James Strahan.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

PHRYGIA . The Phrygians were an Aryan race who seem to have had their first home in Thrace, and to have crossed into Asia through the same southward movement of tribes that brought the Hellenes into Greece. In Asia they occupied at one time the greater part of the country W. of the Halys, probably displacing a Semitic race from whom they may have learned the worship of Cybele. We must regard Homer’s Trojans as part of the Phrygian race, and the Trojan War as a contest between them and Greek settlers from Thessaly. In more historical times the name Phrygia applies to an inland region varying in extent at different times, but bounded at its widest by the Sangarius on the N., the Halys on the E., the Taurus range on the S. It thus covered the W. part of the great plateau of Asia Minor and the upper valleys of the rivers Mæander and Hermus. It was a region fruitful in oil and wine, exporting also wool, gold, marble, and salt.

When the Romans inherited the kingdom of Pergamus in b.c. 133, a part of Phrygia was included in the province of Asia, but the southern portion towards Pamphylla was not included. This portion was in the hands of the dependent king of Galatia when Augustus constituted Galatia a province in b.c. 25, and was therefore included in the new province which extended from Lycia on the S.W. almost to the mouth of the Halys on the N.E. Hence this portion of Phrygia, with its cities of Antioch and Iconium, came to be known as Phrygia Galatica.

This country was included by St. Paul in the work of his first missionary journey ( Acts 13:14 to   Acts 14:24 ). From Perga he and Barnabas made their way N. along the difficult mountain road to Antioch, here called ‘Pisidian Antioch’ (see Pisidia). On his second missionary journey St. Paul (now accompanied by Silas) began with the churches of Cilicia and then passed through Derbe and Lystra, where he took Timothy into his company. The narrative then proceeds (  Acts 16:6 ): ‘And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia [Gr. ‘the Phrygian and Galatian region’], having been forbidden [AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘and were forbidden’] of the Holy Ghost to speak the word in Asia; and when they were come over against Mysia they assayed to go into Bithynia; and the Spirit of Jesus suffered them not; and passing by Mysia they came down to Troas.’ The natural interpretation of this is that from Lystra they traversed Phrygia Galatica , from Antioch took the road leading N. to Dorylaion, where they would be near Bithynia, and from there were directed W. to Troas. Attempts have been made, however, to find here an evangelization of Galatia proper with its towns of Pessinus and Ancyra. But against this we must set (1) the form of the Greek phrase ‘the Phrygian and Galatian region’; (2) the strange silence of St. Luke about a work that must have taken a considerable time; (3) the geographical consideration that the travellers could not have crossed the desert of the Axylon straight from S. to N. and must in any case have used the road to Dorylaion. See, further, artt. Galatia and Galatians [Ep. To] for this and the further question whether the Epistle to the Galatians can have been written to the churches of Phrygia Galatica. If it was, we have an interesting glimpse of how in the churches first founded by St. Paul his authority was very soon (perhaps a.d. 50) assailed by Judaizers, who disputed his Apostolic credentials and declared his doctrine to be an imperfect form of Christianity, neglecting its Jewish basis.

The third missionary journey likewise began with ‘the region of Galatia and Phrygia’ ( Acts 18:23 ), or ‘the Galatian region and Phrygia.’ Here the reference is probably to the same churches, but the order of words is doubtless meant to include the churches of Lycaonia first these were in the province of Galatia, but were not in Phrygia. The order is in any case strongly against the inclusion of Galatia proper. The journey was continued ‘through the upper country to Ephesus,’ i.e. along the direct route which passed through the higher country from Metropolis to Ephesus, instead of the high road which followed the valley of the Lycus.

A. E. Hillard.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Phryg'ia. (Dry, Barren). Perhaps, there is no geographical term in the New Testament which is less capable of an exact definition. In fact, there was no Roman province of Phrygia till considerably after the first establishment of Christianity in the peninsula of Asia Minor. The word was rather ethnological than political, and denoted, in a vague manner, the western part of the central region of that peninsula. Accordingly, in two of the three places where it is used, it is mentioned in a manner not intended to he precise.  Acts 16:6;  Acts 18:23.

By Phrygia, we must understand an extensive district in Asia Minor, which contributed portions to several Roman provinces, and varying portions at different times. (All over this district, the Jews were probably numerous. The Phrygians were a very ancient people, and were supposed to be among the aborigines of Asia Minor. Several bishops from Phrygia were present at the Councils of Nice, A.D. 325, and of Constantinople, A.D. 381, showing the prevalence of Christianity at that time. - Editor).

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

The W. part of the center of Asia Minor; varying in its definition at different times, and contributing parts to several Roman provinces ( Acts 2:10). Paul passed through Phrygia in his second ( Acts 16:6) and third ( Acts 18:23) missionary journeys. An ethnological not political division. The Taurus range separated Phrygia from Pisidia on the S.; Caria, Lydia, Mysia, Bithynia were on its W. and N.; Galatia, Cappadocia, and Lycaonia on the E. It is a tableland. The Phrygia meant in Scripture is the southern portion (Called "Greater Phrygia") of the region above, and contained Laodicea, Hierapolis, Colosse, and Iconium. It was peopled by an Indo Germanic race from Armenia, who formed the oldest population of Asia Minor.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

An inland province of Asia Minor bounded north by Bithynia and Galatia, east by Cappadocia, south by Lycia, Pisidai, and Isauria, and west by Mysia, Lydia, and Caria. It was called Phrygia Pacatiana, and also Phrygia Major, in distinction from Phrygia Minor, which was a small district of Mysia near the Hellespont, occupied by some Phrygians after the Trojan War. The eastern part of Phrygia Major was also called Lycaonia. This region was a high table land, fruitful in corn and wine, and celebrated for its fine breed of cattle and of sheep. Of the cities belonging to Phrygia, Laodicea, Hierapolis, Colosse, and Antioch of Pisdia, are mentioned in the New Testament. St. Paul twice traveled over it, preaching the gospel,  Acts 2:10;  16:6;  18:23 .

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Phrygia ( Fryj'I-Ah ), Dry, Barren. A district of Asia Minor whose limits varied at different times. Within its limits were the cities of Laodicæa, Hierapolis, Colossæ, and Antioch of Pisidia. People from Phrygia were present at Pentecost,  Acts 2:10; and the apostle Paul twice traversed the country.  Acts 16:6;  Acts 18:23. Some converts were made, and we find Paul "strengthening all the disciples."  Acts 18:23. At the Council of Nice, a.d. 325, the Phrygian churches were represented by eight bishops, and still more attended the Council of Constantinople, a.d. 381.

Bridgeway Bible Dictionary

Originally a small kingdom in Asia Minor, Phrygia was divided in two when the Romans redrew the provincial boundaries in Asia Minor. Under the Roman administration the western part of Phrygia, which included the towns of Colossae, Laodicea and Hierapolis, fell within the province of Asia. The eastern part fell within the province of Galatia ( Acts 2:10;  Acts 16:6;  Acts 18:23). (For maps see Asia ; Galatia .)

Morrish Bible Dictionary

District in the centre of Asia Minor, but its boundaries are not definitely known. It was visited by Paul.  Acts 2:10;  Acts 16:6;  Acts 18:23 .

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Acts 2:10 Acts 16:6 Acts 18:23

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Acts 13:14

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

( Φρυγία , perhaps from Φρύγω , hence Parched), an inland province of Asia Minor, bounded on the north by Bithynia and Galatia. on the east by Cappadocia and Lycaonia, on the south by Lycia, Pisidia, and Isauria, and on the west by Caria, Lydia, and Mysia. Perhaps there is no geographical term in the New Testament which is less capable of an exact definition. Many maps convey the impression that it was coordinate with such terms as Bithynia, Cilicia, or Galatia. But in fact there was no Roman province of Phrygia till considerably after the first establishment of Christianity in the peninsula of Asia Minor. The word was rather ethnological than political, and denoted, in a vague manner, the western part of the central region of that peninsula. Accordingly, in two of the three places where it is used, it is mentioned in a manner not intended to be precise ( Διελθότες Τὴν Φρυγίαν Καὶ Τὴν Φαλατικὴν Χώραν ,  Acts 16:6; Διερχόμενος Καθεξῆς Τὴν Γαλατικὴν Χώραν Καὶ Φρυγίαν ,  Acts 18:23), the former having reference to the second missionary journey of St. Paul, the latter to the third. Nor is the remaining passage ( Acts 2:10) inconsistent with this view, the enumeration of those foreign Jews who came to Jerusalem at Pentecost (though it does follow, in some degree, a geographical order) having no referencs to political boundaries. By Phrygia we must understand an extensive district, which contributed portions to several Roman provinces, and varying portions at different times. In early times Phrygia seems to have comprehended the greater part of the peninsula of Asia Minor. It was subsequently divided into Phrygia Major on the south, and Phrygia Minor or Epictetus (acquired) on the northwest. The Romans divided the province into three districts: Phrygia Salutaris on the east, Phrygia Pacatiana on the west, and Phrygia Katakekaumene (the burnt) in the middle. The country, as defined by the specified limits, is for the most part level, and very abundant in corn, fruit, and wine. It had a peculiar and celebrated breed of cattle, and the fine raven-black wool of the sheep around Laodicca on the Lycus was in high repute. The Maeander and the Hermus were its chief rivers. The Phrygians were a very ancient people, and are supposed to have formed, along with the Pelasgi, the aborigines of Asia Minor. Jews from Phrygia were present in Jerusalem at the Feast of Pentecost ( Acts 2:10). All over this district the Jews were probably numerous. They were first introduced there by Antiochus the Great (Josephus, Ant. 12:3, 4); and we have abundant proof of their presence there from  Acts 13:14;  Acts 14:1;  Acts 14:19, as well as from  Acts 2:10. The cities of Laodicea, Hierapolis, and Colosse, mentioned in the New Testament, belonged to Phrygia, and Antioch in Pisidia was also within its limits (see the names). See Rosenmuller, Bibl. Geog. 3:43-45; Leake, Geog. of Asia Minor; Smith, Dict. of Claus. Geog. s.v. (See Asia Minor).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

frij´i - a ( Φρυγία , Phrugı́a ): A large ancient country of Central Asia Minor, very mountainous and with table-lands reaching 4,000 ft. in height. Its name is derived from Phryges, a tribe from Thrace, which in early times invaded the country and drove out or absorbed the earlier Asiatic inhabitants, among whom were the Hittites. Thus, the Phrygians borrowed much of oriental civilization, especially of art and mythology which they transferred to Europe. To define the boundaries of Phrygia would be exceedingly difficult, for as in the case of other Asia Minor countries, they were always vague and they shifted with nearly every age. The entire country abounds with ruins of former cities and with almost countless rock-hewn tombs, some of which are of very great antiquity. Among the most interesting of the rock sculptures are the beautiful tombs of the kings bearing the names Midas and Gordius, with which classical tradition has made us familiar. It seems that at one period the country may have extended to the Hellespont, even including Troy, but later the Phrygians were driven toward the interior. In Roman times, however, when Paul journeyed there, the country was divided into two parts, one of which was known as Galatian Phrygia, and the other as Asian Phrygia, because it was a part of the Roman province of Asia, but the line between them was never sharply drawn. The Asian Phrygia was the larger of the two divisions, including the greater part of the older country; Galatian Phrygia was small, extending along the Pisidian Mountains, but among its important cities were Antioch, Iconium and Apollonia. About 295 AD, when the province of Asia was no longer kept together, its different parts were known as Phrygia Prima and Phrygia Secunda. That part of Asia Minor is now ruled by a Turkish wall or governor whose residence is in Konia, the ancient Iconium. The population consists not only of Turks, but of Greeks, Armenians, Jews, Kurds and many small tribes of uncertain ancestry, and of peculiar customs and religious practices. The people live mostly in small villages which are scattered throughout the picturesque country. Sheep and goat raising are the leading industries; brigandage is common. According to   Acts 2:10 , Jews from Phrygia went to Jerusalem, and in  Acts 18:23 we learn that many of them were influential and perhaps fanatical. According to   Acts 16:6 , Paul traversed the country while on his way from Lystra to Iconium and Antioch in Galatian Phrygia. Twice he entered Phrygia in Asia, but on his 2nd journey he was forbidden to preach there. Christianity was introduced into Phrygia by Paul and Barnabas, as we learn from  Acts 13:4;  Acts 16:1-6;  Acts 18:23 , yet it did not spread there rapidly. Churches were later founded, perhaps by Timothy or by John, at Colosse, Laodicea and Hierapolis.

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Phry´gia, an inland province of Asia Minor, bounded on the north by Bithynia and Galatia, on the east by Cappadocia and Lycaonia, on the south by Lycia, Pisidia, and Isauria, and on the west by Caria, Lydia, and Mysia. In early times Phrygia seems to have comprehended the greater part of the peninsula of Asia Minor. It was subsequently divided into Phrygia Major on the south, and Phrygia Minor or Epictetus (acquired) on the north-west. The Romans divided the province into three districts: Phrygia Salutaris on the east, Phrygia Pacatiana on the west, and Phrygia Katakekaumene (the burnt) in the middle. The country, as defined by the specified limits, is for the most part level, and very abundant in corn, fruit, and wine. It had a peculiar and celebrated breed of cattle, and the fine raven-black wool of the sheep around Laodicea on the Lycus was in high repute. The Maeander and the Hermus were its chief rivers. The Phrygians were a very ancient people, and are supposed to have formed, along with the Pelasgi, the aborigines of Asia Minor. Jews from Phrygia were present in Jerusalem at the Feast of Pentecost , and the province was afterwards twice traversed by St. Paul in his missionary journeys . The cities of Laodicea, Hierapolis, and Colosse, mentioned in the New Testament, belonged to Phrygia, and Antioch in Pisidia was also within its limits.

The Nuttall Encyclopedia

A country originally extending over the western shores of Asia Minor, but afterwards confined to the western uplands, where are the sources of the Hermus, Mæander, and Sangarius; was made up of barren hills where sheep famous for their wool grazed, and fertile valleys where the vine was cultivated; marble was quarried in the hills, and gold was found; several great trade roads from Ephesus crossed the country, among whose towns the names of Colosse and Laodicea are familiar; the Phrygians were an Armenian people, with a mystic orgiastic religion, and were successively conquered by Assyrians, Lydians, and Persians, falling under Rome in 43 B.C.