Galatia Proper, as it was in the 1st or 2nd cent., was a rough oval in shape, extending about 200 miles in length (east to west), and 100 miles in breadth at the most. It is probably the most monotonous and least picturesque country of Asia Minor, so far as it is knowTi ; but its north-eastern and eastern and southern parts are hardly explored. The climate is severe in the long winter ; and the want of trees over great part of the district (espe- cially near the lines of road, except part of that leading to Constantinople) makes the heat of summer great. There is a considerable extent of fertile soil (with much more pasture land, and barren undulating hilly ground) producing grain, fruits, cotton, tobacco, opium, etc. ; but, owing to difficulties in transport, the only important pro- ducts for commerce are wool and mohair (the fleece of the beautiful Angora Koat). In the Byzantine period, after being ravaged bj' Persians and Arabs, Ancyra with Galatia in general (west of the Halys) passed into the hands of the Seljuk Turks, was held by the Latins for a short time, taken by Tartars, and finally captured in 1354 by the Turks under Suleiman.
The earliest reference to Christianity in North Galatia is at Ancyra, where the local church (^ xard rlyirov (KKK-qala, cf. Ram.say, Cities and Bishapric.i of Phr. i. p. 272 f. No. 192) is mentioned about A.D. 192 in an anti-Montanist treatise as having been affected by Montanism and saved by the writer (Euseb. HE v. 16). Many martyrs suffered there under Diocletian, some of whom may have been brought from other parts of Galatia for trial at the capital ; the dates are not recorded, and only the names of most are known, but probably all may be placed in the great persecution (Clemens, Donatus, Papias, etc., 23rd Jan. ; Theodotus, etc., 18th May; Plato, etc., 22nd July; Gaianus, Julianus, Rutinus, etc., 31st Aug. ; Marcellus, Silvanus, Gaianus, etc., 4th Sept. ; Seleucus, Valerius, etc., 15th Sept.; Eusebius episcopus, 16th Sept.; children, 23rd Sept. ; Theodorus episc, 3rd Nov. or 6th Apr. ; Eutychus, Domitianus, 28th Dec). Any other early Churches in North Galatia have been overwhelmed in oblivion, and hardly a trace of them survives. At.Iuliopolis, the martyrs Plato (22nd July, see above), Heuretos, and Gemellus
• They were proverbially credulous of reports or of anythinjf that flaltered Ui iir vanity ; tee Ctt»jAr, BaLL Gaii. Iv. 6 ; Mar- tial, V. 1 10.
were venerated in the 6th cent., but their connexion is uncertain.* At the Ancyran CouncU (A.D. 314) a full nuistor of Galatian bishops might be expected, but only Ancyra and Juliopolis were represented. The following bishoprics also can be traced in the 4th cent. : Kinna, 325 ; Tavium, 325 ; Aspona, 344; Pessinus, 403. t But in the 5th cent, there come into our knowledge Mnizos, 451 ; Orkistos, 431 1 ; Petenissos, 451 ; Eudoxias, 451 ; Amorion, 431 ; Myrikion, 451 ; and in the Gth or later, Verinopolis, 680 ; Kaloumne, 879 ; Klaneos, 080 ; Germa, 553. We cannot conclude \vith certainty that a bishopric did not exist in the 4th cent., though it was not represented at the early Councils ; but, remembering that Galatia was situated so conveniently for the early Councils of Ancyra, NicJea, and Constantinople, we must see in this list, when compared with those of the more distant Byzantine produces Lycaouia and Pisidia, a proof that Galatia was late in taking its proper rank in the Christian world. Ancyra and the road to Constantinople are the early home of Galatian Christianity ; and from thence it spreads. Above all, it is clear that western and south-western Galatia (where Zoclder and Salmon place tJio Pauline Churches, and where Zahn, etc., believe that St. Paul preached) are latest of all in being thor- oughly christianized, Germa, Klaneos, Myrikion, Eudoxias, Petenissos (only Pessinus, Orkistos, and Troknades [the latter two in Roman Asia] can be traced to the 4th cent.). The inference drawn from the bishops' lists is confirmed by epigraphic evidence, which points to the conclusion that (ex- cept in Pessinus, where 4th cent. Christian in- scriptions occur) Christianity was late in taking root in south-western Galatia [Zeitschr. f. vergl. Sprrtchf. 1887, p. 383). There are a considerable number of Christian inscriptions in Tavium and other parts of East Galatia ; but all are of late date.
The Galatian Jews have left few memorials. A rather bold speculation (Ramsay, Cities and Bisftop- rics of Phr. i. pp. 648 tf., 673) assigns Jewish origin to some noble families of Ancyra ; and a report is spread that a highly important Jewish inscrip- tion has been found there, but it is not yet pub- lished. Jewish names occur in several lat« in- scriptions, probably of Jewish Christians, e.g. at Pessinus, Matatas (according to Lightfoot, p. 11, but the text is untrustworthy, C'lG 4088) ; at Eudoxias (Yiirme), Jacob the deacon [ijeidvui'Of and Esther ; at Tavium, Daniel, etc. CJG 4129, which is Jewish, is wrongly assigned to Galatia by Schiirer {Jitd. Volk, i. p. 690), Franz, etc.; it belongs to Asia, being found near Dorylaion. The decree of Augustus, quoted as giving .special privi- leges to Jews at Ancyra by Lightfoot, Schiirer, and many others, depends on an error ; it was addressed to the Koinon of Asia (Studia Biblica, iv. p. 41 f. ). The Jews settled in the Seleucid colonies of I'lirygia (Galatia II.) spread gradually to the great cities of Galatia Proper.