Here we have a fact of administration and government
Sec. 4. The Church at Pisidian Antioch. 103
assumed in quiet undesigned fashion : Antioch was the centre of a Region. This is the kind of allusion which affords to students of ancient literature a test of accuracy, and often a presumption of date. I think that, if we put this assumption to the test, we shall find (1) that it is right, (2) that it adds a new fact, probable in itself but not else- where formally stated, about the Roman administration of Galatia, (3) that it explains and throws new light on several passages in ancient authors and inscriptions. Without discussing the subject too elaborately, we may point out the essentials.
My friend Prof. Sterrett, of Amherst, Massachusetts, has discovered and published an inscription of Antioch, which speaks of a "regionary centurion" {eKarovTap^qv peyecovd- piov), evidently a military official charged with certain duties (probably in the maintenance of peace and order) within a certain Regio of which Antioch was the centre.
Partly to guard against a possible objection, partly to show how much may depend on accuracy in a single letter, it may be added that Prof. Sterrett in publishing this in- scription makes a conjectural alteration, which would deprive us of the help that the inscription gives. He prints (X)ejea)vdptov ; but this is an arbitrary change in violation of his own copy.
Thus we have epigraphic authority to prove that Antioch under the Roman administration was the centre of a Region. Further, we can determine the ex- tent and the name of that Region, remembering always that in a province like Galatia, where evidence is lamentably scanty, we must often be content with reasonable prob- ability, and rarely find such an inscription as Prof. Sterrett's to put us on a plane of demonstrated certainty
104 Foundation of the Churches of Galatia. Chap. V.
It is natural in the administration of so large a province as Galatia, and there are some recorded proofs, that a certain number of distinct Regiones (or %copcu) existed in Southern Galatia. To quote the exact names recorded, we have Phrygia or <&pvy(,a %u>pa, Isauria or 'Iaavpt/cr) (^copa), Pisidia, Lycaonia or TakaTLicri x™Pa (with t?)? AvicaovLas understood, denoting the Roman part of Lycaonia in contrast with Lycaonia Antiochiana or ^ Avrio^avr) %&>/3a, the part of Lycaonia ruled by King Antiochus). There can be no doubt that Pisidian Antioch (strictly " a Phrygian city towards Pisidia ") was the centre of the Region called Phrygia in inscriptions enumerating the parts of the pro- vince, and " the Phrygian Region of (the province) Galatia " in Acts XVI 6, or "the Phrygian Region" XVIII 23. This central importance of Antioch was due to its position as a Roman Colony, which made it the military and administrative centre of the country.
Thus, without any formal statement, and without any technical term, but in the course of a bare, simple and brief account of the effects of Paul's preaching, we find ourselves unexpectedly (just as Paul and Barnabas found themselves unintentionally) amid a Roman provincial district, which is moved from the centre to the extremi- ties by the new preaching. It is remarkable how the ex- pression of Luke embodies the very soul of history (p. 200).
A certain lapse of time, then, is implied in the brief words of v. 49. The process whereby the whole region was in- fluenced by the Word must have been a gradual one. The similar expression used in XIX 10 may serve as a standard of comparison : there, during a period of two years in Ephesus, "all they which dwelt in Asia heard the Word". The sphere of influence is immensely wider in that case ;
Sec 4. The Chtirch at Pisidian Antioch. 105
but the process is the same. Persons from the other cities came to Antioch as administrative centre, the great garrison city, which was often visited by the Roman governor and was the residence of some subordinate officials : they came for law-suits, for trade, for great festivals of the Roman unity (such as that described in the Acta of Paul and Thekla).1 In Antioch they heard of the new doctrine ; some came under its influence ; the knowledge of it was thus borne abroad over the whole territory ; probably small knots of Christians were formed in other towns.