ASIA MINOR IN THE APOSTOLIC TIME.
I. The Name. II. The Province of Asia.
III. The Imperial Cult.
IV. Cities.
V. The Islands of the jEgean Sea. VI. The Province Pontus-Bithynia. VII. The Province Galatia. VIII. The Province Lycia-Pamphylia.
IX. The Province Cilicia. X. Cyprus. XI. The Province Cappadocia.
I. The Name: The term "Asia Minor" is not found in the New Testament; it is said to occur first in Orosius, i, 2 (400 a.d.). In the apostolic period "Asia" denoted the continent, Asia Minor, and the Roman province of Asia. Paul no doubt understood by Asia, the Roman province (I Cor. xvi, 19; II Cor. i, 8; II Tim. i, 15). The Apocalypse includes also the Phrygian Laodicea; and the provin-
cial district is doubtless meant in I Pet. i, 1, where Asia stands after Pontus, Galatia, and Cappadocia and before Bithynia, though it is uncertain whether the author was informed of the political character of these designations. How far the Roman provincial demarcations had become familiar to the people it is difficult to tell. There are passages in the New Testament in which the term Asia is used
RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Ashtoreth Asia Minor
in a narrower sense. In the time of Paul the country was still in a stage of development.
II. The Province of Asia: When Attalus III of Pergamos in 133 B.C. willed his country to the Romans, it was declared a province, though the real organization was not effected until 129. The main parts were the maritime districts Mysia, Lydia, and Caria. With these Cicero (Pro Flacco, xxvii, 65) mentions Phrygia, which belonged to the province after 116. Under the emperors Asia was a senatorial province ruled by a proconsul, whose seat was at Ephesus. The diet of the province, to which representatives (Gk. asiarchai ; cf . Acts xix, 31 ) were sent, met annually in different cities. Its powers and duties culminated in the imperial cult; and hence it was presided over by the sacerdos provincial or, Greek, archiereus tes Asias, who offered the sacrifices and pronounced the vow for the emperor and his house. This office changed annually and the years were dated accordingly.
III. The Imperial Cult: The empire as the guaranty of peace and the source of all blessings of culture appeared to the people as a divine power. From his point of view the author of the Apocalypse (xiii, 3-8) describes this worship of the empire by the world. He is convinced that the empire owes its success to a supernatural power, but not to the God of heaven — rather to the devil. The Jews as a rule enjoyed religious liberty throughout the empire, and were not required to take part in the imperial cult. What Casar had granted to them was confirmed by Augustus and Claudius. The sufferings of the Christians of Asia Minor, mentioned in the First Epistle of Peter, were not caused by their refusal to take part in this worship (cf. ii, 13 sqq.). It is true that the populace hated and persecuted the Christians, but not because they refused to honor the emperor; the name of this new superstitio was distrusted and outlawed as at Rome in the time of Nero (Tacitus, Annates, xv, 44).
IV. Cities: The number of free cities was steadily reduced under the emperors; and immunity from taxation was granted in place of autonomy. An edict of Antoninus Pius divided the cities into three classes according to size and importance. Pliny (Hist, nat., V, xxix, 105 sqq.) mentions nine cities which possessed a court of justice, viz. : Laodicea ad Lycum, Synnada, Apamea, Alabanda, Sardis, Smyrna, Ephesus, Adramyttium, and Pergamos. Ephesus, at the mouth of the Cayster, often called on inscriptions " the first and greatest metropolis of Asia," was the seat of the proconsul. Another title of the city is " temple-keeper " (i.e., of Diana; cf. Acts xix, 35, «■■ V,; the Greek is neokoros, the usual word for the custodian of a temple). A college of virgin priestesses ministered to Diana, presided over by a eunuch called Megabysos. It was no exaggeration of Demetrius when he said that the Ephesian Artemis was worshiped not only by all Asia, but by the whole world (Acts xix, 27); for through Ephesus flowed the commerce between the East and the West. Among the strangers residing there were many Jews, who had a synagogue (Acts xviii, 1 9, A xix, 8) and enjoyed special privileges, especially
those who were Roman citizens, as may be seen from documents contained in Josephus and Philo. Ephesus was a member of the confederation of the thirteen 'Ionian cities, of which Miletus was the head.
A great road led from Ephesus to Magnesia, where was another temple of Artemis which Strabo places on a par with the Ephesian. Christianity came to Magnesia from Ephesus; among the epistles of Ignatius, that to the Magnesians immediately follows that to the Ephesians. After Magnesia, Strabo mentions Tralles (also mentioned by Ignatius), once a wealthy city, called Caesarea under Augustus. Jews also dwelt there; and it is possible that the Gospel was brought thither from Ephesus (Acts xix, 10). It seems that special missionary attention was devoted to the cities along the Meander-Lykos road; for one meets with the three closely connected Phrygian congregations Laodicea, Hierapolis, and Colossal, of which Laodicea was the most important and is alone mentioned in the Apocalypse. The Christian community seems to have shared in the wealth of the city (Rev. iii, 17). Laodicea never had an emperor's temple. Polycrates of Ephesus mentions among the " great lights " of Asia a bishop and martyr with the Phrygian name Lagaris as buried at Laodicea (Eusebius, Hist, eccl., IV, xxiv, 5). In 165 there was " great strife concerning the Passover there " (ib. IV, xxvi, 3). Colossse, an important city of Phrygia, was long the seat of a bishop. More important than Colossse was Hierapolis, the native place of the philosopher Epictetus, and the place in which the apostle Philip lived and died. Papias was bishop of Hierapolis, as was also Claudius Apollinaris. Apamea was founded by Antiochus Soter and was the seat of a conventus juridicus. That many Jews lived here is known from Cicero (Pro Flacco, xxviii); they had their own constitution, a " law of the Jews."
The Lydian Philadelphia was sparsely populated on account of the frequent earthquakes. The Gospel was brought thither from Ephesus. Philadelphia is one of the seven churches of Asia mentioned in the Apocalypse (iii, 7-13); among its inhabitants Jews are mentioned (iii, 9). Ignatius addressed an epistle to the Philadelphians; and Eusebius (Hist, eccl., V, xvii, 3) mentions a prophetess Ammia of Philadelphia. Sardis was the ancient city of the Lydian kings. Jews lived there, having their own jurisdiction. The Church at Sardis, one of the seven mentioned in the Apocalypse (iii, 1-6), was the episcopal see of Melito in the time of Antoninus Pius. Two famous roads led from Sardis: one to Pergamos by way of Thyatira, the other to Smyrna. All three cities are mentioned among the seven Churches of the Apocalypse. Thyatira was known especially for its gild of dyers. The Lydia mentioned in Acts xvi, 14, called a " seller of purple," had probably come to Philippi with wool which had been dyed at home. Thyatira plays an important part in the history of Montanism (Epiphanius, Hcer., Ii, 33). Taking a western road from Thyatira one comes to Smyrna, where in 195 B.C. a temple was built in honor of the dea Roma. Tiberius allowed a temple to be erected
Asia Minor