Quick History of Asia Minor

The land mass that separates the Mediterranean Sea from the Black Sea, today's Republic of Turkey, is also known as Asia Minor and Anatolia. In ancient times it was sometimes divided into various political entitites, sometimes united as part of a single empire. At the time of the patriarchs of the Old Testament, much of Asia Minor was dominated by the Hittites (18th to 14th centuries BCE, surviving in fragmented form until the 10th century BCE) and later the kingdom of Urartu (mid-9th to 6th centuries BCE). At about the same time, the Phrygians dominated western Asia Minor (8th to early 7th centuries BCE). Starting around the beginning of the 12th century BCE, however, Ionian Greeks colonized the west coast of Asia Minor, establishing the states of Mysia, Caria, Lydia, and Lycia. Over the succeeding centuries, these colonies increased in wealth and power and expanded eastward.

The kingdom of Lydia, with its capital at Sardis, flourished from the 8th to 6th centures BCE, ruled by such famous kings as Gyges ("Gog" of Ezekiel?) and Croesus, eventually swallowing up Phrygia. Lydia could not withstand the Persian invaders, however, as all of Asia Minor fell under their control in the mid-6th century BCE. The Greeks and Macedonians under Alexander the Great conquered the Persians and established their empire around 330 BCE, but Alexander's successors (the Diadochoi) divided his empire after his death. By the close of the 4th century BCE, Lysimachus controlled central and western Asia Minor, Seleucus the far eastern regions, and Ptolemy a portion of the southern coast. [Continue >>]

After the death of Lysimachus, one of his commanders Philataerus established an independent kingdom centered at Pergamum (282 BCE). His family (called the "Attalids" after Attalus I, grandnephew of Philataerus) ruled the Pergamene kingdom until it was bequeathed to the Romans in 133 BCE. Rome received Bithynia in a similar way in 74 BCE and conquered Pontus and Cilicia ten years later. The kingdom of Galatia, which had been Rome's client-state since 189 BCE, finally came under direct Roman rule in 25 BCE. Rome annexed Cappadocia and Lycia in 17 and 46 CE, respectively.

The Romans organized Asia Minor into a number of provinces: Asia (the west coast, extending into the interior); Mysia, Bithynia, and Pontus (along the shore of the Black Sea); Lycia, Pamphylia, and Cilicia (along the Mediterranean coast); and Galatia and Cappadocia (interior provinces east of Asia). Even farther east they added Armenia in 113 CE.

The roads and bridges of Rome made travel easier, and its legions guarded the people of the provinces from bandits and pirates. This means that by the time the Apostle Paul made his journeys through Asia Minor, from about 48 to 60 CE, the entire area was under Roman control, allowing him, as a Roman citizen, to pass from one region to another with relative safety and freedom.

Christians have long believed that this change from the previous situation, which had involved much more difficulty and danger, was one of many ways in which God prepared the world for the coming of Christ and facilitated the rapid spread of the gospel message (see the phrases "the time is fulfilled" in Mark 1:15 and "when the time had fully come" in Galatians 4:4).