Smyrna was also an important rival of Ephesus. Hello Serhat I have enjoyed reading your historical exposition of Anatolia. Atlas Asia and surrounding area Maps Created using Biblemapper 3.0 Additional data from OpenBible.info Occurrences Acts 2:9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, A detailed historical map on 4 sheets . Some of these places have had more than one name in history. Asia Minor is home to a diverse range of ecological zones including temperate, broadleaf, coniferous, mixed and Mediterranean forests, woodlands, scrublands, steppes, and montane forests. ", Asia in Smith's Bible Dictionary (Read Full Article). Evidence is found in Joel (4:4-6) which apparently refers to slave traders of the Phoenician coastal cities. However, there were other important centers such as Phokaia and Miletus. He received an M.A. It was among the most significant regions of antiquity. Banks. The Ottomans, who controlled the silk and spice routes and dominated the Eastern Mediterranean, enjoyed a prosperous period. Cappadocia, which has miraculous volcanic formations, was a place where monks flocked. 1. A woman of Lydia, of good social position (as implied in her Roman name) boasts in an inscription that she comes of ancestors who had served before the god in this manner, and that she has done so herself. Education was at its highest level in the Greek towns and in the Roman colonies, and it was to those exclusively that Paul addressed the gospel. I am a tour guide living in Istanbul. See a list of all maps World 3500 BCE Middle East 3500 BCE Hide Markers One of the main factors in this process was the foundation over inner Asia Minor of Roman colonies, which were "bits of Rome" set down in the provinces. At this time, "Asia" designated the provinces of only western Anatolia. 1 Corinthians 16:19 The assemblies of Asia greet you. I plan to produce a series of short video diaries documenting my travel experiences in your unique and historical country. Central Anatolia region is the more semi-arid area of the Anatolian plateau with high rates of soil erosion due to overgrazing. From the date of the Nicene Council (325 AD) the history of Christianity in Asia Minor was that of the Byzantine Empire. It has several times been nearly destroyed by earthquakes. Each letter, as proclaimed by Jesus and recorded by John the Apostle, declares the triumphs and failings of the recipient churches and warns each congregation to repent. (This incident, called the Sack of Constantinople, happened during the fourth Crusade.). Related Content from the University of South Africa where he serves as a Research Fellow in Biblical Archaeology. Throughout history, the peninsula known historically as Asia Minor was ruled by a variety of civilizations including the Persians, Greeks, and Romans. The diet of the province, composed of representatives from its various districts, met each year in the different cities. The modern Republic of Turkey was founded at the end of the war. Add to Cart. Map shows the approximate locations of the cities with the seven churches that are mentioned in the Bible's book of Revelation. Marmara is very similar to them except for cooler winters. The general area around Colosse, which included the Asia Minor towns of Laodicea and Hierapolis, was prone to frequent earthquakes. Download Image. ASIA MINOR. Mark is the founder and director of the Asia Minor Research Center in Antalya, Turkey, a country in which he and his wife Dindy have lived since 2004. Asia Minor (also known as Anatolia) is modern-day Turkey. This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this content non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms. In the 1st century Latin was the official language in the colonies; it never ousted Greek in general usage, and Greek soon replaced it in official documents. New Testament Roman Provinces. Mount Ararat is a place associated with the legend of Noahs Ark in the scriptures. Map Store - Download High-Res Maps and Images, 2023, Bible History | All rights reserved. The Lycaonian inscriptions begin almost a century later, not, we must suppose, because Christianity spread less rapidly from Iconium, Lystra, etc., than it did from the Asian cities, but because Greek education took longer to permeate the sparsely populated plains of the central plateau than the rich townships of Asia. These systems (especially as the result of Roman government) overlap and blend with each other, but they correspond in a general way to the distinction (observed in the country by Strabo) between city-organization and life on the village system. Some Rights Reserved (2009-2023) under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license unless otherwise noted. Asia in the International Standard Encyclopedia (Read Full Article). Asia Minor in the Bible, is a peninsula, a land surrounded by water on three sides. Wherever we have any detailed information concerning a cult in inner Anatolia, we recognize under a Greek (or Roman) disguise the essential features of the old Anatolian god. Lydia's borders are difficult to define accurately. Such in New Testament time were Antioch and Lystra (Iconium, which used to be regarded as a colony of Claudius, is now recognized to have been raised to that rank by Hadrian). The Byzantine Empire inherited a great feud from Rome. The evangelization of Ephesus, the capital of the province Asia, and the terminus of one of the great routes leading along the peninsula, contributed largely to the spread of Christianity in the inland parts of the province, and especially in Phrygia. In many places the cult of the emperor was established in the most important shrine of the neighborhood; the god-emperor succeeded to or shared the sanctity of the older god, Grecized as Zeus, Apollo, etc. We will continue to tell the story of Asia Minor in eight titles. Map of New Testament Asia; Map of New Testament Italy; Paul's First Missionary Journey Acts 13:4-14:28 - Do not duplicate - copyright by Holman; The largest city of Turkey, Istanbul, is located in Marmara region whereas the capital, Ankara, is located in Central Anatolia. A Christian church was established there at an early day, and was one . Several of these cities were "founded" by the Seleucids and Attalids; this sometimes meant a new foundation, more often the establishment of Greek city-government in an older city, with an addition of new inhabitants. Education was at its highest level in the Greek towns and in the Roman colonies, and it was to those exclusively that Paul addressed the gospel. These inhabitants were often Jews whom the Seleucids found trusty colonists: the Jews of Antioch in Pisidia (Acts 13:14 ff) probably belong to this class. In the course of time the people on the imperial estates tended to pass into a condition of serfdom; but occasionally an emperor raised the whole or part of an estate to the rank of a city. The center of the native community was the temple of the god, with its great corporation of priests living on the temple revenues, and its people, who were the servants of the god (hierodouloi; compare Paul's expression, "servant of God"), and worked on the temple estates. Map of the regions in Turkey shows us the seven administrative regions of the country. A large territory on the W of Asia Minor. Herodotus (l.c. The Babylonians - Learn about ancient Babylon and the people who lived there. Ancient cities and regions such as Antioch, Ephesus, Cappadocia, and Byzantium provided shelter for Christians fleeing Roman persecution. The southeastern and eastern border of Asia Minor is the current border of Turkey with neighboring Armenia, Iran, Iraq, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Syria. 585 BCE), and his followers Anaximander (l. c. 610-c.546 BCE) and Anaximenes (l.c. The influence of the church on Asia Minor in the early centuries of the Empire may be judged from the fact that scarcely a trace of the Mithraic religion, the principal competitor of Christianity, has been found in the whole country. Resources, Free Bible Software, Bible Art, Biblical History Topics and Study, and ancient Bible maps of Rome, Greece, and ancient Near East. Between 1250 and 1200 BCE the Sea Peoples invaded from the south, making incursions into Greece, harassing Egypt, and finally driving the Hittites from the region of Assuwa. However, in the 11th century, after the Battle of Manzikert, most of Anatolia was lost to the Turks. Submitted by Joshua J. ; inscriptions record dedications made to the god and to the emperor jointly. Byzantines at first recaptured their lands thanks to the early Crusades. However, the most exciting parts of our story will be the years of the Roman and Byzantine empires in Anatolia. Paul's Letters. Asia Minor is the most western region of Asia and is the largest section of modern Turkey. In the year 17 CE, an extremely large earthquake struck western Asia Minor. That settlement eventually disappeared, but eight distinct settlements are known from the plain near Corinth by 2,000 BCE. Urartu, located at the easternmost point of the map of Asia Minor, has natural treasures such as Mount Ararat and Lake Van. Sign Up or Login. The traces of this hybrid culture can still be seen in Anatolia. 4. Although there were a faithful few, most people in the Sardis church were spiritually dead and dying. A detailed study of a Byzantine Christian town of Lycaonia, containing an exceptionally large number of churches, has been published by Sir W. M. Ramsay and Miss G. L. Bell: The Thousand and One Churches. The map includes the principal cities of Asia. One of the main factors in this process was the foundation over inner Asia Minor of Roman colonies, which were "bits of Rome" set down in the provinces. For instance, the central region experiences a continental climate with hot summers and cold winters with snow and receives low and irregular precipitation. Since my area of expertise is late antiquity and the middle ages, I will talk about these periods in more detail. You are free: to share - to copy, distribute and transmit the work; to remix - to adapt the work; Under the following conditions: attribution - You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. Christian Inscriptions, etc. Greek-speaking Christian villages in many parts of Asia Minor continue an unbroken connection with the Roman Empire till the present day. Lydia was the kingdom of the great King Croesus (r. 560-546 BCE) who defied the Persian Achaemenid Empire under Cyrus the Great (r.c. It is about 65 km long. This is a collection of 283 beautiful historical maps of Asia Minor (including the Armenian Highlands), the Caucasus, Iran, and neighboring lands including the Aegean Basin, the Levant, and northern Africa, from around 1500 B.C. Map of Asia Minor provinces Posted on March 19, 2010 by Mark Standard A map showing the provinces of Asia Minor at the time of the New Testament. Anatolia reached its peak in terms of architecture under the rule of the Roman Empire. Today, it is possible to see the heritage of this ancient center in the ruins of Miletus. The Book of Revelation addresses seven letters to seven churches in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey) (Revelation 2-3). The great persecutions, as is proved by literary evidence and by many inscriptions, raged with especial severity in Asia Minor. The Roman empire in the time of Hadrian(ruled 117-138 AD), showing, in western Anatolia, the senatorial provinceof Asia(southwestern Turkey). Places such as Byzantium, Ephesus, Antioch and Cappadocia that carried the legacy of the apostles became religious centers. Asia Minor is bordered by the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea, the Aegean Sea, the Sea of Marmara and the Armenian highlands to the north, south, west, northwest and east respectively. Username or Email . Author of this blog, Serhat Engul, is a licensed tour guide based in Istanbul. Following his death, the land was governed by his general Antigonus I in the north and west and his other general Seleucus I Nicator to the south and east and was prominently involved in the Wars of the Diadochi (the wars of Alexander's successors). Your email address will not be published. In the earlier centuries of the Roman Empire these cities enjoyed a liberal measure of self-government. In this state of things Paul entered the country; and wherever education had already been diffused, he found converts ready and eager." In 546 B.C., the Persian King Cyrus II conquered Asia Minor. Ancient Near East in Time of Patriarchs (2000-1550 BC) . Acts 6:9 But some of those who were of the synagogue called "The Libertines," and of the Cyrenians, of the Alexandrians, and of those of Cilicia and Asia arose, disputing with Stephen. Under Roman rule, the land became stabilized; roads were built and the infrastructures of many of the cities improved. Many inscriptions prove that the god (through his priests) exercised a close supervision over the whole moral life and over the whole daily routine of his people; he was their Ruler, Judge, helper and healer. The Ottoman Empire experienced its peak during the Suleiman the Magnificent period. Biblical Asia Minor; St. Paul; Seven Churches; Ecumenical Councils; Biblical Sites; Testaments; Biblical Tours; . Romans 16:5 Greet the assembly that is in their house. The chasm that divided the religion from the educated life of the country became steadily wider and deeper. Anatolia, which was under the rule of the Persian Empire for a period, was conquered thoroughly by Alexander the Great. Thus, centuries later, Istanbul lost its feature of being the capital city. Ministry in Antioch - Orontes. Hand Color. On those portions of an estate not gifted to a polis or colonia, theocratic government lasted on; but alongside of the Anatolian god there now appeared the figure of the god-emperor. %97 of Turkey is situated on the Asia in other words Anatolia. This map reveals the cities within Asia Minor in the ancient world during the first century A.D., the time of the New Testament. There are also Ephesus ruins in the city of Izmir, which have a magnificent Roman heritage. Map of the weather in Turkey shows us that there are 4 different climates in seven regions of Turkey. The Galilee Region in the time of Jesus . Good informative article you wrote. ordered a great massacre in which 80,000 to 150,000 Asia Romans were put to death. Old Testament Overview - General survey of the Old Testament. Wherever we have any detailed information concerning a cult in inner Anatolia, we recognize under a Greek (or Roman) disguise the essential features of the old Anatolian god. 550-530 BCE) and claimed to be the happiest man in the world until his defeat and capture by the Persians. Christian Inscriptions, etc. The Native Social System:Under the Roman Empire, there was a continuous tendency to raise and absorb the Anatolian natives into Greek cities and Roman citizenship. (2018, May 04). These colonies were organized entirely on the Roman model, and were usually garrisons of veterans, who kept unruly parts of the country in order. Following the Dorian Invasion, Greeks migrated to Asia Minor. We contribute a share of our revenue to remove carbon from the atmosphere and we offset our team's carbon footprint. The passages in the New Testament where this word occurs are the following; Ac 2:9; 6:9; 16:6; 19:10,22,26,27; 20:4,16,18; 21:27; 27:2; Ro 16:5; 1Co 16:19; 2Co 1:8; 2Ti 1:15; 1Pe 1:1; Re 1:4,11 In all these it may be confidently stated that the word is used for a Roman province which embraced the western part of the peninsula of Asia Minor and of which Ephesus was the capital. A small principality (Ottomans) remaining from the Seljuks later turned into a giant empire. License. Antioch on the Orontes. The Aegean region has fertile soils and a Mediterranean climate as well as the longest coastline. 1. It contains the Roman regions of Caria . Magistracies were elective; rich men in the same city vied with each other, and city vied with city, in erecting magnificent public buildings, in founding schools and promoting education, in furthering all that western nations mean by civilization. In the ancient world, Asia Minor was the seat of the kingdoms and cities of: The accomplishments and advancements of the people of Asia Minor are vast and comprise a catalogue of some of the most famous people, places, and events in ancient history. the Carthaginian Hannibal crossed the Alps with elephants to challenge Rome for supremacy of the Mediterranean, rulers in Asia Minor were . (orient). Christ summoned them to "wake up," "remember," and "repent" ( Rev. The Turks, who came from the steppes of Asia to Iran, declared Isfahan their capital and became neighbors to Anatolia and the Byzantine Empire. The Hittites themselves referred to the land as Assuwa (or, earlier, Aswiya) which actually only designated the area around the delta of the river Cayster but came to be applied to the entire region. Anatolia maps will be useful for those planning a trip to Turkey. John's Revelation to the 7 Churches of Asia Merhaba Murat Bey, evet haklsnz Ege klimi diye bir ey yok. Acts 20:16 For Paul had determined to sail past Ephesus, that he might not have to spend time in Asia; for he was hastening, if it were possible for him, to be in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. Asia Minor. Running a website with millions of readers every month is expensive. Seljuks managed to build a life together with the local peoples in Anatolia. The region of Asia Minor is regarded as the birthplace of coinage and the first to use coined money in trade; which of the kingdoms were the first to do this, however, is much disputed. 15). et Phil. In this state of things Paul entered the country; and wherever education had already been diffused, he found converts ready and eager." Galatia, Cappadocia, and Cilicia comprised the eastern provinces, while Bitnia and Pontus bordered the Black Sea to the north. The history of Asia consists almost entirely of the history of its important cities, which were Adramyttium, Assos, Cnidus, Ephesus, Laodicea, Miletus, Pergamos, Philadelphia, Sardis, Smyrna, Thyatira, Troas, etc.E. Moreover, the reader can also see a certain order to the sequence of these Churches. All seven cities are in modern-day Turkey. Famous people from Asia Minor include most of the Pre-Socratic Philosophers (notably Thales of Miletus, Anaximander, Anaximenes), the historian Herodotus, St. Paul, and the physician Galen among many others. Map of Asia Minor provinces | VISUAL UNIT Biblical resources for the visually-minded. The Incredible Bible - First in the BKA Series. Ancient Greek colonization began at an early date, during the so-called Geometric period of about 900 to 700 B.C. The Ottomans, who joined the First World War with the Germans, lost everything at the end of the war. Map of the 7 Churches of Revelation (Asia Minor) Map of Samaria and Central Palestine; Map of the Roman Empire In the Time of Jesus; Map of Phoenicia in Biblical Times; Map of the Territory of the Philistines; Map of Paul's Missionary Journeys; Map of Palestine in New Testament Times; Map of the Ancient Near East; Satellite Map of the Near East Emperor Worship:Theocratic government received a new direction and a new meaning from the institution of emperor-worship; obedience to the god now coincided with loyalty to the emperor. J. Seljuks who won the Battle of Manzikert captured Eastern and Central Anatolia. 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( 2009-2023 ) under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license unless otherwise noted and receives low and irregular precipitation most regions! Serhat I have enjoyed reading your historical exposition of Anatolia was again one of the province, composed representatives! Which included the Asia in other words Anatolia Asia greet you in Anatolia composed representatives... Seven regions of the country became steadily wider and deeper a Research Fellow in Biblical Archaeology are also ruins... Been nearly destroyed by earthquakes monks flocked capture by the Persians AD ) the history Christianity. The Anatolian plateau with high rates of soil erosion due to overgrazing which was under the of. % 97 map of asia minor in biblical times Turkey was founded at the easternmost point of the Testament.