Asia Minor in the 2nd century AD - general map - Roman provinces under Trajan - bleached - English legend

Galatia () was the name of a

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

(modern central

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

). It was established by the first emperor,

Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

(sole rule 30 BC – 14 AD), in 25 BC, covering most of formerly independent Celtic Galatia, with its capital at

Ancyra Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( Etimesgut, Yenimahalle, Çankaya, Keçiören, Altında ...

. Under the

Tetrarchy The Tetrarchy was the system instituted by Roman emperor Diocletian in 293 AD to govern the ancient Roman Empire by dividing it between two emperors, the ''augusti'', and their junior colleagues and designated successors, the ''caesares''. I ...

reforms of

Diocletian Diocletian ( ; ; ; 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed Jovius, was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Diocles to a family of low status in the Roman province of Dalmatia (Roman province), Dalmatia. As with other Illyri ...

, its northern and southern parts were split to form the southern part of the province of

Paphlagonia Paphlagonia (; , modern translit. ''Paflagonía''; ) was an ancient region on the Black Sea coast of north-central Anatolia, situated between Bithynia to the west and Pontus (region), Pontus to the east, and separated from Phrygia (later, Galatia ...

and the province of

Lycaonia Lycaonia (; , ''Lykaonia''; ) was a large region in the interior of Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), north of the Taurus Mountains. It was bounded on the east by Cappadocia, on the north by Galatia, on the west by Phrygia and Pisidia, while to ...

, respectively. In c. 398 AD, during the reign of

Arcadius Arcadius ( ; 377 – 1 May 408) was Roman emperor from 383 to his death in 408. He was the eldest son of the ''Augustus'' Theodosius I () and his first wife Aelia Flaccilla, and the brother of Honorius (). Arcadius ruled the eastern half of ...

, it was divided into the provinces of Galatia Prima and Galatia Secunda or Salutaris. Galatia Prima covered the northeastern part of the old province, retaining

as its capital and was headed by a ''

consularis ''Consularis'' is a Latin adjective indicating something pertaining to the position or rank of consul. In Ancient Rome it was also used as a noun (plural ''consulares'') to designate those senators who had held the office of consul or attained con ...

''. Salutaris comprised the southwestern half of the old province and was headed by a ''

praeses ''Praeses'' (Latin ''praesides'') is a Latin word meaning "placed before" or "at the head". In antiquity, notably under the Roman Dominate, it was used to refer to Roman governors; it continues to see some use for various modern positions. ...

'', with its seat at Pessinus. Both provinces were part of the

Diocese of Pontus The Diocese of Pontus (, ) was a diocese of the later Roman Empire, incorporating the provinces of northern and northeastern Asia Minor up to the border with the Sassanid Empire in Armenia. The diocese was established after the reforms of Diocle ...

. The provinces were briefly reunited in 536–548 under

Justinian I Justinian I (, ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 527 to 565. His reign was marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovatio imperii'', or "restoration of the Empire". This ambition was ...

. Although the area was eventually incorporated in the new '' thema'' of

Anatolikon The Anatolic Theme (, ''Anatolikon hema'), more properly known as the Theme of the Anatolics (Greek: , ''thema Anatolikōn''), was a Byzantine theme (a military-civilian province) in central Asia Minor (modern Turkey). From its establishment, i ...

in the latter half of the 7th century, traces of the old provincial administration survived until the early 8th century.

Governors

(List based on Bernard Rémy,
Les carrières sénatoriales dans les provinces romaines d'Anatolie au Haut-Empire (31 av. J.-C. - 284 ap. J.-C.)
' (Istanbul: Institut Français d'Études Anatoliennes-Georges Dumézil, 1989).) ; First organization of the province of Galatia * Marcus Lollius 25 - 22 BC * Lucius Calpurnius Piso Pontifex 14 - 13 BC * Cornutus Aquila 6 BC *

Publius Sulpicius Quirinius Publius Sulpicius Quirinius (c. 51 BC – AD 21), also translated as Cyrenius, was a Roman aristocrat. After the banishment of the ethnarch Herod Archelaus from the tetrarchy of Judea in AD 6, Quirinius was appointed legate governor of Syria, ...

5 - 3 BC * Marcus Servilius Nonianus AD 3 * Marcus Plautius Silvanus 6 - 7 * Sextus Sotidius Strabo Libuscidianus 13 - 16 * Priscus c. 16 - 20 ''or'' 21 * Metilius c. 20 - 25 ''or'' 21 - 26 * Fronto c. 25 - 29 ''or'' 26 - 30 * Silvanus c. 29 - 33 ''or'' 30 - 34 * Titus Helvius Basila c. 33 ''to'' c. 37 * Marcus Annius Afrinus 49 – 54 * Quintus Petronius Umbrinus 54 - 55 * Lucius Nonius Calpurnius Torquatus Asprenas 68 - 70 (Between AD 70 and AD 111 Galatia was combined with Cappadocia. The governors for those years can be found at List of Roman governors of Cappadocia.) ; Second organization of the province of Galatia * Lucius Caesennius Sospes 111 - 114 * Gaius Julius Quadratus Bassus c. 114 * Lucius Catilius Severus 114 - 117? * Lucius Cossonius Gallus 117 - 119 * Aulus Larcius Macedo 119 - 122 * Gaius Trebius Sergianus c. 127 - 130 * Julius Saturninus c. 130 - 136 * Gaius Julius Scapula c. 136 - 139 * Lucius Fulvius Rusticus Aemilianus Between 131 and 161 * Cornelius exer c. 156 - 159 ''or'' 157 - 160 * Publius Juventius Celsus 161–163 * Lucius Fufidius Pollio 163 - 165 * Titus Licinnius Mucianus c. 175 - 177 * Lucius Saevinius Proculus c. 177 - 180 * Lucius Fabius Cilo c. 190 - 197 * ..Valerianus ..inus c. 194 - 197 * Lucius Petronius Verus 197/198 * Gaius Atticus Norbanus Strabo 198-c. 201 * Publius Caecilius Urbicus Aemilianus c. 205 - 208 * Publius Alfius Maximus c. 183 - 185 ''or'' 213 - 215 * Lucius Egnatius Victor Lollianus c. 215 - 218 * Publius Plotius Romanus c. 218 - 221 * Lucius Julius Apronius Maenius Pius Salamallianus c. 221 - 224 * Quintus Aradius Rufinus Optatus Aelianus c. 224 - 227 * Quintus Servaeus Fuscus Cornelianus c. 229 - 230 * Marcus Domitius Valerianus c. 230 - 232 * Aurelius Basileus c. 227 - 229 ''or'' 232 - 235 * Marcus Junius Valerius Nepotianus 250 * Minicius Florentius After 250

Ecclesiastical administration

According to the canons of the

Council of Chalcedon The Council of Chalcedon (; ) was the fourth ecumenical council of the Christian Church. It was convoked by the Roman emperor Marcian. The council convened in the city of Chalcedon, Bithynia (modern-day Kadıköy, Istanbul, Turkey) from 8 Oct ...

(451) and the ''

Synecdemus The ''Synecdemus'' or ''Synekdemos'' () is a geographic text, attributed to Hierocles, which contains a table of administrative divisions of the Byzantine Empire and lists of their cities. The work is dated to the reign of Justinian Justinia ...

'' of Hierocles (c. 531), the province of Galatia Prima had

as its

metropolitan see Metropolitan may refer to: Areas and governance (secular and ecclesiastical) * Metropolitan archdiocese, the jurisdiction of a metropolitan archbishop ** Metropolitan bishop or archbishop, leader of an ecclesiastical "mother see" * Metropolitan ...

, with six suffragan sees: Tavium, Aspona, Kinna, Lagania or Anastasiopolis, Mnizos and Juliopolis. According to the canons of the Council of Chalcedon and the ''Synecdemus'', the province of Galatia Secunda had Pessinus as its

, with eight suffragan sees: Orkistos, Petinessos,

Amorium Amorium, also known as Amorion (), was a city in Phrygia, Asia Minor which was founded in the Hellenistic period, flourished under the Byzantine Empire, and declined after the Sack of Amorium, Arab sack of 838. It was situated on the Byzantine m ...

, Klaneos (absent in Chalcedon), Troknades, Eudoxias, Myrika and Germa or Myriangelon. Pessinus sank into decay when Justinianopolis was founded in the mid-6th century and eventually the metropolitan see was transferred there, while retaining his title.

References

Sources

* * {{Roman Governors States and territories established in the 1st century BC Provinces of the Byzantine Empire Provinces of the Roman Empire Roman provinces in Anatolia 25 BC establishments bg:Галатия