What is…
Galatia

Greek: Γαλατία —transliteration: Galatia

Galatia has been called the “Gallia” of the East, Roman writers calling its inhabitants Galli. They were an intermixture of Gauls and Greeks, and hence were called Gallo-Graeci, and the country Gallo-Graecia (Gallograecia) a region of Asia Minor, bounded by Paphlagonia, Pontus, Cappadocia, Lycaonia, Phrygia, and Bithynia.

The Galatians were in their origin a part of that great Celtic migration which invaded Macedonia about 280 BC. They were invited by the king of Bithynia to cross over into Asia Minor to assist him in his wars. There they ultimately settled, and being strengthened by fresh accessions of the same clan from Europe, they overran Bithynia, and supported themselves by plundering neighboring countries.

They were great warriors, and hired themselves out as mercenary soldiers, sometimes fighting on both sides in the great battles of the times. They were at length brought under the power of Rome in 189 BC, and Galatia became a Roman province 25 BC.

This province of Galatia, within the limits of which these Celtic tribes were confined, was the central region of Asia Minor.

Apostle Paul

During his 2nd missionary journey, Paul, accompanied by Silas and Timothy (Acts 16:6), visited the “region of Galatia,” where he was detained by sickness (Galatians 4:13), and had thus the longer opportunity of preaching to them the gospel.

On his third journey he went over “all the country of Galatia and Phrygia in order” (Acts 18:23).

Crescens was sent thither by Paul toward the close of his life (2 Tim. 4:10).

The churches of Galatia at the time of Paul included Antioch of Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe.

Cities of the Roman province of Galatia (from 25 BC)

When Rome annexed the kingdom of Amyntas in 25 BC, the new province was much larger. It included original Galatia plus parts of Phrygia, Pisidia, Lycaonia, and Isauria. Major cities included:

Northern / original Galatia

Southern cities (the ones Paul visited on his first missionary journey; these are the churches most scholars think he addressed in the Epistle to the Galatians)

Other towns sometimes listed in the broader province include Apollonia, Germa, and various smaller colonies founded by Augustus along the Via Sebaste.

Paul’s 2nd missionary tour

Antioch of Syria → Derbe → Lystra → Iconium → Asia Minor → Troas → Samothrace (Samothracia) → Neapolis → Philippi → Amphipolis → Apollonia → Thessalonica → Berea → Athens → Corinth → Ephesus → Colossae → Caesarea → Jerusalem → Antioch of Syria

Paul’s 3rd missionary tour

Antioch of Syria → Tarsus → Derbe → Lystra → Iconium → Pisidian Antioch → Ephesus → Assos → Troas → Neapolis → Philippi → Berea → Corinth → Berea → Philippi → Neapolis → Troas → Assos → Miletus → Cos → Rhodes → Patara → Tyre → Ptolemais → Caesarea → Jerusalem

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Article Version: September 15, 2026