About Italy in the Bible
also known as: Italia
Greek: Ἰταλίαν
The size and boundaries of ancient “Italy,” like most geographical names, was used differently in differing periods of history. As the power of Rome advanced, nations were successively conquered and added to it. The name Italia covered an area whose borders evolved over time.
According to Strabo’s Geographica, before the expansion of the Roman Republic, the name was used by Greeks to indicate the land between the strait of Messina and the line connecting the gulf of Salerno and gulf of Taranto (corresponding roughly to the current region of Calabria). Later the term was extended by Romans to include the Italian Peninsula up to the Rubicon, a river located between Northern and Central Italy. Eventually, Italy came to be known as the whole country to the south of the Alps.
Around 7 BC, Augustus divided Italy into 11 regions, as reported by Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia.
The Roman Empire itself was far larger than Italy, reaching its greatest extent around 117 AD.
“Italy” is explicitly named in the New Testament.
When it was decided that we would sail for Italy, they proceeded to deliver Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan cohort named Julius. …There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing for Italy, and he put us aboard it. —Acts 27:1, 6
And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, having recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. He came to them, —Acts 18:2
Greet all of your leaders and all the saints. Those from Italy greet you. —Hebrews 13:24
In the time of the Romans, there was constant communication, trade and interchange between Judea and Italy.
More information