Acha'ia. (trouble). Signifies in the New Testament, a Roman province
which included the whole of the Peloponnesus and the greater part of Hellas
proper, with the adjacent islands. This province, with that of Macedonia,
comprehended the while of Greece; hence Achaia and Macedonia are frequently
mentioned together in the New Testament to indicate all Greece. Act_18:12; Act_19:21;
Rom_15:26; Rom_16:5;
1Co_16:15; 2Co_7:5;
2Co_9:2; 2Co_11:10;
1Th_1:7-8. In the time of the emperor
Claudius, it was governed by a proconsul, translated in the Authorized Version
"deputy," of Achaia. Act_18:12.
Source:
Smith’s Bible Dictionary
Achaia
a-kā´ya (Ἀχαιά,
Achaiá): The smallest country in the Peloponnesus lying along the
southern shore of the Corinthian Gulf, north of Arcadia and east of Elis. The
original inhabitants were Ionians, but these were crowded out later by the
Acheans, who came from the East. According to Herodotus, the former founded
twelve cities, many of which retain their original names to this day. These
cities were on the coast and formed a confederation of smaller communities,
which in the last century of the independent history of Greece attained to
great importance (Achaean League). In Roman times the term Achaia was used to
include the whole of Greece, exclusive of Thessaly. Today Achaia forms with
Elis one district, and contains a population of nearly a quarter of a million.
The old Achean League was renewed in 280 bc, but became more important in 251,
when Aratus of Sicyon was chosen commander-in-chief. This great man increased
the power of the League and gave it an excellent constitution, which our own
great practical politicians, Hamilton and Madison, consulted, adopting many of
its prominent devices, when they set about framing the Constitution of the United
States. In 146 bc Corinth was destroyed and the League broken up (see 1 Macc
15:23); and the whole of Greece, under the name of Achaia, was transformed into
a Roman province, which was divided into two separate provinces, Macedonia and
Achaia, in 27 bc.
In Act_18:12 we are told that
the Jews in Corinth made insurrection against Paul when Gallio was deputy of
Achaia, and in Act_18:27 that Apollos
was making preparations to set out for Achaia In Rom_16:5,
“Achaia” should read “ASIA” as in the Revised Version (British and American).
In Act_20:2 “Greece” means Achaia, but
the oft-mentioned “Macedonia and Achaia” generally means the whole of Greece (Act_19:21; Rom_15:26;
1Th_1:8). Paul commends the churches of
Achaia for their liberality (2Co_9:13).
Literature
See Gerhard, Ueber den Volksstamm der A. (Berlin, 1854); Klatt, Forschungen
zur Geschichte des achaischen Bundes (Berlin, 1877); M. Dubois, Les
ligues étolienne et achéenne (Paris, 1855); Capes, History of the Achean
League (London, 1888); Mahaffy, Problems, 177-86; Busolt, Greek
Staatsalter, 2nd edition (1892), 347ff; Toeppfer, in Pauly's Realencyclopaedie.
For Aratus see Hermann, Staatsalter, 1885; Krakauer, Abhandlung
ueber Aratus (Breslau, 1874); Neumeyer, Aratus aus Sikyon (Leipzig,
1886); Holm, History of Greece.
Source:
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Achaia
The name originally of a narrow strip of territory in Greece, on the
north-west of the Peloponnesus. Subsequently it was applied by the Romans to
the whole Peloponnesus, now called the Morea, and the south of Greece. It was
then one of the two provinces (Macedonia being the other) into which they
divided the country when it fell under their dominion. It is in this latter
enlarged meaning that the name is always used in the New Testament (Act_18:12, Act_18:27;
Act_19:21; Rom_15:26;
Rom_16:5, etc.). It was at the time
when Luke wrote the Acts of the Apostles under the proconsul form of
government; hence the appropriate title given to Gallio as the “deputy,” i.e.,
proconsul, of Achaia (Act_18:12).
Source: Smith’s
Bible Dictionary