Galatians (people)

The Galatians (Ancient Greek: Γαλάται, romanized: Galátai; Latin: Galatae, Galati, Gallograeci; Greek: Γαλάτες, romanized: Galátes, lit. 'Gauls') were a Celtic people dwelling in Galatia, a region of central Anatolia in modern-day Turkey surrounding Ankara during the Hellenistic period.^[1] They spoke the Galatian language, which was closely related to Gaulish, a contemporary Celtic language spoken in Gaul.^[2]^[3]

The Galatians were descended from Celts who had invaded Greece in the 3rd century BC. The original settlers of Galatia came through Thrace under the leadership of Leogarios and Leonnorios c. 278 BC. They consisted mainly of three Gaulish tribes, the Tectosages, the Trocmii, and the Tolistobogii, but there were also other minor tribes. In 25 BC, Galatia became a province of the Roman Empire, with Ankara (Ancyra) as its capital.

In the 1st century AD, many Galatians were Christianized by Paul the Apostle's missionary activities. The Epistle to the Galatians by Paul the Apostle is addressed to Galatian Christian communities in Galatia and is preserved in the New Testament.

^ Howatson, M. C. (2011). The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature. Oxford University Press. s.v. Galatians. ISBN 978-0-19-954854-5. A Gallic, i.e. Celtic, people who crossed the Hellespont from Europe into Asia Minor in 278 BC and settled in parts of Phrygia and Cappadocia, in the area surrounding modern Ankara in central Turkey.
^ Freeman, Philip (2001). The Galatian Language: A Comprehensive Survey of the Language of the Ancient Celts in Greco-Roman Asia Minor. Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-88946-085-0.
^ Eska, Joseph F. (2013). "A salvage grammar of Galatian". Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie. 60 (1): 51–64. doi:10.1515/zcph.2013.006. ISSN 1865-889X. S2CID 199576252. Galatian has usually been conceived of as a variety of Celtic similar to that of Transalpine Gaul ...

[1] Howatson, M. C. (2011). The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature. Oxford University Press. s.v. Galatians. ISBN 978-0-19-954854-5. A Gallic, i.e. Celtic, people who crossed the Hellespont from Europe into Asia Minor in 278 BC and settled in parts of Phrygia and Cappadocia, in the area surrounding modern Ankara in central Turkey.

[2] Freeman, Philip (2001). The Galatian Language: A Comprehensive Survey of the Language of the Ancient Celts in Greco-Roman Asia Minor. Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-88946-085-0.

[3] Eska, Joseph F. (2013). "A salvage grammar of Galatian". Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie. 60 (1): 51–64. doi:10.1515/zcph.2013.006. ISSN 1865-889X. S2CID 199576252. Galatian has usually been conceived of as a variety of Celtic similar to that of Transalpine Gaul ...

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