Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

ITALY

A southern European country which forms a boot-shaped peninsula, bounded on the west by the Tyrrhenian Sea, on the east by the Adriatic Sea, on the south by the Ionian Sea, and extending north to the Alps. The Apennine mountain range extends the length of the peninsula and creates Italy’s unique geography, with difficult inland terrain and fertile plains and valleys, especially in the western coastal areas.

The name may derive from Italus, the 13th-century b.c.e. chief of the Oenotri or Siculi who occupied the southwest part of the peninsula (Thucydides Hist 6.2; Dionysius of Halicarnassus Rom. Ant. 1.12.35). Another possible derivation is from Lat. vituli, “bull calves,” in which case Italy means “the land of the bull calves.” The name was applied at first only to the southwestern region and was applied to the entire peninsula much later, probably in Roman times.

Successive migrations of peoples from the north and the natural terrain which offered numerous convenient barriers between communities resulted in the coexistence of many different tribes and races in the peninsula, with their unique languages and cultures: Latins, Umbro-sabellians, Oscans, Illyrians, and Etruscans from Asia Minor. Because of Italy’s good location on the Mediterranean and its seaports, a flourishing commerce fostered a rich cultural diversity. During the 8th to 6th centuries Greeks colonized southern Italy and Sicily so thoroughly that the area came to be known as Magna Graecia. While Rome was still in its primitive beginnings, Greeks were creating great and important cities in southern Italy. Through constant wars with the Italic peoples, Gallic tribes, and Celtic invaders, Rome conquered and absorbed the peoples of the peninsula, while at the same time being influenced by their languages, religions, and customs. Augustus subdivided the three locales of Italy (Upper Italy, Central Italy, and Lower Italy or Magna Graecia) into 11 regions.

Italy is mentioned several times in the NT (sometimes “Rome” is used for all of Italy). Priscilla and Aquila, Jews from Italy, fled to Corinth in the wake of Claudius’ Edict of 49 c.e., expelling Jews from Rome (Acts 18:2). Paul sailed for Italy when as a Roman citizen he appealed his capital case before Caesar (Acts 27:1, 6; cf. 28:11-16 on his reception there). He remained a prisoner in Rome for two (perhaps his last) years (Acts 28:30). The writer of Hebrews closes his treatise with the words “those from Italy send you greetings” (Heb. 13:24), indicating either that he was writing from Italy to readers outside the peninsula and was adding the greetings of the local believers, or that he was writing to Italy from elsewhere and some fellow Christians who hailed from the place to which he was sending the work sent greetings to their homeland.

Bibliography. M. C. Howatson, ed., The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature, 2d ed. (Oxford, 1990); R. J. A. Talbert, ed., Atlas of Classical History (New York, 1985), 82-123.

Richard A. Spencer

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

ITALY

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)