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BITHYNIA

(Gk. Bithynía)

A mountainous region in northern Asia Minor, located on the Black (Euxine) Sea. The Hellenistic kingdom of Bithynia was bequeathed to Rome by King Nicomedes IV (74 b.c.e.) and, joined with the region to its east, became the Roman province of Bithynia-Pontus (ca. 63). Prusa, one of its major cities, was the home of the philosopher Dio Chrysostom, whose writings provide an important glimpse of 1st-century civic life in the province. A Jewish synagogue is attested at Nicomedia by the 2nd or 3rd century.

The Christian communities of Bithynia and Pontus are among those addressed in 1 Peter, and the correspondence between Pliny the Younger (the Roman governor) and emperor Trajan reveals that Christians were evident enough to warrant the negative reaction of local inhabitants (Pliny Ep. 10.96-97; ca. 110 c.e.). Paul and his companions were prevented from entering Bithynia by “the Spirit of Jesus” (Acts 16:7).

Bibliography. C. P. Jones, The Roman World of Dio Chrysostom (Princeton, 1978); D. Magie, Roman Rule in Asia Minor (1950, repr. New York, 1975).

Philip A. Harland

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

BITHYNIA

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)