1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Ancyra
ANCYRA (mod. Angŏra, q.v.), an ancient city of Galatia in Asia Minor, situated on a tributary of the Sangarius. Originally a large and prosperous Phrygian city on the Persian Royal Road, Ancyra became the centre of the Tectosages, one of the three Gaulish tribes that settled permanently in Galatia about 232 B.C. The barbarian occupation dislocated civilization, and the town sank to a mere village inhabited chiefly by the old native population who carried on the arts and crafts of peaceful life, while the Gauls devoted themselves to war and pastoral life (see Galatia). In 189 B.C. Ancyra was occupied by Cn. Manlius Vulso, who made it his headquarters in his operations against the tribe. In 63 B.C. Pompey placed it (together with the Tectosagan territory) under one chief, and it continued under native rule till it became the capital of the Roman province of Galatia in 25 B.C. By this time the population included Greeks, Jews, Romans and Romanized Gauls, but the town was not yet Hellenized, though Greek was spoken. Strabo (c. A.D. 19) calls it not a city, but a fortress, implying that it had none of the institutions of the Graeco-Roman city. Inscriptions and coins show that its civilization consisted of a layer of Roman ideas and customs superimposed on Celtic tribal characteristics, and that it is not until c. A.D. 150 that the true Hellenic spirit begins to appear. Christianity was introduced (from the N. or N.W.) perhaps as early as the 1st century, but there is no shred of evidence that the Ancyran Church (first mentioned A.D. 192) was founded by St Paul or that he ever visited northern Galatia. The real greatness of the town dates from the time when Constantinople became the metropolis of the Roman world: then its geographical situation raised it to a position of importance which it retained throughout the middle ages. See further Angora (1).
The modern town contains many remains of the Roman and Byzantine periods. The most important monument is the Augusteum, a temple of white marble erected to “Rome and Augustus” during the lifetime of that emperor by the common council or diet of the three Galatian tribes. The temple was afterwards converted into a church, and in the 16th century a fine mosque was built against its S. face. On the walls of the temple is engraved the famous Monumentum Ancyranum, a long inscription in Latin and Greek describing the Res gestae divi Augusti; the Latin portion being inscribed on the inner left-hand wall of the pronaos, the Greek on the outside wall of the naos (cella). The inscription is a grave and majestic narrative of the public life and work of Augustus. The original was written by the emperor in his 76th year (A.D. 13–14) to be engraved on two bronze tablets placed in front of his mausoleum in Rome, and as a mark of respect to his memory a copy was inscribed on the temple walls by the council of the Galatians. Thus has been preserved an absolutely unique historical document of great importance, recounting (1) the numerous public offices and honours conferred on him, (2) his various benefactions to the state, to the plebs and to his soldiers, and (3) his military and administrative services to the empire.
Bibliography.—C. Ritter, Erdkunde von Asien, vol. xviii. (1837–1859); Hamilton, Researches in A. M. (1842); Texier, Descrip. de l’Asie Min. (1839–1849); Perrot, Explor. de la Galatie (1862); Humann and Puchstein, Reisen in Kleinasien (1890). For Mon. Ancyr., Mommsen, Res gestae divi Augusti (1883); and Inscr. graecae ad res Romanas pertinentes, iii. (1902). For coins, Brit. Museum Catal., Galatia (1899); Babelon-Reinach, Recueil général d’ A. M. See also under Galatia. (J. G. C. A.)
Synod of Ancyra.—An important ecclesiastical synod was held at Ancyra, the seat of the Roman administration for the province of Galatia, in A.D. 314. The season was soon after Easter; the year may be safely deduced from the fact that the first nine canons are intended to repair havoc wrought in the church by persecution, which ceased after the overthrow of Maximinus in 313. The tenth canon tolerates the marriages of deacons who previous to ordination had reserved the right to take a wife; the thirteenth forbids chorepiscopi to ordain presbyters or deacons; the eighteenth safeguards the right of the people in objecting to the appointment of a bishop whom they do not wish.
See Mansi, ii. 514 ff. The critical text of R. B. Rackham (Oxford, 1891), Studia biblica et ecclesiastica, iii. 139 ff., is conveniently reprinted in Lauchert 29 ff. H. R. Percival translates and comments on an old text in the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers (2nd series), xiv. 61 ff. An elaborate discussion is found in Hefele, Conciliengeschichte (2nd ed.), i. 219 ff. (English translation, i. 199 ff.); more briefly in Herzog-Hauck (3rd ed.), i. 497. For full titles see Council. (W. W. R.*)