Roman Galatia

Galatia – the name of this territory comes primarily from the people who came to these lands around the 4th century BCE. They were the Gauls. About 280 BCE these peoples went on a further journey to take the lands of Thrace.

These lands, like many others, were of interest to Rome during the great campaign of Pompey, who in 64 BCE organized them as a province, like a number of others. Nevertheless, the Galatians were still ruled by their own king (which could initially be classified more as a buffer estate or a satellite state), even though the Romans imposed a number of their own institutions on them.