the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Dictionaries
Illyricum
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
or ILLYRICUM . The only Scripture mentionis Romans 15:19 , where St. Paul points to the fact that he had fully preached the good news of the Messiah from Jerusalem and round about as far as Illyricum. Neither geographical term is included in the sense of the Greek, which is that he had done so from the outer edge of Jerusalem, so to speak, round about (through various countries) as far as the border of Illyricum. These provinces in order are Syria, Cilicia, Galatia, Asia, and Macedonia, and a journey through them in succession describes a segment of a rough circle. The provinces Macedonia and Illyricum are conterminous, and the nearest city in Macedonia in which we know St. Paul to have preached is Berœa ( Acts 17:10 ff.). Illyricum is a Latin word, and denotes the Roman province which extended along the Adriatic from Italy and Pannonia on the north to the province Macedonia on the south. A province Illyria had been formed in b.c. 167, and during the succeeding two centuries all accessions of territory in that quarter were incorporated in that province. In a.d. 10 Augustus separated Pannonia from Illyricum, and gave the latter a settled constitution. The government of this important province was difficult, and was entrusted to an ex-consul with the style legatus Augusti pro prætore . The northern half was called Liburnia and the southern Dalmatia (wh. see). The latter term gradually came to indicate the whole province of Illyricum.
A. Souter.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Illyricum'. Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdb/i/illyricum.html. 1909.
