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Bible Encyclopedias
Dalmatia
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or (Δαλματία, deriv. unknown), a mountainous country on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea (Pliny, 3, 28; Strabo, 7:315), between the rivers Titius and Drinus, and the Bebian and Scordian hills, south of Laburnia (Pliny, 3, 26), which, together with it, formed, after the expedition of Tiberius, A.D. 9, the Roman province of Illyricum, for which, indeed, it was often spoken of synonymously (Conybeare and Howson's St. Paul, 2:126). Its principal towns were Salona, Epidaurus, Lissus, etc. (Ptolemy, 2:17, 4). It derived its name from the Dalmatae, a barbarous but valiant race, supposed to be of Thracian origin, and who were very skillful in navigating the sea along their coasts, and extremely bold in their piracies. The capital, Dalminium, was taken and destroyed by the Romans, B.C. 157; the country, however, was not completely subdued till the time of Augustus. The modern name of the country is the same as the ancient. Education and morality are here at a lower ebb than in any other part of the Austrian empire (see the Penny Cyclopoedia, s.v.; Smith's Dict. of Class. Geog. s.v., and the travelers there referred to). (See ILLYRICUM).
During Paul's second imprisonment at Rome, Titus left him to visit Dalmatia (2 Timothy 4:10), but for what purpose is not stated, unless we may conjecture that it was to regulate the affairs of the Church in that region (Cellarii Notit. 1:614 sq.), in the vicinity of which Paul had formerly preached (Romans 15:19). (See TITUS).
At present Dalmatia is a crown-land of the Austrian emperor, the emperor bearing among his other titles that of king of Dalmatia. According to the last census of 1887, the population amounted to 476,101, mostly Slavi. Of these, 396,836 were Roman Catholics, under the archbishop of Zara and five bishops (Sebenico, Spalato, Lesina, Ragusa, and Cattaro); 138 United. Greeks (in three congregations, belonging to the diocese of Kreuz, in Croatia; 78,744 members of the orthodox (non-United) Greek Church, under one bishop, who formerly resided at Sebenico, and since 1842 at Zara; 43 Lutherans; 34 Reformed; and 283 Israelites. The Roman Catholics have 297 parishes, 122 chaplaincies, and 69 monasteries; the orthodox Greeks, 92 parishes, 9 chaplaincies, and 11 monasteries. — Allgemeine Real-Encyklop. 3, 73.
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McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Dalmatia'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/d/dalmatia.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
