Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898)
GALA'TIA, a central province of Asia Minor, subject to the Roman rule, bounded by Bithynia and Paphlagonia on the north, Pontus on the east, Cappadocia and Lycaonia on the south, and Phrygia on the west. Its boundaries, however, were often changed. In Ptolemy's time it extended to the Euxine or Black Sea, and at one time included Lycaonia on the south. Its capitals were Tavium, Pessinus, and Ancyra. The country is chiefly high tableland between the two rivers Halys and Sangarius.
The Galatians were originally Gauls or Celts who 300 years before Christ moved from the regions of the Rhine back toward the east, and there mingled with Greeks and Jews. Their character resembled that of the modern French, and combined quick temper, prompt action, inconstancy, and changeableness. So they appear in the Epistle of Paul to them. Galatia was a part of Paul's missionary-field. He visited it once with Silas and Timothy, Acts 16:6; again, on his third tour, he "went over all the country of Galatia," Acts 18:23, and received a collection for the saints from its churches, 1 Cor 16:1.
Crescens also appears to have been sent there near the close of Paul's life. 2 Tim 4:10.