to'-par-ki, top'-ar-ki (toparchia): the King James Version renders this Greek word by "government" in 1 Macc 11:28 (the King James Version margin and the Revised Version (British and American) "province"). It denotes a small administrative district corresponding to the modern Turkish Nahieh, administered by a Mudir. Three such districts were detached from the country of Samaria and added to Judea. Elsewhere (1 Macc 10:30; 11:34) the word used to describe them is nomos. Some idea of the size of these districts may be gathered from the fact that Judea was divided into ten (Pliny v.14) or eleven (BJ, III, iii, 5) toparchies.

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

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