TOPARCHY tŏp’ är kĭ (τοπαρχία, a place [topos] of a ruler [archon]). A small district ruled by a toparch.

The word is not found in the NT but occurs in 1 Maccabees 11:28 (fn. ASV), for three small territories that were detached from Samaria and added to Judea in the Maccabean period. Later these were confirmed to Jonathan Maccabaeus by Demetrius II Nicator.

Pliny (v. 14) says that Judea was divided into ten toparchies. Josephus (Jos. War III. iii. 5) says there were eleven. Since the area of Judea as a whole was very limited, it will readily be seen that these administrative districts were definitely small in size.