Chapter VIII: The Second and Third Missionary Tours

=1.= A. D. 53. =A few days afterward=, Acts 15:36, Paul and Silas set out upon a second journey. The expressed object was to revisit the churches they had planted. Barnabas preferred his nephew as companion; but Paul, fearing that the desertion which had previously taken place on the part of Mark might be repeated, preferred to associate himself with Silas.

Barnabas and Mark left for Cyprus, while Paul and Silas started for Derbe, not as before by sea, but northward, by land, across the mountain known as Amanus, the pass of this range being about twenty miles north of Antioch in Syria. This pass is now known as that of Beilan, which lets the traveller down upon the famous plain of Issus, where, B. C. 333, Alexander the Great had met and defeated the Persian king Darius. Crossing this plain to the extreme northeastern end of the Mediterranean, now called the Gulf of Iskanderun (or Alexandretta), an additional distance of about twenty-five or thirty miles from the mountain pass, they had then the towns of Mopsuesta and Tarsus on the Roman road on the plain directly west as they turned around the corner of the coast.[194]

=2. It appears, however=, that they soon reached the pass north of Tarsus, by which they made their ascent to the great high tableland. This pass was probably that of the so-called “Silician Gates,” twenty-two or twenty-three miles north of Tarsus, at the top of which is the supposed site of Derbe, about fifty miles a little north of west, upon the great plain we have before described.

=3. From Derbe they passed= westward to Lystra. Here Paul found Timothy, a young convert from the last visit, as mentioned, Acts 16. Thence they came to Iconium.

They now left the former route, and judging from the direction of the old roads and general routes of travel between important cities at that time, it is probable that their course was through Laodicea (now called Ladik),[195] Philomelium, and Synnada, the last two known at present as Ak-sher and Eski Kara-hisser, or the “old black castle.”

Ladik is twenty-four or five miles northwest of Iconium and has many remains of antiquity. It is now a small place of only 500 inhabitants. Ak-sher, or the “white city” of the Turks, is about sixty-five miles northwest of Iconium and contains about 1,500 houses, and is the Philomelium of Strabo, the geographer. There is a remarkable salt lake ten miles north of it, which is dry in summer and affords much salt at that season, but in the winter is full and extends some twenty or thirty miles westward.

=4. The next point= which seems to have been on the course of travel was near the great centre of the present opium manufacture of Asia Minor, namely, the place called “the opium black castle,” or Aphium Kara-hissar of the Turks. This place is on the northern base of a hill on the south side of the river of the Ak-sher lake before spoken of. This river is a small stream whose source is in the hills west of the town, but it is lost in the lake, having no other outlet. Very fine marble quarries existed in this region in ancient times.[196]

=5. From this place= it is thought probable, judging, as we have said, from the lines of travel well known in those days, that the missionaries went northeastward, first to Pessinus, now Bali-hissar, and then Ancyra, the present Angora, famous for its fine-haired goats and containing a population of perhaps 35,000. But nothing is known certainly of the exact places visited, only that it is stated they went “throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia,” and then probably on the same route back to Synnada, and “passing by,” that is on the borders of Mysia, came down to Troas.

=6. Troas= was at this time a very important seaport on the northwest of Asia Minor near the site of ancient Troy and opposite the southeast extremity of the island of Tenedos, four miles distant. It is now called Eski Stamboul, i. e., Old Constantinople.

=7. From here= Paul and Silas set sail directly towards Samothrace, an island in the Ægean Sea northwest from Troas, and landed at Neapolis on the shore of Macedonia. Thence they travelled about twelve miles north to Philippi, which was a Roman military colony. Here the events occurred which are described in Acts 16:12‒40.

=8. From Philippi= the travellers took the Roman road to Amphipolis. This city stood on high ground about three miles from the sea and thirty-three from Philippi. It was colonized by Athenians and called Amphipolis from being nearly surrounded by the river Strymon.

=9. The next point= reached was Apollonia, but the exact location is not known. It is laid down in some of the ancient itineraries as being thirty miles from Amphipolis. Thence they travelled to Thessalonica, thirty-seven miles distant from Apollonia. This was a very important place and is even now second only to Constantinople. Its present name is Saloniki and it is at the head of the Thermaic Gulf. It was a busy commercial town at the time of the visit of the two missionaries. Here Paul and Silas remained for several weeks, publicly explaining and proving the new doctrines of the gospel, Acts 17:1‒10.

=10. Opposition from the Jews= arising, they left for Berœa. Berœa is now called Verria, and is sixty miles west by north from Thessalonica. It is a large town at present, having some 20,000 inhabitants. Here the usual vexation and opposition on the part of the Jews made it necessary that the apostle Paul should leave the town, and at night and alone he went down to the seashore to a shipping town about twenty-five miles distant, called Dium, and from thence he set sail for Athens, which was by sea about 270 miles distant. We now may read the history as recorded in Acts 17.

=11. Athens at the time= of the apostle’s visit was included in the Roman province of Achaia. It was not then in its palmiest days of prosperity, but it was nevertheless the centre of art and learning and a city of great voluptuousness and idolatry. It contained one large _Agora_, “the market” or place of assembling of its citizens, a large square or open place which not only contained but was surrounded by the finest sculptures and buildings perhaps at that time existing in the world. The apostle came here alone, 1 Thess. 3:1, and while waiting for his companions he met and preached to many in the Agora, until he attracted so much attention that he was invited to the great assembling-place on the north of the Agora called the Areopagus, where the most important court or council of the Areopagus was held. Solon gave the court censorial and political powers, but St. Paul was called here more because of the curious desire of the Athenians to hear about this new doctrine. At this place he delivered that masterly address recorded in Acts 17.[197]

His labors at Athens did not meet with much success, although some were persuaded and believed, and one of the court itself, Dionysius by name, who afterwards became a bishop of a Christian community formed there. Paul soon left Athens for Corinth.[198]

=12. Corinth= was a rival of Athens in luxury and magnificence, in commerce and in wealth, and was perhaps even in art second only to Athens. It was situated upon the isthmus of the Peloponnesus and noted for its Acropolis, built upon an elevation 1,886 feet above the city on the south. It was sacked and nearly destroyed by the Romans, B. C. 146, and nearly all the treasures of art were carried to Rome, but the city was restored under Julius Cæsar. Only a few ruins remain. The modern town is on the Gulf of Corinth, three miles north from the site of the old city, and contains about 2,600 inhabitants. It is 45 miles a little south of due west from Athens.[199] Here Paul remained for nearly two years, A. D. 52, 53, and preached with great success; and while here he wrote the Epistle to the Thessalonians[200] and planted other churches in Achaia, 2 Cor. 1:1.

=13. Cenchreæ= was five and a half miles east-southeast of Corinth on the shore of the Gulf of Ægina. It was an important port at the time when the apostle visited it. At present it is called Kekriais[201] and is not inhabited; the only remains are of an ancient dry dock. From this place Paul set sail for Ephesus, 235 miles almost due east.

=14. Ephesus= is 35 miles south-southeast from Smyrna, near where the river Cayster empties into the Gulf of Scala Nova. It was the capital of Ionia and had one of the seven churches mentioned in the book of Revelation. The ruins which remain consist chiefly of a magnificent theatre, supposed to be large enough to accommodate 30,000 people, a stadium or gymnasium, besides walls and towers and remains of the temple of Diana, for which it was most famous. The worship of Diana was attended with the study and practice of magic in various forms, and the “magical letters” spoken of by many classic authors[202] as “Ephesian letters” were in use at the time of the apostle’s visit. The temple was in its splendor also at that time.[203]

On this the first visit, A. D. 54, of the apostle to Ephesus he remained but a short time, and then departed for Jerusalem, Acts 18:19‒21, and thence down to Antioch.

THE THIRD MISSIONARY TOUR.

=15. In this tour the starting-place= was at Antioch, as in the former tour. The churches planted in Galatia and Phrygia were visited, perhaps on the line of travel previously chosen, and then a course was taken direct to Ephesus, which now became the centre of the apostle’s labors, A. D. 54‒57.

=16.= It was at the close of this visit that the remarkable tumult described in Acts 19 took place, A. D. 57.

Paul now left Ephesus for Philippi by Neapolis, as in the previous journey, and thence to Thessalonica and Berœa, and onward by land to Corinth, a journey of about 220 miles through Thessaly and Achaia.

=17.= But it seems, Rom. 15:19, that at Thessalonica Paul resolved to visit the lands west of Macedonia as far as Illyricum. This was probably in the summer of A. D. 57, and perhaps the autumn. The journey was along the Roman road to Dyrrachium, about 200 miles, and across several ranges of mountains.

While at Dyrrachium it is probable he made a tour about 170 miles to the south to Neapolis, on the Bay of Arta, and returning by the city Apollonia on the Adriatic, came back to Berœa and thence to Corinth. The region which he visited was that Dalmatia referred to in 2 Tim. 4:10. Dalmatia was included in the greater region of Illyricum, and was upon the shore of the Adriatic, being contiguous to Mœsia on the north and Macedonia on the east.

=18. After wintering at Corinth=, Paul with several friends, Acts 20:4, returned to Achaia, Berœa, and the towns previously visited, to Neapolis, and thence by sea to Troas. At this place the events stated in Acts 20 took place.

Remaining a short time at Troas while his companions took ship, Paul walked across the promontory to Assos, about 25 miles distant by the road, and arrived in time to meet the ship, which had to stop at that city. The place Assos is now a small village known by the name Beiram.

=19. From this place= they sailed by Mitylene, the capital of the island of the same name, now called Lesbos. Going between the islands and the shore, they passed Chios, Samos, and the promontory and cape at Trogyllium on the then Ionian coast. At Miletus Paul stopped and sent for the elders at Ephesus while the vessel was exchanging freight. Miletus is about 50 miles south of Ephesus. Passing Cos, which is about 55 miles from Miletus, and then the island of Rhodes, they put into Patera in Lycia, which was a seaport of the town of Xanthus, famous for its oracle. Thence, taking another vessel, Acts 21:2, Paul sailed directly for Tyre, on the Phœnician coast. From this city he and his party sailed for Ptolemais, 28 miles southward, where the sea voyage ended.

=20. The rest of the journey= to Jerusalem was on foot by Cæsarea. The occurrences at Cæsarea are narrated in Acts 21, and on his arrival at Jerusalem Paul was seized in the Temple by a mob comprised of resident Jews, urged on by some who were in attendance upon the feast from foreign parts who had seen Paul abroad in some Asiatic place.

Paul was now protected by the military interference of the Roman chief “captain of the band” stationed at the Temple. The history is minutely given us in Acts 21:32‒40. By the order of Festus the governor, called the procurator of Judæa, who succeeded Felix A. D. 61, Paul was taken to Cæsarea.

=21. On Paul’s appeal to Cæsar= he was taken on board a vessel sailing from Cæsarea and committed to the care of a centurion, Acts 27:1.

The course of the vessel, as stated Acts 27, was first to Sidon, where a short stay was made. Then “under Cyprus,” that is to the east of the island, as the winds were from the northwest and contrary, they “tacked” to Myra, a city of Lycia. This city stands upon a hill about two miles back from the shore. It is now called by its ancient name by the Greeks. Its port is Andriaca.

=22. The course thence= was to Cnidus, which is at the western end of a peninsula between the islands Rhodes and Cos; there they changed their course to the southward and passed Cape Salmone, on the extreme east of the island of Crete. The wind now was more ahead, that is, against them. Hence they “hardly,” meaning “with difficulty,” reached Fair Havens, near which was the city of Lasea. It is ninety miles from Cnidus to Cape Salmone and seventy from Salmone to Lasea. The island of Crete is 160 miles long, and they remained under Crete and near the shore, hoping to reach Phœnice, which is about forty miles from Lasea.

=23. They had not sailed= more than about twenty miles before the wind, which had been from the south, changed around and blew so violently from the east that the vessel became unmanageable and they “let her drive.” The course was now west by north seven degrees, and this course was kept from Clauda to Melita, about 500 miles. Clauda is south of Crete twenty miles.

MALTA.

=24. Malta= is the largest of a group of islands, the one at that time called Melita, now Malta, being the easternmost. The shore is almost entirely precipitous; two or three small bays are found on the northern shore, one of which is supposed to be that into which Paul’s ship was driven. It is fifteen miles from the eastern end of the island, which is twenty miles in length, and this is the only bay on that side with a stream emptying into its waters. The stream is only a very small brook coming down from a source in the southwest. It was running in November when the writer visited the locality.

=25. Acts 27:27 to 28:10= should be read in this connection. The island of Malta contains many ancient remains of Phœnician, Greek, and Gothic construction. In the Library at Valetta are three medals and other objects found on the island said to contain Phœnician letters, and Sir W. Drummond has translated a Punic legend found on a square stone in a sepulchral cave which states that it marks the burial-place of Hannibal.

=26. After three months’ stay= on this island Paul’s company proceeded on their way to Rome, stopping at Syracuse three days. Syracuse at this time seems to have been very populous. It was on the eastern part of Sicily and on the coast, and was the residence, at various times, of some of the most celebrated philosophers and poets, Plato, Simonides, Zeno, and Cicero; and here Archimedes lost his life at the capture of the city by the Romans.

=27. Thence the vessel= passed to Rhegium, now called Reggio (pronounced red´jo). This place, in Calabria, is the southernmost city and seaport of Italy, and was once a renowned city eight miles southeast of Messina across the strait of the same name. It has a population now of about 20,000.

=28. The next day= they came to Puteoli, now Pozzuoli (pronounced pot-soo-o´-lee) on a gulf of the same name seven miles southwest of Naples. Its vicinity was celebrated as the residence of wealthy Romans and the port was an important one. But the land has sunken, as the writer found many evidences that parts of the ancient city were covered with the waters of the sea.

=29. The main Roman road=, called the Appian Way, was now taken, upon which was the marketplace called Apii Forum, forty-three miles from Rome. Its site is supposed to be marked by some ruins near Treponti. Farther on was a place called the “Three Taverns,” about thirty-three Roman miles from the city and near the present Cisterna.