Study Guide

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PAUL 1

Table of Contents

Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Troas 4 and 7 Amphipolis 8 Apollonia 12 14 Corinth 17 37 40 41 Malta 45 Mars Hill 49 Neapolis 54 Nicopolis 58 61 64 66 72 / Samothraki 79 81 - Berea 94

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Introduction

“ In the first century, Christianity was a community of believers. Then Christianity moved to Greece and became a philosophy. Then it moved to Rome and became an institution. Then it moved to Europe and became a culture. And then it move to America and became a business.” - Priscilla Shirer

Shaul / Paul went to Greece within the framework of his second and third journeys. It was during a night gourd 49 A.D., when Shaul / Paul, while at Troas of Asia Minor, had a vision in which he saw a man of who called him to carry on with his work in the this man’s homeland:

Come over into M acedonia, and help us.

It is worth noting that this divine intervention, which Shaul/ Paul with his fellow laborers , Titus and Timothy took as an invitation from the Lord to make the message of His Gospel know to that area, was not the first. Their arrival at Troas and, as a consequence, their turn westwards and more specifically to Greece had become manifest on two further occasions during this second journey of Shaul / Paul.

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On the first occasion, when the left Iconium, they were prevented by the Holy Spirit from turning eastwards, to Asia, and as a result they finally headed for the regions of and central . As they reached the borders of wishing to carry on northwards, to the region of , the Holy Spirit again did not let them, and as a result they reached the tow of Torah passing by the region of Mysia. “Sailing from Troas, we made a straight run to Samothrace; the next day we went to Neapolis; and from there, we went on to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that part of Macedonia. We spent a few days in this city; …” - Acts 16:11-12

Alexandria Troas

Alexandria Troas also known simply as Troas is the site of an city that is situated on the Aegwan Sea, close to the northern tip of ’s western coast, a little south of ( Bozcaada ), southeast of modern Dalyan, a village in the Eznine district of Canakkale Province.

Hellenistic Period First called Sigeia ( According to Strabo ), Antigonus re-founded the city in 306BC as the much – expanded Antigonia Troas with it being settled by people of five other towns in Sigeia, Neandreia being one of them. Even though it is stated in the 4th-5th AD Tabula Peutingeriana that the name was changed from to Alexandria Troas in 301 BC, Pliny stated that in his view the name was Antigonia to Alexandria. Being the chief port of the north-west Asia minor routes, Troas prospered greatly in Greek times, becoming a “ free and autonomous city “ as early as 188 BC with the existing remains attesting its importance. At its peak, the city had a population of 100,000 with Strabo mentioning that a Roman colony was created in the reign of named Colonia Alexandria Augusta Troas. Augusts, Hadrian and Herodes Atticus influenced its embellishment greatly with the aqueduct still being preserved due to the latter. In its heyday the city may have

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PAUL 4 had a population of about 100,000.[4] Strabo mentions that a Roman colony was created at the location in the reign of Augustus, named Colonia Alexandria Augusta Troas (called simply Troas during this period). Augustus, Hadrian and the rich grammarian Herodes Atticus contributed greatly to its embellishment; the aqueduct still preserved is due to the latter.

Roman Being a significant port for travelling between and Europe allowed Paul of Tarsus to so into Europe for the first time from Troas and then return again, with the episode of the raising of Eutychus later occuring. Before going to his martyrdom at Rome, Ingatius of stopped by Troas.

Byzantine Bishops:

Marinus ( 325 )

Niconius ( 344 )

th Sylvanus ( Beginning of the 5 century )

Pionius ( 451 )

Leo ( 787 )

th Peter ( 9 century ) Being given as a suffragan of Cyzicus in the 10th century, it is still unknown when the city was destroyed and the diocese disappeared Troas is a titular see of the Catholic and the Orthodox Church.

Ottoman

In the 14th century, Karasid Turkomans settled in the area with their beylik being conquered by the Ottomans in 1336, with its ruins becoming known to the as Eski Stambul and the stones were plundered for building materials.

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Interesting Facts:

ruined bath

an odeon

a theatre,

gymnasium complex

 and a recently uncovered stadion.

The circuit of the old walls can still be traced.

Constantine considered making Troas the capital of the .

Amphipolis and Apollonia

On the way to Thessaloniki, next stop on his journey, Shaul/ Paul will go through the towns of Amphipolis and Apollonia. The Book of Acts does not preserve anything extraordinary regarding these towns. Yet they both enjoyed a highly significant strategic and commercial position right on the road axis of the Via Enatia. More specifically, Amphipolis, the first town through which Shaul/ Paul passed on his way form Philippis to Thessaloniki, constituted the capital of the first administrative unit of Macedonia in those times. It owes its name to the fact that the river flowed around the city on both sides of it. Archaeologists have discovered many milestones with the name of that town inscribed upon them; this implies that during Roman Antiquity it must have

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PAUL 6 been a significant stopping placed along the . This is obviously the reason why it is also mentioned int he Book of Acts. Today the famous dominates the area of ancient Amphipolis and more specifically the western bank of the river Strymon: dating back to the 4th century A.D., it seems to have been erected on that particular spot either to commemorate an unidentified military victory or as a funerary moneymen decorating the tomb of some prominent dead person. Other important findings include the five christian basilicas (5th - 6th centuries A.D.) and what is said to have been the bishops residence (4th century A.D.), which proves that Amphipolis must have constituted an significant christian center during early christian times.

On the other hand, there is no further relevant information regarding the town of Apollonia, apart from he facts that its history begins in 432 B.C. , when it was founded by king Philip I of Macedon and that it constituted one of the most important towns of the wider territory of Mygdonia. It is south of the and at a distance of ca. 30 kim from the Strymonic Gulf, very close to Olynthus, another important town of Macedonia. Today, on the outskirts of the village of Apollonia (Pollina) a simple rock is shown, which , according tot he oral local tradition, marked the point from which Shaul/ Paul preached the Gospel to the inhabitants of the town, when he and his fellow laborers passed through on their way to Thessaloniki.

Amphipolis

Amphipolis is an Ancient Greek city, later turned Roman whose remains can still be seen today. Being an Athenian colony meant that it was a seat in the battle between and Athens in 422 BC, with preparing his campaigns to Asia from here. Three of his finest , Nearchus, Androsthenes and Laomedon, resided here while also being the place where Roxana and Alexander IV, Alexander the Great’s wife and child got exiled and murdered.

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Excavations have revealed buildings, ancient walls and tombs with the finds being displayed at the archaeological museum of Amphipolis. Near the Kasta burial mound, an ancient Macedonian tomb has been found and the Lion of Amphipolis monument is a popular destination.

Origins

Its origins go back to the 5th century BC when Athens was seeking to solidify its control over due to its primary materials, gold and silver of the Pangaion Hills and the dense forests for naval construction, and the sea routes that were vital for the supply of grain from Scythia to Athens. The first attempt in 497 BC by Milesian Tyrant Histiaeus ended with the colony at Ennea-Hodoi being founded in 465 BC and the massacre of ten thousand Athenians by the . The Second attempt in 437 BC under Hagnon, son of Nicias, was successful. Even though the Athenian population was the minority, the city was still the main power base of the Athenians in Thrace and the perfect target for the Spartans who easily took over the city in 424 BC under General Brasidas.

Thucylides, Athenian general and later historian, led a rescue expedition and ended up only securing Eion and was then exiled for the failure of Amphipolis. Cleon, another Athenian general led another attack in 422 BC and failed once again with the death of both him and Brasidas as a result. Brasidas was given an impressive pomp and is considered the founder of the city, being honoured with annual games and sacrifices.

M acedonian rule

With the age of Macedonia coming in, King Philip II in 357 BC successfully captured the city and removed the obstacle which Amphipolis presented. According to Theopompus, a historian, a secret accord was struck between Philip II and Athens that he would return the city to them once he took it and they would give him the fortified town of Pydna yet he turned on his word and layed siege on Pydna as well.

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The city kept a degree of autonomy and some of its institutions before being “Macedonianized” after Philip sent a number of Macedonian governors and replacing the calendar and currency with the Macedonian equivalent. During the reign of Alexander the Great, the city was a major naval base and birthplace of three of the most famous Macedonian admirals, Nearchus, Androsthenes and Laomedon, whose burial places are most likely marked by the lion of Amphipolis. The use of 1,500 talents to built a large luxurious temple showed the importance of the city while also being the place where preparation for campaigns against Thrace in 355 BC and the invasion of Asia happened.

Conquest by the Romans

After the Battle of Pydna in 168 BC, with the victory going to the Romans, Amphipolis became the capital of one of the four mini- republics which were created by the Romans out of the Kingdom of Antigonids which succeded Alexander’s Empire in Macedon. It slowly was incorporated into the Roman client state and later province of Thracia. Biblical accounts say that Paul and Silas passed through Amphipolis in the early 50 AD.

Revival in Late Antiquity

Shown by the large number of Christian churches, Amphipolis benefited from the increasing economic prosperity of Macedonia in the Late Antiquity. Evidence of the population diminishing and that the large fortified perimeter of the ancient town was no longer defendable can be seen by the fact that the churches were built within the restricted area of the town.

The Tomb of Amphipolis

In 2012 Greek archaeologists unearthed a large tomb within the Kasta Hill, the biggest burial mound in Greece, northeast of Amphipolis. The

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PAUL 9 large size of the tumulus indicates the prominence of the burials made there. The perimeter wall of the tumulus is made of limestone covered with marble.

The tomb comprises three chambers separated by walls. There are two sphinxes just outside the entrance to the tomb. Two of the columns supporting the roof in the first section are in the form of Caryatids, in the 4th century BC style. The excavation revealed a pebble mosaic showing the abduction of Persephone by Hades directly behind the Caryatids and in front of the Macedonian marble door leading to the "third" chamber. Hades' chariot is drawn by two white horses and led to the underworld by Hermes. The mosaic verifies the Macedonian character of the tomb. As the head of one of the sphinxes was found inside the tomb behind the broken door, it is clear that there were intruders, probably in antiquity.

The identity of the burial remains unknown and the excavation is continuing. Dr. Katerina , the archaeologist heading the excavation of the tomb, dates the tomb to the late 4th century BC, the period after the death of Alexander the Great.

In November 2017, the Greek Minister of Culture, Koniordou, announced that the grave should be accessible to the public in about three years.

Questions for Reflection:

1.Do you think Paul and Silas stayed for a while in the town? 2.Do you think they preached? 3.Where were they heading and why? 4.How were they treated?

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Apollonia

Located on the right bank of the Aous river , its ruins situated in the Fier region near the village of Pojani in modern , Apollonia is an ancient Greek city. Founded in 588 BC by Greek colonists from and Corinth, on a site where the natives were Illyrian tribes and one of the most important classical towns known as Apollonia which flourished in the Roman period and became home to a renowned school of philosophy but due to the harbour silting up as a result of an earthquake, a decline started in the 3rd century AD before being abandoned by the end of Late Antiquity. History Laying on the territory of the Taulantii with a cluster of Illyrian tribes remaining closely involved with the settlement for ages and lived with the Greek colonists. The original name was said to be Gylakeia after the founder Gylax though it was later changed to Apollonia in honour of the Greek god Apollo. Due to the development of agriculture, its geographical location, the arrival of expatriatesfrom Hellenistic cities of Kikys and Dyspont the city grew quickly and became rich. Considered to be an important example of the oligarchic system by due to the descendants of the Greek colonists controlling the city and helping to learn how to govern. The city grew prosperous due to its use of slave trade, local agriculture and its harbour which could hold up to one hundred ships which were caulked with asphalt. In 2006 it was reported that the remains of a late sixth century temple was found just outside the city making it one of the only five known stone temples found in Albania. Through archaeological objects we can see that the local population had a role in the social and political life of the city.

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Being the most convenient link between Brundusium and and one of the western starting points of the Via Egnatia that lead east to Thessaloniki and in Thrace, Apollonia became an important port in the Illyrian coast just like Dyrrachium. The city had its own mint, coins with a cow suckling her calf on the observe and a double stellate pattern on the reverse.

Once under the control in 229 BC, it became fiercely loyal and was rewarded in 168 BC with the treasures seized from Gentius the defeated king of Illyria. 148 BC, the city became apart of the Roman province of Macedonia, more specifically the Nova. Supporting in the Roman Civil War between and the previously mentioned Emperor, it fell in 48 BC to Marcus Iunius Brutus. Four years later in 44 BC Roman emperor Agugustus studied there under the tutelage of Athenodorus of Tarsus, it being the place where he heard of Caesar’s murder.

Interesting Facts:

Apollonia is also a titular see of the Latin Church.

. There were 24 other cities named Apollo, but Illyria's Apollo was the most important and played a major role as a trading intermediary between the Hellenists and the Illyrians

“ Shaul’s escort went with him as far as Athens, then left with instructions for Sila and Timothy to come as quickly as they could.” - Acts 17:15

Athens

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Shaul/ Paul arrived at Athens by sea. According to the book of Acts, the God-Fearers and believers who smuggled Shaul/ Paul out of their city obviously led him to one of the closest ports either Methoni, which is considered to have been the most likely option, or at Pydna or even at Dion. Respectively, we are not certain about the exact point of Shaul’s/ Paul’s disembarkation either. The port of presents itself as the most reasonable possibility, although it has been argued, and indeed quite strongly, that the ship which brought Shaul/ Paul to Athens put in at Phaliron, near the point where the small church of st george of palaio. Philip is found today and where a related monument has also been constructed.

At the time when Shaul/ Paul visited it, Athens lived in the shadow of its glory, as there was barely anything left to remind of its former Glamour. Its destruction in 86 B.C. by Silas had led to its decline. Cities such as the capital of the empire, Rome, or Alexandria or even Tarsus, Shaul’s/ Paul’s own birthplace, were more significant centers of learning and philosophy than Athens. Nonetheless, the once powerful city of still exerted a certain charm over the entire world and many prominent Romans thought it an honor to live in Athens even for a short while. Therefore, many were those who used to send their children to study in that city. On the administrative score, Athens enjoyed the status of tax-free city, as it was exempted from pay taxes to Rome, while it was been granted the right to exert the judicial power over its citizens.

The book of Acts mentions the existence of a Jewish (Hebrew) synagogue as well as of a number of those who trusted in Yeshua (Jesus). Yet the interest here is for the first time not focused on Shaul’s/ Paul’s preachings to the Jews (Hebrews) and the God-fearers of the ci ty as much as on the Gentile population. Shaul/ Paul is presented as innerly upset [“ his spirit was stirred in him” ] at seeing the city of Athens wholly given to Idolatry, something which seems to have monopolized his discussions both at the synagogue and in the Agora of

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PAUL 13 the city with those he met with, among whom, as is stated, were also certain philosophers of the Epicureans and of the Stoics, in other terms la cre’me de la creme of the city intelligentsia. These discussions on the subjects of Yeshua (Jesus) and the Resurrection were precisely what eventually brought him to the Areopagus as an alleged “ babbler” , namely as a “ setter forth” of novel religious ideas and perceptions, in order to explain what this new doctrine that he preached was.

it is not clear whether Shaul’s/ Paul’s referral to the Areopagus led to a trial or was just an invitation to debate with the sages of Athens so that further insights or some kind fo an elaboration might be provided into what Shaul/ Paul “ disputed” in the Agora. At any rate, the fact remains that the jurisdiction of the Areopagus, as administrative and judicial institution in those times, also included the scrutiny of foreign cults, while the term “ babbler” used in Acts regarding Shaul’s/ Paul’s designation by the Athenians seems to be in favor of the scenario that the famous message of Shaul/ Paul on the Areopagus was some kind of plea in response to such a kind of scrutiny. Undoubtedly, Shaul’s/ Paul’s message about the resurrection of the dead must have aroused the interest of the Athenians, since it went one step beyond the familiar Platonic teaching of the immortality of the soul. Nonetheless, what is impressive about Shaul’s/ Paul’s message in Athens and marks it out compared to that in other Greek cities is, on the one hand, the tolerant, investigatory and academic treatment of Shaul/ Paul by the Athenians and, on the part of the Athenians, and on the other, their clearly more courteous behavior to him. As quite a few researchers rightly point out, the picture given by Shaul’s/ Paul’s messages in Athens is one of “ intellectual arrogance” on the part of the Athenians, an experience which obviously led Shaul/ Paul to note in 1 Corinthians, later, that, because the seek after wisdom, what we preach, Christ crucified and Risen, is “ foolishness” to them by virtue of philosophy and reason (1 Cor: 1:22- 23 : “ For the Jews (Hebrews) require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: but we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews (Hebrews) a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness;” }.

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According to the narrative in Acts, Shaul/ Paul starts his famous message to the Athenians by using as a springboard the existence of an altar devoted “ to the unknown god” in the city. Apart from relevant reference in works of the ancient literature [such as Philostratus and Pausanias], it is a fact that the archaeological pickaxe too has confirmed this piety and religiosity of the Athenians, having brought to light many such inscriptions, with the difference, though, that they all refer to unknown god (in plural) and not to one god, as is stated in the book of Acts. Although the possibility of a new, different finding cannot be excluded in the future, this slight departure from the narrative of Acts can be justified easily, on the one hand, by the fact that all pagan religions in those time were exclusively polytheistic and, on the other; by the edge that Shaul/ Paul wished to give to his messages, since it was bound to have a clearly monotheistic content.

Acts simply mention the Areios Pagos as the place where Shaul’s/ Paul’s message were delivered. In other terms, it is not clear whether it took place on the hill of the same name opposite the or before the body of the Assembly, which, as is know, convened, is the so-called Basileios [i.e. Royal] Stoa, next to the Agora. Whether on top of the hill, though, or in the Basileios Stoa, Shaul’s/ Paul’s teaching of the resurrection of the dead, “ some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter” , in a demeaning manner. Nonetheless, Shaul’s/ Paul’s endeavor does not seem to have been totally fruitless: “ howbeit certain men craved unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the Areaite, and a woman named Damaris, […]” . Dionysius the Areopagite became one of the first leaders of Athens and patron saint of the city.

“ After this, Shaul/Paul left Athens and went to Corinth,” - Acts 18:1

Corinth

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Shaul’s/ Paul’s next stop after Athens was Corinth, the capital of the Roman province of Achaia, which compromised the and (Sterea Hellas). At the time when Shaul/ Paul visited it, Corinth was the largest city of Greece and one of the largest in the Easter Mediterranean, with a population reaching 200,000 free citizens and 400,00 servants. However; it should be made clear that the Corinth visited by Shaul/ Paul was not the ancient Geek city but the Roman colony founding in 44 B.C. by Julius Caesar on the ruins which another descendant of Aeneas, the Roman consul Lucius Mummius, left behind him in 146 B.C. thus avenging the race of Troy by razing the city which at the time of the was the seat of the Achaean League.

The strategic position of the city, as all the roads to and from the Peloponnese brought to it, its two closest seaports, Lechaion in the Corinthians Gulf and Cenchreai in the , through which it essentially controlled the whole of the trade between Italy and Asia Minor (West-East), as well as, oversaw the North-South axis soon brought the city back to its former glory. As a result, at the time when Shaul/ Paul visited it, it was already the most important trade center of Greece again.

Although no specific mention is made in the book of Acts, Shaul/ Paul must have reached Corinth from Athens by Sea. The sea journey was clearly easier than the laborious journey by land, which was also more dangerous because of robbers. So Shaul/ Paul must have boarded a ship int he port of Piraeus, and from there must have proceeded to Cenchreai, the nearest port of Corinth in the Saronic Gulf, ca. 7 km southeast of the city.

Acts states that upon arriving at Corinth Shaul/ Paul did not address himself to the Gentile population, as he had done in Athens, but found refuge among his fellow Jews (Hebrews) of the city. Among them there was Aquila, a Jew (Hebrew) from , who, together with his wife Priscilla, had recently

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PAUL 16 come to Corinth from Rome. Shaul/ Paul “ abode with them” and , as they were of the same craft, tentmakers (Talit), he worked with them.

Shaul/ Paul is present as speaking in the synagogue every Sabbath, trying to persuade both the Jews (Hebrews) and the Greeks (obviously God-Fearers). The arrival of his companions Silas and Timothy from Veria gave new impetus to his kerygmatic activity, as the Athens experience seems to have disappointed and worn him down. Moreover; here too there was little response not he part of the Jews (Hebrews) in the synagogue, as most of them set themselves out against him, insulting him. This behavior of the Jews (Hebrews) caused Shaul’s/ Paul’s indignation, so he symbolically “ shook his raiment” to show that he wanted nothing to do with them anymore and turned to the Gentile God- fearers. He taught from new headquarters now, the house of Tutius Justus, which indeed was right next to the synagogue, “ and Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house” among the first. According to Acts, “ many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were immersed” . Indeed, in Corinth Shaul/ Paul was to be strengthened in his work by a vision, in which the Lord urged him not to be arias but to continue teaching the Gospel to the city and said to him that He was with him and that no man would attack him and hurt him, since those who expected his messages ere numerous. In effect, when the Jews (Hebrews) of the city rose against him and brought him before Gallio, proconsul of Achaia who had his seat in Corinth, accusing him that he tried to persuade men to worship God in a manner which was contrary to the Mosaic Law, before even Shaul/ Paul had a chance to open his mouth to defend himself, Gallio dismissed him by declaring that the resolution of such matters was outside his remit.

Shaul/ Paul remained at Corinth teaching the word of God for one and half years, the longest time span than in any other city in Greece. Moreover, he seems to have loved Corinth and the members of the local community of faith there, with whom he kept in touch also during his subsequent journeys. Later on, he sent out four or more letters, two of which are part of the Canon of the

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New Testament 1 and 2 Corinthians. While it was in Corinth that he also wrote four of his other letters to the Romans, to the Galatians, and the two to the Thessalonians. Shaul/ Paul was to visit Corinth again within the framework of his third journey to stay there for almost three moths, as well as during what is said to have been his fourth journey.

Today, the archaeological site of constitutes one of the largest and most significant ones in Greece, while several important finds are kept in the local archaeological museum. Indeed, it is worth noting that many of the buildings and other monuments preserved today within the main archaeological site were either already standing or under construction at the time of Shaul’s/ Paul’s first visit to the city, such as the archaic temple, the sacred spring, the fountain of glauke, the temple of hera akrasia, the so-called Northern Roman Agora, the Theatre, the Lechaion Road, the famous Tribune, etc. The building of the famous synagogue has not been found. However, Jewish (Hebrew) presence in the city is confirmed by archaeological evidence, namely the remains of two steles, on the first of which the following inscription has been preserved fragmentarily: (syngagogue of the Hebrews), while on the second one can see a ritual decoration with three seven-lamp menorahs, palm and etrog branches, although this latter dates to the 4th-5th centuries A.D., in other terms to a time later than Shaul’s/ Paul’s visit to the city.

Finally, a highly significant finding in the archaeological site of Corinth is a Latin inscription found on the small square east of the theatre, dated to the first half of the 1st century A.D. This inscription was placed there in honor of a certain Erastus, steward of the city of Corinth, who sponsored the paving of the square in return for his appointment to this post. The significance of this finding consists in the fact that it must be the same Erastus mentioned in the book of Romans (16:23) as chamberlain of the city of Corinth and possibly the Erastus of Acts 19:22 and 2 Timothy (4:20), given the rarity of the name and its appearance again in relation to Shaul/ Paul (as in Acts 19:22) and the city of Corinth (2 Tim. 4:20). Another finding of similar significance, though not from

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PAUL 18 the archaeological site of Corinth but from that of Delphi is the so called inscription of Gallio, which constitutes the archaeological documentation of Shaul’s/ Paul’s reference to the Roman proconsul of the same name during his first visit to Corinth.

Ancient Corinth was a city-state or otherwise known as a polis on the Isthmus of Corinth’s, a narrow stretch of land that joined the Peloponnese to the mainland of Greece, around halfway between Athens and Sparta. Located around 5km, the modern city of Corinth is northeast of the ancient ruins, with organised archaeological investigations of the Corinth Excavation by the American School of Classical Studies in Athens starting from 1896 AD. The excavations have unearthed large parts of the ancient city and the recent excavations that were conducted by the Greek Ministry of Culture have shown us many important new facets of antiquity.

For believers of Christ, the ancient city of Corinth is famous due to the two letters of Saul or also known by Gentiles as Apostle Paul that he wrote during the continuation of the Holy Word of God that is known as “The New Testament” . These letters are titled I Corinthians and II Corinthians, with Corinth being mentioned in the Book of Acts as part of Saul’s missionary travels. Pausanias ’second book is devoted to Corinth.

Being populated by 90,000 in 400 BC, Ancient Corinth was one of the largest and most important cities of Greece which was demolished in 146 BC by the Romans who then built a new city on top in 44 BC and soon became the provincial capital of Greece.

Prehistory and founding myths

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The pottery that dates back to the Neolithic age suggests that Ancient Corinth was occupied from as early as 6500 BC and continued on into the Early Bronze Age, where it was suggested that the settlement acted as a centre of trade. Taking from the lack of ceramic remains in the Early Helladic II, EHIII and MH phases, it is presumed that the area was sparsely inhabited just before the Mycenaean period. It is theorised that Ancient Corinth was not heavily populated again until 900 BC, when it was believed that the Dorians settled there.

According to myths, the city was founded by a descendant of the god Helios, the Sun god, called Corinthos. Another myth says that the goddess Ephyra who was a daughter of the Titan Oceanus, was the founder which would ‘explain ’the ancient name which was Ephyra. Evidence has shown that the city was destroyed in 2000 BC.

Following other myths we see that the name was derived from a pre- Greek “Pelasgian” language such as Korinthos, though it seems that Corinth was also a site of a Bronze Age Mycenaean palace-city, like Mycenae, Tiryns, or . Supposedly, Sisyphus was the founder of a race of ancient kings at Corinth and that Jason, the leader of the Argonauts, abandoned Medea there which during the Trojan War, as it is portrayed in the Iliad, the Corinthians were under the leadership of Agamemnon.

In an another Corinthian myth, it is said that in the 2nd century AD, Briareus who was one of the Hecatonchires, being with one hundred arms, was the arbitrator in a dispute between the god of the sea, , and the titan of the sun, Helios. The verdict was that the Isthmus of Corinth would go to Poseidon while the ( the

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PAUL 20 acropolis of Corinth ) would belong to Helios. This accounts for the archaic cult of the titan in the highest part of the site.

A spring called , Upper Peirene, is located within the walls of the acropolis and it was said to be the gift of Asopus to Sisyphus. According to myth, Asopus knew that Zeus had ravished , the daughter of Asopus, though he refused to give information to the seeker until he was given a spring on the AcroCorinthus. ( Pausanias 2.5.1 ).

Corinth under the Bacchiadae

In 8th century Greece, Corinth was a backwater city that expanded by the Bacchiadae which was a tightly-knit Doric clan and that the ruling kingship group of archaic Corinth in the 8th and the 7th centuries BC. They were ousted by an aristocratic revolution when the royl clan of Bacchiadae which numbered in the hundreds of adult males who took power from the last king Telestes. Dispensing with kingship, they ruled as a group, governing the city by annually electing a prytanis, someone who held his kingly position for his brief term, a council ( though none have been documented in the scant literary materials ) and a polemarchos who headed the army.

Large scale public buildings and monuments were constructed during the Bacchiad rule and in 733 BC, colonies were established at Corcyra and Syracues with Corinth emerging as a highly advanced Greek city with around 5,000 people in 730 BC.

According to Aristotle, Philolaus of Corinth who was a Bacchiad and a lawgiver at Thebes, became the lover of Diocles who was the winner of the Olympic games and they both lived their lives in Thebes. Their

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PAUL 21 tombs were built near one another and Philolaus ’tomb was pointing towards the Corinthian country while Diocles ’faces away.

The Bacchiadae were exiled when polemarch Cypselus obtained an oracle from Delphi which was interpreted as that he should the rule the city in 657 BC.

Corinth under the tyrants

Having removed the Bacchiad aristocracy from power and ruling for three decades, Cypselus was the first tyrant of Corinth in the 7th century. In 650 BC he built temples dedicated to Apollo and Poseidon.

The report of Aristotle says that Cypselus of Corinth made a vow that if he became master of the city, he would then offer to Zeus the entire property of the Corinthians after which he commanded them to make a return of their possessions.

Continuing under Cypselus rule and his son Periander, the city created colonies in the 7th century BC. Periander founded Apollonia in Illyria, which is known as Fier in Albania and Potidaea in Chalcidice. It was one of the nine Greek sponsor-cities to find the colony of Naukratis in Ancient , which was founded to accommodate the increasing trade volume between the Greek world and Pharaonic Egypt during the reign of Pharaoh Psammetichus I of the 26th dynasty.

A common occurrence in was that the Greek city-states tended to overthrow their traditional hereditary priest-kings, increasing wealth and complicating trade relations and social structures every time. Corinth was at the head as the richest archaic polis of the ten. To assure

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PAUL 22 the populace and to gain support so that they can be placed as kings like the signori of late medieval and Renaissance Italy, the tyrants would uphold existing laws, customs and have a strict conservatism outlook in cult practices.

Herodotus writes that the Bacchadae heard two prophecies from the oracle in Delphi, each one pointing to the son of Eetion ( Cypselus ) overthrowing their dynasty. Planning to kill the boy once he was born, his smile made it hard for them to strike him and as such he live when his mother hid him in a chest when they left to compose themselves.

History shows that Cypselus did in fact overthrow his ancestors, since the populace was discontent with their rulers, having been involved in the wars with Argos and Corcyra. Being a polemarch at that time, he was in charge of the military and used his influence with the soldiers to expel the king with his other enemies, allowing them to set up colonies in north-western Greece. Increasing the trade with the colonies in Italy and Sicily, he was a popular ruler and was a unique one because he did not need a bodyguard and died a natural death. Ruling for thirty years, he was succeeded by his son Periander in 627 BC, who came on board as a tyrant and brought Corcyra to order in 600 BC. Even though Cypselus died, the treasury that he built in Delphi was presumably still standing during the time of and the ‘chest of Cypselus ’was seen by Pausanias at Olympia in the 2nd century AD.

During his reign, Periander created the first Corinthian coins and was the first to attempt to cut across the Isthmus so that he could create a seaway between the Corinthian and the Saronic Gulfs, though he abandoned the venture due to the overpowering technical difficulties that he met, so he opted to create the Diolkos. His feats granted him the title of one of the Seven Wise Men of Greece. The era of the Cypselids is considered Corinth’s Golden Age and it ended with the nephew of Periander, Psammetichus who was named after the Hellenophile ( Friend of the Hellenic people ) Egyptian Pharaoh Psammetichus I.

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The reason that Periander’s son was not the ruler is because when Periander killed his wife Melissa and when Lycophron, his son, found out, he shunned him. Lycophron was exiled to Corcyra and was invited back to rule over Corinth on the condition that Periander himself would go to Corcyra, who did not wish Periander to be with them and as such killed his son.

Building the trireme before the Classical Age allowed Corinth to become the first ever recorded naval battle on record, the battle itself being against the Hellenic city of Corcyra. Thanks to their strategic location on the Isthmus, Corinth became wealthy due to the land traffic that had to pass en route to Peloponnese.

Classical Corinth Rivalling Athens and Thebes with their wealth due to the Isthmian traffic and trade, it was a major exporter of the well-known black-figure pottery to city-stated around the Greek world, though they lost their market after the mid-6thcentury due to the Athenian artists.

Corinth was known for its temple of Aphrodite, though more specifically for the thousand temple prostitutes, also known as hetairas, who served the wealthy and powerful officials who frequented the city, with Lais being the most famous, having tremendous fees in exchange for her favours. Horace referred to the city’s exorbitant luxuries by saying: “Non Licet Omnibus Adire Corinthum” ( “Not everyone is able to go to Corinth).

Corinth hosted the Isthmian Games and in the same era they developed the Corinthian order which was the third main style of classical architecture which was the most complicated, showing the city’s wealth and luxurious lifestyle, after the overly simplistic Doric and the well balanced Ionic.

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Having two main ports during this era granted a lot of trade for the city. One of the ports was located to the west on the Corinthian Gulf named Lechaion which connected the city to its western colonies and Magna Graecia. The other one was to the east on the Saronic Gulf, named Kenchreai which served ships coming from Athens, , and the . Both ports contained docks for the city’s large navy.

Following the Conference at the Isthmus of Corinth during 481-480 BC, the Hellenic League was established with Sparta as the head against the war with Persia. Contributing 400 soldiers to defend Thermopylae and supplying forty warships for the Battle of Salamis under Adeimantos along with 5,000 hoplites whom bore the signature Corinthians helmet in the following Battle of Plataea showed that Corinth was a major participant in the Persian Wars. Obtaining the surrender of Theban collaborators with the , Pausanias took them to Corinth and executed them.

After the Battle of Thermopylae and the Battle of Artemisium, , and became captives of the Persians resulting in most of mainland Greece to the north of the Isthmus of Corinth to be overrun. Even though Herodotus was believed to dislike the Corinthians, he still praises the Corinthians as the second best fighters after the Athenians.

Peloponnesian War: In the early 4th century BC, Corinth has a very active time. In 435 BC it went to was over Epidamnus with its colony Corcyra, then two years later in 433 BC Athens allied against Corinth with Corcyra which soon became the largest naval battle between Greek city-states at that time. The dispute between Corinth and Athens over the colony was one of the

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PAUL 25 leading factors to the , stemming from the traditional trade rivalry between the two cities.

The Corinthians eagerly allied with the three Syracusan generals and vowed to aid the Syracusans heart and soul, after which a group was sent to Lacedaemon to rouse the Spartans, who after a convincing speech from the Athenian renegade Alcibiades, the Spartans allied and sent troops to the Sicilians.

Due to Sparta refusing to destroy Athens in 404 BC, the Corinthians actually allied with Argos, Boeotia and Athens to fight against Sparta in the .

Demosthenes pleaded later on for magnanimous statecraft pointing out that the Athenians had good reason to hate the Corinthians and Thebans for their conduct during the Peloponnesian War, yet they bore no malice.

Corinthian War Having become discontent with the hegemony of their Spartan allies, Corinth and Thebes allied with Athens against Sparta in the Corinthian War, after the Peloponnesian War in 395 BC. An example of facing danger with knowledge was used by Aristotle, having used the Argives who were forced to confront the Spartans in the battle at the Long Walls of Corinth in 392 BC.

379–323 BC Attempting to defeat Thebes and take over Athens, Corinth switched back to the Peloponnesian League, joining Sparta in 379 BC. Having

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PAUL 26 been ordered by the Athenian Assembly, Chares tried to occupy the Athenian ally and install a democratic government, failing when Corinth, Phlius and Epidaurus allied with Boeotia in 366 BC. We see from the accounts of Demosthenes that Athens fought Sparta in a tremendous battle near Corinth, which leaf to their defeat with the city deciding not to harbour the defeated soldiers of Athens, sending heralds to Sparta. Disobeying, the Corinthian heralds opened their gates and saved the soldiers. Demosthenes notes that they “chose along with you, who had been engaged in battle, to suffer whatever might betide, rather than without you to enjoy a safety that involved no danger.”

All of this led to an easier conquest by Philip II of Macedon, who was noted by Demosthenes that his military force exceeded that of Athens and a tactical advantage would have to be implemented, noting that a citizen army would be better than a mercenary force citing the mercenaries and citizens of Corinth fought against Sparta together and won. It was not meant to be though and in 338 BC, Philip II created the league of Corinth to unite Greece, which included Corinth and Macedonia, in the war against Persia. He was soon named the Hegemon of the League and in the spring of 337 BC, the Second Congress of Corinth established the Common Peace

Hellenistic period: Alexander the Great was a Hegemon by 332 BC and in control of Greece. In the Hellenistic period, many Greek cities never had full autonomy and under the rule of Alexander the Great, Greece was contested ground and Corinth was used as a battleground between the Antigonids, who where based in Macedonia, and other Hellenistic powers. Even though in 308 BC the city was captured from the Antigonids by Ptolemy I, claiming to be a liberator for Greece from the Antigonids, the city was still recaptured by Demetrius in 304 BC.

Remaining under the Antigonid control for half a century, in 280 it was ruled by the faithful governor Craterus though in 253/ 2 BC, his son Alexander of Corinth moved by Ptolemaic subsides, decided to challenge the Macedonian supremacy and seek independence as a

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PAUL 27 tyrant. Presumed to be poisoned in 247 BC, the Macedonian King took the chance and retook the city in the winter of 254/ 44 BC. Though the Macedonian rule was short-lived and in 243 BC, Aratus of Sicyon took them by surprise and captured the fortress of AcroCorinth, convincing the people to join the Achaean League. However, by allying with Aratus, the city was once again under Macedonian control in 224 BC, once again short lived due to the Roman intervention in 197 BC were the city was permanently annexed into the Achaean League with Philopoemen ruling, allowing the Achaeans to take control of the entire Peloponnesus and elevated Corinth as the capital of their confederation.

Roman era: Declaring war on the Achaean League in 146 BC, Rome after many victories against the forces of the League and under Lucius Mummius, they besieged and captured Corinth, killing all the men, selling the women and children into slavery before burning the city with the result of being given the cognomen Achaicus as the conquer of the Achaean League. Archaeological evidence show minimal habitation in the following years until Julius Caesar founded the city as Colonia Laus Iulia Corinthiensis in 44 BC, shortly before his assassination.

Becoming a major city under the Roman rule, its population was mixed with Romans, Greeks and Jews with it being an important base for activities of the imperial cults and both Temple E and the Julian Basilica being suggested as locus of imperial cult activity.

Biblical Corinth: Being mentioned in the New Covenant by Shaul also known as Apostle Paul, has brought a lot of attention to the ancient city from believers. Visiting in 49 or 50 AD when Gallio, brother of Seneca, a proconsul of Achaia, was the one who presided over the trial of Shaul when the Hebraic leaders accused him of false law breaking. Shaul resided there for eighteen months, he met Priscilla and Aquila, with whom he later travelled, and worked with them to create tallits, not tents as is the

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PAUL 28 common misconception. In the Word of God, we see the two epistles that Shaul wrote towards the Corinthians.

Byzantine era: Following the Byzantine era, the city was destroyed in the earthquakes of 365 and 375 AD, which then followed the invasion by Alaric in 396 AD. It was rebuilt on a massive scale though it did not cover the same large area it used to. Four churches were built in the city proper while another one on the citadel of the AcroCorinth with a monumental basilica at the port of Lechaion.

During 527-565 AD, when the Emperor Justinian I ruled, a large stone- wall which was erected from the Saronic to the Corinthian gulfs, which protected the city and the Peloponnese peninsula from barbarian invasions from the north. During the reign of Emperor Justinian I (527– 565), a large stone wall was erected from the Saronic to the Corinthian gulfs, protecting the city and the Peloponnese peninsula from the barbarian invasions from the north.

Even though no hard evidence was found, it is presumed that Corinth, due to the decline that started in the 6th century, had fallen to barbarian hands in the early 7th century with the main settlement moving from the lower city to the AcroCorinth. Even though it became the capital of the theme of Hellas and after 800 AD, the theme of the Peloponnese, it was not until around the 9th century that a recovery took place, allowing it to reach its apogee in the 11th and 12th centuries with it being the site of a flourishing silk industry.

Due to its wealth, the Sicilian , under Roger of Sicily, plundered it in 1147 AD, capturing many silk weavers and others before carrying them off with the city never fully recovering from the Norman sack.

Principality of :

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After the sack of by the , the group of Crusaders that were under the French knights William of Champlitte and Geoffrey of Villehardouin carried out the conquest of the Peloponnese, with the Corinthians resisting the Frankish conquest from the stronghold in AcroCorinth, being under the command of Leo Sgouros, who killed himself three years after the siege. Holding on for two years, the fortress fell to the crusaders, resulting in Corinth becoming a full part of the Principality of Achaea, governed by the Villehardouins from their capital in Andravidain Elis. It was the last significant town of Achaea on the northern borders with the other crusader state being the Duchy of Athens. Being captured by the Ottomans in 1395 AD, the Byzantines of the Despotate of the retook it in 1403 with the Hexamilion wall across the Isthmus of Corinth being restored in 1415 by the Despot Theodore II .

Ottoman rule: Five years after the , in 1458 the Turks of the captured the city and the mighty castle that laid within, renaming it Gördes and making it a centre within the Rumelia Eyalet. Afterwards the Venetians took over in 1687 in the , remaining under Venetian control until 1715 Ad when the Ottomans took it back. The Ottomans made Corinth the capital in 1715- 1731 before turning it into a sanjak capital until 1821.

Independence: In the Greek War of Independence between 1821-1830, the city was destroyed by the Turks and later on in 1832 was liberated after the Treaty of . It was considered as a candidate for the new capital of the recently founded due to its importance in history and the strategic location in 1832.

Extra facts:

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Archaic Corinth after the tyrants:

581 BC: Periander's nephew and successor was assassinated, ending the dictatorship. 581 BC: the Isthmian Games were established by leading families. 570 BC: the inhabitants started to use silver coins called 'colts' or 'foals'. 550 BC: Construction of the Temple of Apollo at Corinth (early third quarter of the 6th century BC). 550 BC: Corinth allied with Sparta. 525 BC: Corinth formed a conciliatory alliance with Sparta against Argos. 519 BC: Corinth mediated between Athens and Thebes. ~500 BC: Athenians and Corinthians entreated Spartans not to harm Athens by restoring the tyrant. Classical Age:

491 BC: Corinth mediated between Syracuse and Gela in Sicily. 458 BC: Corinth was defeated by Athens at Megara. Roman Age:

44 BC: At this time, an amphitheatre was built.

Byzantine Era:

November 856: Earthquake in Corinth killed an estimated 45,000. Independence War:

1834: was chosen initially then Athens.

Questions for Reflection:

1.Why did Shaul write Corinthians?

2.Why did Shaul write the things he did in Corinthians?

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3.What was the mindset of that age?

4.Do you think you would have been able to handle the pressure?

Corinth is an ancient city, located 78km west of Athens, in south central Greece. After an earthquake that destroyed the existing settlement of Corinth, New Corinth was founded in 1858 AD, being built around the site of Ancient Corinth.

Ancient Corinth was occupied since before 3000 BC though most historical sources concern the early 8th century BC when Corinth started developing as a commercial centre. During the 8th and 7th century BC, the Bacchiad family ruled Corinth, with Cypselus overthrowing the, and between 657 and 550 BC he and his son Periander ruled as Tyrants.

With an oligarchical government seizing power in 550 BC, they partnered with Sparta in the Peloponnesian League and supported Sparta in the Persian Wars and Peloponnesian War. After having a fall out with Sparta once the war ended, Corinth pursued an independent policy in the various wars of the early 4th century BC. With the Macedonian conquest of Greece, the Acrocorinth was the seat of a Macedonian garrison until 234 BC with the city being liberated and joining the Achaean League. A century later, Roman armies destroyed and captured the city in 146 BC.

Being a Roman colony in 44 BC, prosperity hit Corinth, becoming the administrative capital of the Achaea, a Roman province.

Being a backwater city in 8th century BC Greece, it was easy for the Bacchiadae, a tightly-knit Doric clan, to take control over the city in the 8th and 7th century. After the aristocratic revolution in 747 BC, the Bacchiadae got ousted after they took power from the last king Telestes. Riling as a group, governing the city by electing a prytanis every year to hold the kingly position for his brief term, with a polemarchos to head

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PAUL 32 the army and most likely, though no documents have been found, a council.

Due to the Bacchiad rule, there were large buildings and monuments constructed with colonies being established at Corcyra and Syracuse, becoming a highly advanced Greek city.

Questions for Reflection:

1.Paul wrote letters to these people. What does that mean to you?

2.Why would Paul write four letters, yet only “reveal” four?

Delphi

The ancient city of Delphi, considered by the Greeks as the centre of the world, is known as the sanctuary that became prosperous as the seat of , the oracle who was consulted about major decisions throughout the ancient classical world. Occupying an impressive site on the south- western slope of Mt. Parnassus, it overlooks the coastal plain to the south and the valley of .

According to myths, Delphi dated back to 510 BC when Zeus determined the site while trying to find the centre of his “Grandmother Earth” also known as Gaia. Sending two eagles down, one on the eastern and the other on the western extremities, the navel of Gaia was found at the site. Other myths say that Pythia was already at the site as early as 1400 BC and served as a major spot of worship of Apollo whom had slain Python, a “drako” , a serpent who protected the navel of the Earth.

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Excavations have revealed that it was a post-Mycenaean settlement of the late 9th century, with more and more artefacts popping, pottery and bronze as well as tripod dedications. Nothing yet shows that the site was a focus of worshippers to the same extreme as the myths but the large quantity of valuable goods that can not be found in other mainland sanctuary encourages that view.

Every four years, starting from 586 BC, athletes from all over the Greek world would come and compete in the Pythian games, in the sacred precinct.

Delphi was since ancient times a place of worship for Gaia, the mother goddess connected with fertility. The town started to gain pan-Hellenic relevance as both a shrine and an oracle in the 7th century BC. Initially under the control of Phocaean settlers based in nearby Kirra (currently Itea), Delphi was reclaimed by the Athenians during the (597–585 BC). The conflict resulted in the consolidation of the , which had both a military and a religious function revolving around the protection of the Temple of Apollo. This shrine was destroyed by fire in 548 BC and then fell under the control of the Alcmaeonids banned from Athens. In 449–448 BC, the Second Sacred War (fought in the wider context of the between the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta and the Delian-Attic League led by Athens) resulted in the Phocians gaining control of Delphi and the management of the Pythian Games.

In 356 BC the Phocians under Philomelos captured and sacked Delphi, leading to the (356–346 BC), which ended with the defeat of the former and the rise of Macedon under the reign of Philip II. This led to the Fourth Sacred War (339 BC), which culminated in the Battle of Chaeronea (338 BC) and the establishment of Macedonian rule over Greece. In Delphi, Macedonian rule was superseded by

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PAUL 34 the Aetolians in 279 BC, when a Gallic invasion was repelled, and by the Romans in 191 BC. The site was sacked by Lucius Cornelius in 86 BC, during the , and by Nero in 66 AD. Although subsequent Roman emperors of the Flavian dynasty contributed towards to the restoration of the site, it gradually lost importance. In the course of the 3rd century mystery cults became more popular than the traditional Greek pantheon. Christianity, which started as yet one more mystery cult, soon gained ground, and this eventually resulted in the persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire. The anti-pagan legislation of the Flavian dynasty deprived ancient sanctuaries of their assets. The emperor Julian attempted to reverse this religious climate, yet his "pagan revival" was particularly short-lived. When the doctor Oreibasius visited the oracle of Delphi, in order to question the fate of paganism,he received a pessimistic answer: Εἴ πατ ε τ ῷ βασι λε ῖ , χ αμαὶ πέ σε δαί δ αλος αὐλά, οὐκέ τ ι Φο ῖ βος ἔ χ ε ι καλύβην , οὐ μάν τ ι δ α δ άφν ην , οὐ παγ ὰν λαλέ ουσαν , ἀπέ σβε τ ο καὶ λάλον ὕδ ωρ. [Tell the king that the flute has fallen to the ground. Phoebus does not have a home any more, neither an oracular laurel, nor a speaking fountain, because the talking water has dried out.]

It was shut down during the persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire by in 381 AD.

5th Century Delphi During the Great Excavation were discovered architectural members from a 5th-century Christian basilica, when Delphi were a bishopric. Other important Late Roman buildings are the Eastern Baths, the house with the peristyle, the Roman Agora, the large cistern use. At the outskirts of the city there were located late Roman cemeteries. To the Southeast of the precinct of Apollo lay the so-called Southeastern Mansion, a very large building with a 65 meters-long façade, spread over four levels, with four triclinia and private baths. Large storage jars kept the provisions, whereas other pottery vessels and luxury items were discovered in the rooms. Among the finds stands out a

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tiny leopard made of mother of pearl, possibly of Sassanian origin, on display in the ground floor gallery of the Delphi Archaeological Museum. The mansion dates to the beginning of the 5th century and functioned as a private house until 580, later however it was transformed into a potters' workshop. It is only then, in the beginning of the 6th century, that the city seems to decline: its size is reduced and its trade contacts seem to be drastically diminished. Local pottery production is produced in large quantities: it is coarser and made of reddish clay, aiming at satisfying the needs of the inhabitants.

The Sacred Way remained the main street of the settlement, transformed, however, into a street with commercial and industrial use. Around the agora were built workshops as well as the only intra muros early Christian basilica. The domestic area spread mainly in the western part of the settlement. The houses were rather spacious and two large cisterns provided running water to them.

Heraklion Crete

Being the largest city and administrative capital of Crete, an island close to Greece, means that Paul affected a large amount of people. The city itself was found by the in 824 under Abu Hafs Umar who had taken over the island from the Eastern Roman Empire. In 960, Byzantine forces landed in Crete and attacked the city with a siege happening until March 961 when the city fell. Afterwards, it was renamed Chandax and remained under the control of the Greeks for the next 243 years.

It was brought into the Republic of in 1204 as part of a complicated political deal which involved the Fourth Crusade restoring the Eastern Roman Emperor Isaac II Angelus to his throne. Building enormous fortifications and a fortress, the city expanded under the Venetian control. To secure their rule, Venetians settled into Crete in

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1212 with prosperous time coming from the coexistence of two different cultures and the stimulus of Italian Renaissance causing the Cretan Renaissance. During 1645 to 1669, the , the Ottomans besieged the city for 21 years, most likely the longest siege in history, with 70,000 Turks, 38,000 Cretans and Slaves and 29.088 of the city’s Christian defenders dying in the final phase which lasted for 22 months.

Questions for Reflection:

1.Paul left Titus there. Why would he leave him there?

2.Did Titus succeed?

3.Should Paul have stayed with Titus?

4.Did Paul visiting and Titus staying there have an impact to Crete?

Kos

Kos is an island located in the Aegaen sea and is part of the complex with it being the 3rd largest island. Its name was first seen in Homer’s Iliad but it had also been known as Meropis, Cea and Nympaea.

During the Mycenaean era a contingent of Kos, aligned with the Greeks, fought in the Trojan War. The Dorians invaded in the 11th B.C century, with the Carians being the original colony of Kos, by sending a large contingent from Epidaurus whose Ascelepius cult gave it renown for it’s sanatoria. It’s silk manufacture and wine produce was the main economy for Kos due to it’s proximity to the east.

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While in the Archaic Era the Dorian Hexopolis consisted of Lindus, Kamiros, Ialysos, Cnidus, Halicarnassus and Kos itself. Falling under the Acheamenid invasion, the people of Kos managed to successfully rebel after the victory of the Battle of Mycale in 479B.C

During the Greco-Persian war Kos was ruled by Persian appointed tyrants yet still retains an oligarchic government. During the 5th century, Kos joined the Delian league and between 411-407 it was the Chief Athenian station in the south-eastern Aegean after the Revolt of Rhodes. In 366 B.C, democracy came into being and the capital was transferred from which is located at the western end of the island near Kefalus, to the newly built Kos. With the end of the Social Was during 357-355 B.C were the Athenian power was weakened, it fell in the hands of King Mausolus of . It is mentioned by that there were factories filled with slave women who manufactured silk garments.

Furthermore, into the Hellenic Era, Kos attained it’s zenith of its prosperity and it’s Alliance was valued by the Ptolemaic Kings of Egypt. Due to its position, it became a place of high importance in the Aegean trade, allowing it to become a naval outpost, with a well fortified port, to oversee the . Arising as a seat of learning in a provincial branch of the Alexandria museum and having a medical school it was also a favourite place of education for princes of the Ptolemaic dynasty. Under the control of Alexander the Great and Egyptian Ptolemies, it became one of the greatest centres of the Aegean and during this era, it is said that Paul passed by here.

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Apart from the occasional incursions by corsairs and severe earthquakes, Kos had a friendly attitude towards the Romans and on 50A.D it became a free city known for it’s transparent light dresses. There was a provincial library during the Roman Period which also has a list with inscriptions of donators to built said library in the 1st Century with the Personal Physician of the Emperors Tiberius, Cladius and Nero, Gaiou Stertinou Xenofontos being responsible for it’s construction among others. The learning centre from the Ptolemaic dynasty was still in effect and it is said that Hippocrates, Apolles, Philitas and possibly Theocritus came from that area. After in the Byzantine Era, Bishop Meliphron attended the first council of Nicaea during 325A.D while Eddesius was a minor eastern bishop who withdrew from the council of Sardica in 344 A.D and set up a rival council in Philippolis. Iulianus went in Constantinople in 448 for the synod held there in preparation for the Council of Chalcedon of 451, in which he took part as a legate of Pope Leo I while also being a signatory of the joint letter of the bishops of Insulae which was sent in458 to Byzantine Emperor Leo I the Thracian with regard to the killing of Proterius of Alexandria. During the synod of 518, Dorotheus took part and in 680-681, Georgius participated in the Third Council of Constantinople while in 879, Constantinus went to the Photian Council of Constantinople. Unfortunately apart from the activities of bishops in councils, the islands history is obscure. During the 8th and 9th century, a Droungarios (Commander ) governed the island which acquired importance in the 11th and 12th centuries when Nikephoros Melissenos began an uprising after which in the mid 12th century, the island was ruled by a scion of the dynastry known as Nikephoros Komnenos.

Following the Fourth Crusade, Genoese controlled the island and it was retaken in 1224 by the Empire of Nicaea. In 1320 Kos was a formed part of the realm of Martimo but was kept in Turkish hands until

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1337 when the took over with Piero de Ponte being the last Hospitaller to govern the island.

In addition to being ruled by the Ottomans for nearly 400 years, Kos was transferred into the in 1912 after the Italo-Turkish War. Once the destructive earthquake of April 23 1933, the developed the infrastructures of the island with Rodolfo Petracco being the main Architect. He drew the new city plan, transformed the old quarters into an archaeological park, divided the city into residential, administrative and commercial area. Under Italian possession during World War II, Kos was a part of the Axis until 1943 when the Italians surrendered. It is known that 100 Italian officers were executed due to refusal to align themselves with the Germans. In the Battle of Kos, during the Dodecanese Campaign, the Germans emerged victorious over the British forces after a tremendous clash for control. Kos was under German occupation until 1945 when it became a protectorate of the United Kingdom and after which in 1947 became a part of Greece following the peace treaty.

The main religion is Orthodox Christianity with it containing one of the four Orthodox cathedrals in the complex, while there is a Roman and a mosque located on the island. Sadly, the Nazi forces destroyed all traces of the Jewish community and the synagogue, while restored, is only used for cultural events by the Municipality of Kos.

Kos contains the biggest ancient market ( Agora ) in the ancient world. It was the commercial and commanding centre which was destroyed in an earthquake in 469 AD. Malta

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Located in Southern Europe, the island is one of the smallest yet most densely populated countries in the world, having being presumably inhabited as far back as 5900 BC, with its strategic location giving it an advantage as a naval base with a continuous power struggle between many different rulers, which left many marks on the country’s ancient culture.

Having become a British colony in 1815, it served as a way station for ships and the HQ for the British-Mediterranean Fleet while playing an important role in the Allied war effort of WWII and was later on rewarded with the George Cross, which appears on its national flag, for its bravery in the face of an Axis siege. After gaining its independence in 1964 with the Malta Independence Act, it became a republic in 1974 with it being a member state of the Commonwealth of Nations and the UN before joining the EU in 2004, integrating into the eurozone monetary union in 2008.

Having an extensive Christian Legacy, boasting that its Archdiocese is an apostolic see due to Shaul, Apostle Paul, getting shipwrecked on the then known “Melita” which is now considered Malta. With Catholicism being the “main” religion in Malta, the Article 40 of the Constitution states that “all persons in Malta shall have full freedom of conscience and enjoy the free exercise of their respective mode of religious worship.”

History

Presumed to have been settled by the inhabitants of Sicily from 5900 BC, the Neolithic culture is heavily marked by Megalithic culture which dates back to 3600 BC, as seen by the temples of Mnajdra, Ggantija and more. Centuries later, it is said that the Phoenicians colonised Malta around 800-700 BC, explaining why there have been traces of Semtici language and culture, since they used the islands an outposts that boosted their sea explorations and trade in the Mediterranean, before the Carthaginians were driven out by the Romans in 216 BC with the help of the Maltese inhabitants.

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Having been under the rule of the Byzantines during the 4th to the 9th century and then a presumed sack by the Vandals, it was easy for the Aghlabids to invade in 870 AD whom depopulated the island. It took until the beginning of the second millennium by settlers from an Arab- ruled Sicily who spoke Siculo- for the island to start recovering. The Muslim rule ended when the Normans conquered the island in 1091 and nearly two hundred years later, in 1249 the while island was completely re-Christianised, becoming a part of the until 1530 were the control was taken by the Capetian House of Anjoy for a brief period. Later on in 1530, Charles I of decided to give the Maltese islands to the Order of Knights of the Hospital of St. John of in perpetual lease.

Two centuries later, in 1798, the French with Napoleon as their leader took over the islands which soon were freed with the aid of the British two years later in 1800. Asking the British later on to assume sovereignty over the islands under the conditions that were laid out in a Declaration of Rights which states “his Majesty has no right to cede these Islands to any power...if he chooses to withdraw his protection, and abandon his sovereignty, the right of electing another sovereign, or of the governing of these Islands, belongs to us, the inhabitants and aborigines alone, and without control." Following the Treaty of Paris in 1814, Malta refused to be integrated with the UK in 1956, staying as a British colony.

Prehistory

The pottery that was found at the Skorba Temples is similar to the ones in Italy, further suggesting that the inhabitants arrived in 5200 BC and that they were Stone Age hunters or farmers who came from Sicily. More findings such as prehistoric farming settlements were discovered to date back to the early Neolithic period while the extinction of the dwarf hippos and dwarf elephants are linked to the earliest arrival of humans on Malta.

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The only tribe that has been documented to inhabit the land is the Sicani, who are regarded as closely related to the Iberians. They grew cereals, raised livestock and worshiped a fertility figure as was common practice in other ancient Mediterranean cultures. The findings from Għar Dalam are similar to the pottery in Agrigento, Sicily, with megalithis temples being planted from that early period. Presumably, in 3500 BC, the people of that time built the oldest existing free-standing structures in the world, in the form of the megalithic Ġgantija temples on Gozo.

Having a distinctive architecture which commonly includes a complex trefoil design which was used from 4000 to 2500 BC shows the genius of that age for craftsmanship while evidence of animal bones and a knife behind an altar stone indicate to a common animal sacrifice to the goddess of fertility whose statue resides in the National Museum of Archaeology in Valletta. The sudden disappearance of the culture in 2500 BC is speculated that a famine or disease had befallen on the land, though that is not certain.

Greeks, Phoenicians, Carthaginians and Romans

During the first millennium, Phoenician trades colonised the islands and used it as a stop for their trade routes from Eastern Mediterranean to Cornwall. Centuries later in 332 BC, after the fall of Phoenicia, the Carthage took over, during which the people on Malta cultivated olives, carob and produced textiles. It was conquered by Marcus Atilius Regulus, during the First Punic war, though soon was back under Carthage control following his failed expedition. Subsequently, it was conquered in 218 BC during the Second Punic War by Roman Consul Tiberius Sempronius Longus. Soon after it became Foederata Civitas which made it exempt from paying tribute and the rule of Roman Law, falling into the jurisdiction of the province of Sicily while still retaining Punic influence as we can see from the Cippi of Melqart that was dedicated in the 2nd century BC.

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Following the 1st century, the Roman Senator and orator Cicero commented on the significance of the Temple of Juno and on the overly extravagant behaviour of the Roman governor of Sicily, Verres. Pliny the Elder and Diodorus Siculus mention the island while Diodorus praised the harbours, the wealth, the lavishly decorated houses and the qualitative textile products. Malta became a free town, having been granted the freedom by Emperor Hadrian. With the arrival of Shaul, Apostle Paul, and Luke, the Gospel soon spread throughout the islands and many came into the faith while Shaul remained on the islands for three months.

The last time the Roman Empire was divided in 395, Malta followed Sicily and fell under the control of the Western Roman Empire which soon started to decline in the with Malta being under attacked and conquered a number of times.

During the Byzantine rule it is speculated that the island depended on the theme of Sicily and Greek Governors, though not much more is known at the end of the day.

Questions for Reflection:

1.Would you consider three months to be a long time for Paul to spent his time in Malta?

2.How did the people receive him?

3.Do we know if they worshipped other Gods?

Mars Hill

Being a prominent rock outcropping located northwest of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece the Areopagus, its name being translated from the

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Greek Name of Arios Pagos also known as “Ares Rock” , in classical times it functioned as the court of trying deliberate homicide, wounding and religious matters as well as arson or olive trees. Myth says that the Greek God Ares was tried by the Olympian Gods for the murder of Poseidon’s son Halirrhothius, being a typical example of an aetiological myth..

Even though in typical translation from Greek to English the word pagos is known as ice, in Ancient Greek it also means a big piece of rock. Areios could come from Ares or Erinyes as at the foot of the hill a temple dedicated to Erinyes was erect, where murderers would go for shelter so as not to face the consequences of their actions. In roman times, the name was changed to Mars Hill, the Roman God Mars being the representative of Ares in Roman mythology.

It used to be the council of the elders of the city in pre-classical times, similar to the Roman Senate, where only high public office members were allowed in. In 594 BC, Solon was given the functions for reformation, where he instituted democratic reforms, reconstituted its membership and returned control to the organization.

Ephialtes put forward reforms which took away all the functions of the Areopagus except that of a murder tribunal in favour of Heliaia in 462 BC.

Aeschylus writes in The Eumenides that Orestes was trialled at Areopagus for the murder of Clytemnestra and Aegisthus, his mother and her lover.

One story has it that Phryne, the hetaera who was famed for her beauty appeared in Areopagus , accused of profaning the Eleusinian Mysteries, which she got out of by dropping her cloak and impressing the judges with her “divine” form.

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Even though conviction powers remained with the Ecclesia, Arepagus was given the function of investigating corruption in 4th century BC and later on in Roman Times it was given its full powers once again.

According to Biblical accounts, when Paul was in Athens he was brought before the High Council of that time which was the Areopagus for it was once again able to function as a court of religious matters.

Acts 17

17 After passing through Amphipolis and Apollonia, Sha’ul and Sila came to , where there was a synagogue. 2 According to his usual practice, Sha’ul went in; and on three Shabbats he gave them drashes from the Tanakh, 3 explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and that “this Yeshua whom I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah.” 4 Some of the Jews were persuaded and threw in their lot with Sha’ul and Sila, as did a great many of the Greek men who were “God-fearers,” and not a few of the leading women.

5 But the unbelieving Jews grew jealous; so they got together some vicious men from the riffraff hanging around in the market square, collected a crowd and started a riot in the city. They attacked Jason’s house, hoping to bring Sha’ul and Sila out to the mob. 6 But when they didn’t find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city authorities and shouted, “These men who have turned the whole world upside down have come here too! 7 And Jason has let them stay in his home! All of them are defying the decrees of the Emperor; because they assert that there is another king, Yeshua!” 8 Their words threw the crowd and the authorities into a turmoil, 9 so that only after Jason and

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PAUL 46 the others had posted bond did they let them go. 10 But as soon as night fell, the brothers sent Sha’ul and Sila off to Berea.

As soon as they arrived, they went to the synagogue. 11 Now the people here were of nobler character than the ones in Thessalonica; they eagerly welcomed the message, checking the Tanakh every day to see if the things Sha’ul was saying were true. 12 Many of them came to trust, as did a number of prominent Greek women and not a few Greek men.

13 But when the unbelieving Jews of Thessalonica learned that the word of God had been proclaimed by Sha’ul in Berea as well, they went there too to make trouble and agitate the crowds. 14 The brothers sent Sha’ul away at once to go down to the seacoast, while Sila and Timothy stayed behind. 15 Sha’ul’s escort went with him as far as Athens, then left with instructions for Sila and Timothy to come as quickly as they could.

16 While Sha’ul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit within him was disturbed at the sight of the city full of idols. 17 So he began holding discussions in the synagogue with the Jews and the “God-fearers,” and in the market square every day with the people who happened to be there.

18 Also a group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers started meeting with him. Some asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others, because he proclaimed the Good News about Yeshua and the resurrection, said, “He sounds like a propagandist for foreign gods.” 19 They took and brought him before the High Council, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 Some of the things we are hearing from you strike us as strange, and we would like to know what

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PAUL 47 they mean.” 21 (All the Athenians and the foreigners living there used to spend their spare time talking or hearing about the latest intellectual fads.)

22 Sha’ul stood up in the Council meeting and said, “Men of Athens: I see how very religious you are in every way! 23 For as I was walking around, looking at your shrines, I even found an altar which had been inscribed, ‘To An Unknown God. ’So, the one whom you are already worshipping in ignorance — this is the one I proclaim to you.

24 “The God who made the universe and everything in it, and who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in man-made temples; 25 nor is he served by human hands, as if he lacked something; since it is he himself who gives life and breath and everything to everyone.

26 “From one man he made every nation living on the entire surface of the earth, and he fixed the limits of their territories and the periods when they would flourish. 27 God did this so that people would look for him and perhaps reach out and find him although in fact, he is not far from each one of us, 28 ‘for in him we live and move and exist. ’Indeed, as some of the poets among you have said, ‘We are actually his children.’ 29 So, since we are children of God, we shouldn’t suppose that God’s essence resembles gold, silver or stone shaped by human technique and imagination.

30 “In the past, God overlooked such ignorance; but now he is commanding all people everywhere to turn to him from their sins. 31 For he has set a Day when he will judge the inhabited world, and do it

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PAUL 48 justly, by means of a man whom he has designated. And he has given public proof of it by resurrecting this man from the dead.”

32 At the mention of a resurrection of dead people, some began to scoff; while others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” 33 So Sha’ul left the meeting. 34 But some men stayed with him and came to trust, including the High Council member Dionysius; there was also a woman named Damaris; and others came to trust along with them.

Questions for Reflection:

1.How would you have reacted to such an environment as Paul?

2.What would you have done in Paul’s shoes?

3.Do you believe that even though the Bible does not clearly say Areopagus, Paul really went there?

4.Picture the environment, the people and culture. What would you have done? How far would your faith have taken you?

Neapolis

Kavala or otherwise known as Neapolis, is located in northern Greece situated on the Bay of , being the principal seaport of eastern Macedonia and the capital of the regional unit of Kavala Known as Neapolis in Antiquity, it was renamed Christoupolis in the . Founded in late 7th century BC by Thassian settlers, it was used for its gold and silver mines which were located in the nearby Pangaion mountain. They worship of a female deity with Greek-Ionian origin, named Parthenos ( The Virgin ) is attested by the archaeological finds in the

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Archaic period. With Neapolis claiming independence at the end of the 6th century BC, it began to issue its own silver coins with the head of Gorgo on one side and a few decades later, a large Ionic temple made from Thassian marble replaced the Archaic one, which parts of it can still be see today in the Archaeological Museum.

Even though it was besieged by the allies of Sparta and Thessians in 411 BC during the Peloponnesian War, it still remained faithful to Athens, later being rewarded by two Athenian honorary decrees in 410 and 407 BC.

During King Philip II reign, Neapolis was a town of Macedonia, only 14 km from the harbour of Philippi. The founding of a pillar in Athens which mentions Neapolis contributing to the alliance tells us that it was a member of the Second Athenian League.

Due to the Roman road Via Egnatia passing through the city, the city flourished. Becoming a Roman civitas in 168 BC, it was used as a base for Brutus and Cassius in 42 BC before the Battle of Philippi which resulted in their defeat.

The Apostle Paul landed at Kavala on his first voyage to Europe.

During the Byzantine era the city was renamed to Christoupolis and the first surviving mention of the new name is in a taktikon of the 9th century. Due to raids from the who briefly controlled the city, the Byzantines were forced to reorganise the defence of the area, fortifying and placing a notable garrison. Basil Klaudon, a byzantine general during 926, reconstructed the town’s fallen walls according to an inscription that resides in the archaeological museum. Due to its location, the city experiences great prosperity which helped secure contact between Constantinople and Thessaloniki.

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Following a Norman raid of Macedonia in 1185, the city was captured and burnt and in 1302 the Catalans failed to capture the city. To prevent them from coming back, Andronikos III Palaiologos, Byzantine Emperor, constructed a long . Alexios and John, officers and brothers of the controlled the city in 1357 for three decades.

The city was captured by the Ottoman Turks in 1387 and destroyed in 1391 as the chronicle testifies. During the reign of the Ottoman empire of Kavala between 1387 to 1912, Ibrahim , Grand of constructed an aqueduct as a sign of contribution to the city’s prosperity and growth during the 16th century. The Ottomans then extended the Byzantine fortress on the hill of Panagia.

The Bulgarians took the city from the Turks in 1912 during the Balkan War before being taken back by Greece in 1913 after a successful landing operation by the Greek Navy, which was commanded by .

Due to the surrender of the IV Army Corps under against the advancing Bulgarian army, a military revolt in Thessaloniki happened which led to the creation of the Provisional Government of National Defence and Greece’s formal entry into WWI.

After the Greco-Turkish War of 1919-1922, with labour being offered by the thousands of refugees who moved into the area from Asia Minor, the city entered into a new era of prosperity in both industrial and agricultural with Kavala getting involved into the processing and trading of tobacco.

After the fall of Athens in WWII, Kavala was given as a reward to the Bulgarian army from the Nazis in 1941 causing decline in the city which

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PAUL 51 was eventually liberated in 1944, though the entire Jewish community was exterminated during the Occupation. Later on in the late 1950s Kavala expanded towards the sea by reclaiming land from the area west of the port. King Constantine II headed towards Kavala in an unsuccessful attempt to launch a counter-coup against the military junta in 1967.

Next day, Shaul/ Paul and his fellow laborer, coasting by the island of Thassos, disembarked at Neapolis, today’s Kavala, which in those times was the nearest haven of the city of Philippi.

The history of the city is long; it seems to have been founded as early as the 7th century B.C. by Thassian colonists. Then name Christoupolis also attributed to it, i.e. the city of Christ par excellence, is due to the fact that tit was the first city visited by Shaul/ Paul and it was under that name that it was known in Byzantine times. Its current name is said to have come either from the Crusaders, because of its resemblance to the saddle of a horse (cavallo), when see from the sea, or from the fact that it was an important post station, which, in those times, was served by horses, or else from Skabala, in those time, was served by horses, or else from Skabala, the adjacent older colony of the Eretrians, which has been located in the areas where today’s village Palia Kavala is found.

The name Neapolis for the city of Kavala in Roman times has been preserved on two milestones from that period, namely numbered markers placed along the most important roads of the time at intervals of one mile to indicate distances. One of these comes from the reign of Trajan and is a milestone found in the town itself and dates from the 2nd century A.D.

Although no relevant reference is made in the Books of the New Testament, according to an old local tradition Shaul/ Paul with his fellow laborers disembarked in the area where the church of St. Nicholas is found today, near the present-day seaport of the city. In commemoration of the event

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PAUL 52 there is a modern monument at that point today, called the Apostle Shaul’s/ Paul’s Tribune, in which two representations are most conspicuous and depict the vision of Shaul/ Paul at Troas and his disembarkation at Neapolis. In the area of the monument there has been preserved the base of a column indicating the exact point where Shaul/ Paul disembarked.

Nicopolis

Nicopolis, also known as Actia Nicopolis, was the capital city of the Roman province of Epirus Vetus, located in the western part of Greece, the city was founded in 29 BC ny Caesar Augustus in commemoration of his victory in 31 BC in the Battle of Actium against Antony and Cleopatra. .

Octavian founded the city in 28 BC, three years after the naval battle of Actium which he won. The foundation echoed a tradition dating back to Alexander the Great. The city represented one example of his successful unification of the Roman Empire under one administration. Due to its location it became a major transportation and communications link between the eastern adn western halves of the Mediterranean. Its economical purpose was to reorganise and revitalise the region which had never recovered after Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus destroyed it in the Third Macedonian was in 171-167 BC and the destruction made by Sulla in 87-86 BC.

Due to a monument and a sanctuary to Apollo Being built by Octavian on a hill, north of Nicopolis, it was considered that Apollo was his patron god while Neptune and Mars were given trophies for their contribution to its victory.

The city was supervised by the local authorities during its early stages of development having control over the construction of the city walls and the majority of the public buildings such as the theatre, stadium, gymnasium, odeion and the aqueduct. A road connected the western

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PAUL 53 gate with the Ionian harbour Komaros. The city eventually grew to occupy land worth 375 acres.

Unlike other cities which were Roman foundations in Greece such as , Philippi etc. The city was actually free and autonomous having the characteristics of civitas libera and civitas foederata linked to Rome by a treaty. Augustus provided many assets, including financing monuments by the spoils of war, owning much to the patronage of Herod the great.

Even though Apostle Paul decided to visit Nicopolis in 65-66 AD, in the winter which he invited Titus to join him, a believing community was already established there.

Titus 3 Complete Jewish Bible (CJB) 12 When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you. Do your best to come to me in Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there.

Even though we see that the faith was not widespread in Epirus during the 4th century in Julian’s reign, after his death the expansion grew tremendously as we can see by the legislation issued by Valentinian in 371 and 372 which tried to offset some negative effecrs of its rapid spread.

From the writings of Diadochos we can infer that learned texts, along with amphorae, travelled between the eastern Mediterranean and Epirus in the 5th century, sharing both theoretical and practical ideas about theology and the organizationof the monastic life that spread from eastern Mediterranean to Epirus.

We see that even though in 474 Emperor Zeno tried to initiate peace negotiations with the Vandals whom devastated the coast of Greece to solidify their position. The quick conquest of Nicopolis without siege

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PAUL 54 weapons shows that the walls built by Augustus were not defensive walls.

This raid and prisoner-taking probably had a devastating effect on the infrastructure of Nicopolis and the mentality of its citizens, affecting the city's social and economic life. It is probably directly related to the reduction of the city's population to one-sixth of what it had been, confining it to the north-east section, the area where the citadel stood, and fortifying it with thick walls to provide better defence.

Patmos

Patmos is a small island located in the Aegean sea and is apart of the Dodecanese complex. Known for its mythology and its connection to the Holy Bible, it has drawn many historians and theologians to it.

Mythology has it that the island was known first as Litois in honour of Litoida (Artemis), daughter of Lito. It was named as such because when the islet sunk, Artemis and Apollo pleaded with Zeus who raised it back up. The inhabitants quickly built shrines and temples to praise them.

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Another legend has it that Clytemnestras son and murdered, Orestes fled to said isle after his unlawful act while being hunted by the Erynies.

While it is believed that the earliest inhabitants were the Kares, the Patmians identify as Dorians with an ancestry of Argos, Sparta and Epidaurus while mingling with people of Ionian ancestry. Excavations have revealed various buildings, fortresses, cemeteries and an ancient acropolis which points to the existence of a densely populated area in those days. During the Peloponnesians Wars, it is theorised that the Lacedemonians came to the island to run away from the Athenians, from the ruins that were found during this period.

Once it was conquered by the Romans, the island fell into decline and eventually was used as a punishment for people who were exiled. The most famous person to be exiled is John the Theologian. He was exiled by Emperor Domitian, in 95 AD, for preaching the Gospel in .

During his stay, John was given a vision which he wrote in the last book of the Bible, named Revelations due to it revealing the Apocalypse. John also preached the Gospel to the people of Patmos and as such it became a big place for Christian pilgrimage and theologians.

After the death of Emperor Domitian, Emperor Nerva released John from his banishment in 96 AD and John later on around 100 AD was the only Apostle who died a natural death. After his death, many Early Christian Basilicas were erected and amongst them, the Grand Royal Basilica was built in 300-350 in honour of John.

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During the Arab raids of the 7th century and the 9th century, the Grand Royal Basilica was destroyed. Later on, Saint Christodoulos and a monk, Arsenios Skinouris, requested permission to built a monastery on Patmos. Emperor Alexios Komninos the 1st granted said permission and as a sign of favour, complete authority over the island. The construction started in 1101 and because of the Byzantine immigrants the population grew. In fact during the 12th century the whole island became a commercial state and the monastery acquired a second commercial vessel.

In 1207 the Venetians invaded and the Duke of Saxon became the reigning power which led to Patmos becoming a semi-autonomous monastic state, gaining great wealth and influence. After the Knights of John seized the island in 1340, the Turks occupied during 1522/ 1537 AD and due to the lack of resistance, Patmos gained certain privileges like tax-free trade.

Between 1659 and 1669, Patmos was demolished by Francesco Morozini, the leader of the Venetians. Through the efforts of the inhabitants, commerce and shipping, Patmos managed to get back on its feet, after which the island’s wealth was divided into secular and monastic entities. Makarios Kalogeras founded the Patmian school in 1713, close to the cave of the Apocalypse. Shortly after, the Russians occupied in 1770 during Orlov Revolt. After the Greek War of Independence of 1821-1832, a treaty was signed which did not include the islands of Dodecanese and as such the isles fell back into Turkish control. In 1912, Italian occupation became a reality until the German Nazis took over in 1943 and left in 1945. Shortly after in 1948 Patmos remained autonomous and later on it and the rest of the Dodecanese complex joined the Independent Greece.

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During the undocumented landing of refugees from Afghanistan and Iraq of September 2008, 134 refugees were rescued yet were not allowed to land. As such they were sent to the island of . The Patmian municipality claimed that their actions were humanitarian compared to Italy and Malta, who let them drown or sunk their ships respectively.

Questions for reflection:

What do you think happened to John in that cave?

Do you think an angel appeared in flesh? Or while he was sleeping?

Do you think there is a connection to the many occupations and what happened with John?

Is John really the last apostle to have seen the transfiguration of Jesus Christ and to live a long life and die a natural death?

What do you believe he felt when he heard his fellow brothers dying such horrible deaths?

Would you have been as faithful as him in that time of persecution?

Do you believe being exiled was a big thing during those times?

Philippi

Leaving Neapolis, taking the Via Egnatia through the meadow of asphodel and covering a distance of ca. 12 km in the northwest direction, Shaul/ Paul and his companions arrived at the city of Philippi.

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In this connection, the book of Acts states that Philippi was “ the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony” (Acts, 16:12). Establish, as its name implies, by Philip II of Macedon in 358/ 7 B.C. on the site of the ancient Crenides, the city of Philippi constituted that point where 42 B.C. an epochal event for those times took place - the battle between the joined forces of Octavian and Anthony, on the one side, and the forces of Cassius and Brutus, on the other. Its strategic position, since it was the entry city to Europe (from Asia, and visa versa), the fact that it was not he Via Engatia, its very short distance from the port of Neapolis, its rich water sources, to which the pre- existing small town of Crenides (i.e. fountains) in the same area owed its name, the fertile plain of Datus surrounding the city and the fact that it was at the foot of Mount Pangaion, which was already known from older times for its gold mines, all these factors made Philippi the most important city of the region indeed, at the time when Shaul/ Paul visited it.

Shaul/ Paul and his co-workers first arrived at this city around 50 A.d., within the framework of his second journey, preserved for us in the Book of Acts: (a) the Immersion of Lydia, the first woman who embraced Yeshua as Messiah not only in Greece but in Europe that we have written about, (b) the removal of the python spirit from a damsel (a maiden), and ( C) the prosecution, imprisonment and departure of Shaul/ Paul and his companions from the city. Shaul/ Paul was to drop by Philippi again during his third and fourth journeys, while, as he states in his letter to the Philippians, the local community at Philippi constituted the only one with which he maintained such a close communication and which steadfastly remained a succourer through his journeys and activities. (Philipp. 4:15)

Today at Philippi the archaeological pickaxe has brought to light a large number of important monuments and findings, the great majority of which can be dated back to the Hellenistic and, mainly, to Roman times. Among these there stand out the sections of the Via Egnatia that have been preserved on the northern side of the Agora, remains of the once mighty walls of the city, as well

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PAUL 59 as three gates, the Crenides gate, the Marsh gate and the Neapolis gate, through which Shaul/ Paul seems to have entered Philippi, as he came precisely from Neapolis. Within the city, remains of various public buildings are preserved, although in their majority they should be regarded as a later than Shaul’s/ Paul’s time. Nonetheless, among the monuments which must have been there at the time of Shaul/ Paul, we may pick out:

• the ancient Agora, where one of the remains of its shops is indicated according to tradition as being that of Lydia, seller of purple; • the remains of Basilicas A, B and C; • the Octagonal church, i.e. an early christian house of prayer dedicated to the memory of Shaul/ Paul • the building which purportedly served as a prison of Shaul/ Paul. • the ancient theatre, etc.

At a distance of 1 km form the archaeological site, the visitor can also see the impressive octagonal church-baptistery constructed by the local church after the models of early christian times, as well as the open-air baptistery near the Zygaktis river, where group baptisms of adults are performed to this day.

“ After passing through Amphipolis and Apollonia, Shaul and Sila came to Thessalonica where there was a synagogue” -Acts 17:1

Rhodes

Rhodes, located northeast of Crete, southeast of Athens and close to the Anatolian coast of Turkey, is known as the largest island of the Dodecanese complex while also holding the title of the complexes ’ historical capital and formed a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit which is part of the South Aegean administrative region.

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Prehistory Very little is known about the condition and population of Rhodes during the Neolithic Period, though it is presumed to have been inhabited.

Minoan Era The first proper inhabitants came in the 16th century BC and were known as the Minoans.

Mycenaean Era Invading in the 15th century, the Mycenaean Greeks took over and their first contacts outside of the island were with Cyprus, after the Bronze Age collapse Homers ’account said that Rhodes participated in the legendary Trojan War with Tleplolemus as its head.

Archaic Era Due to the coming of the Dorians in the 8th century, settlements started to form and slowly three cities of significance were built and together with three other cities, the famous Dorian Hexapolis was formed.

In the ode of Pindar it is said that due to Helios and the nymph Rhodos coming together the island was former and that each city bears the name of one of their three sons. Adding to the story, Diodorus Siculus describes that Actis travelled to Egypt and created Heliopolis, teaching the Egyptian astrology.

The sanctuary of Athena received many gifts in late 8th century, ivory and bronze objects while we see that on the northwest coast at Kameiros, on a former Bronze Age site, at the same time had carved ivory objects indicating towards strong cultural contacts with the East. Through excavations we find that the cemeteries of Kameiros and Ialyssos

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PAUL 61 produced elegant models of the Orientalising Rhodian jewellery which dates back o the 7th and early 6th centuries. Thanks to the traditions which were recorded by later Rhodian Historians, we known that there was a Phoenician presence on the island.

Classical Era Thanks to the aid from Athens in 478 BC, the Persians who had invaded and overran the island were driven out not long after which contributed to the Rhodian cities joining the Athenian League. Even though they were grateful for the aid, when the Peloponnesian War started in 431 BC, Rhodes remained neutral for the most part and by the time the war ended in 404 BC, Rhodes removed herself completely from the struggle and paved her own way.

Four years later the cities united and formed one large territory, building the capital, on the northern end of the island, the plan being under the supervision of the Athenian architect Hippodamus.

357 BC saw the capture of Rhodes by King Mausolus of Caria before falling to the Persians in 340 BC and soon after to Alexander the Great.

Hellenistic age Becoming part of the growing empire of Alexander the Great in 332 BC, it was fought over by the generals once Alexander died. They managed to divide the kingdom among themselves and soon Rhodes formed strong commercial and cultural ties with the Ptolemies in Alexandria which formed the Rhodo-Egyptian alliance that commanded the trade throughout the Aegean in the 3rd century BC.

Becoming maritime, commercial and cultural centre with its coin circulated all around the Mediterranean. Rhodes developed many schools of philosophy, science, literature and rhetoric while sharing masters with Alexandria and Athens who formed schools on the island. Under Pergamese influence, the school of sculptors developed a rich,

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PAUL 62 dramatic style that is categorized as “Hellenistic Baroque” . The famous Laocoön group was carved from two Rhodian sculptors, which now resided in the Vatican museums. The large sculptures that were rediscovered at Sperlonga in the villa of Tiberius which is presumed to have been created in the early Imperial period are also apart of Rhodian creation.

The famous statue called the Colossus of Rhodes came from the money that was gained after selling a huge store of military equipment that belonged to Demetrius who under his father, Antigonus, orders created huge siege weapons to take over Rhodes and break the Egyptian Alliance, though only after a year of siege he relented and signed a peace agreement in 304 BC.

Continuing in the 3rd century, the attempts to secure their independence were tremendous, requiring the three great Hellenistic states to achieve dominance which forced the Rhodians to balance between the Antigonids, Seleucids and Ptolemies eventually driving their traditional ally, Egypt, out. Using their economy and excellent navy, boasting the finest sailors of the Mediterranean world: “If we have ten Rhodians, we have ten ships” Rhodes established their control on the shores of Caria and extended from Mobolla and Kaunos in the north to in the south.

Even though it successfully carried the policy in the 3rd century, the declination of Ptolemaic power disrupted the balance of power and soon in 203/ 2 the kings of Antigonid Macedon and Seleucid Asia agreed to accepting their respective ambitions which were Philip’s campaign in the Aegean and western Anatolia while Antiochus ’campaign was a final solution of the Egyptian question. Checking Philip’s navy, but not his superior army, Rhodes soon appealed to the Roman Republic due to the lack of a third power.

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Even after the titanic struggle against Hannibal in 218-201 BC, the Romans still agreed to intervene due to the previous betrayal from Philip in the war against Carthage, seeing the appeal as a chance to pressure Philip. The result was the ( 200-196 BC ) with Rhodes keeping her independence while Macedon’s rule as a powerful player ended.

Withdrawing from Greece, the following power vacuum brought the Romans back who defeated the last Mediterranean power that barely threaten their predominance. Due to their aid in naval help in the Romans first foray into Asia, the Rhodians were given territory and enhanced status. Rome preferring clients over provinces, soon left the east, though with their power now being assured, Rhodian autonomy depended upon the good relations with them. Relations became strained in the of 171-168, with the ambassador of Rhodes, Agepolis, being sent to the consul Quintus Marcius Philippus and then Rome in hopes of turning the Senate against the war. Due to Rhodes mostly neutral view during the war and then its friendly attitude with King Perseus, the Senate viewed it as hostile and some proposed declaring war on the island. Averting the decimation that was bound to be, Rhodes became a permanent ally of Rome and by default lost all independence with it being said that due to the Rhodians ’ arrogance that surpassed the Romans, the Roman allies turned against the islanders.

Due to its loss of independence, the island became a cultural and education centre for the Roman families and its teachers, staying as an important ally though that soon changed in the machinations of Roman politics with Cassius invading and sacking the city, turning it a place for political exiles. A well known instance is when the Emperor Tiberius himself spent a term of exile on the island in the 1st century AD. According to Biblical accounts, Shaul or Apostle Paul passed by Rhodes and most likely spoke of the Gospel to the people, bringing them into the faith.

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Byzantine period After the Roman Empire, the long lasting period of the Byzantine Era began with it going from the capital of the Roman province of the islands to the metropolis of the ecclesiastical province of with eleven suffragan sees.

Its influence in maritime issues manifested in the collection of maritime laws that were know as “Rhodian Sea Law” which was accepted throughout the Mediterranean and was in continuous use over the Byzantine Era, influencing the development of admiralty law up to the present. Rhodes was captured by the Sasanian navy in 622/ 3 with the Byzantine-Sasanian War of 602-628.

Five decades later, Rhodes was captured by the Islamic Umayyad forces of Caliph Muawiyah I in 654 who carried off the remains of the Colossus of Rhodes. Taken by the Arabs in 673 as the start of a series of attacks against Constantinople led to Rhodes having their fleet destroyed by Greek fire and storms with the island being evacuated in 679/ 80 as part of the treaty between Byzantine and Umayyad. Afterwards, in 715 when the Arabs launched a rebellion against Rhodes, the Byzantine fleet was sent to aid and this led to the installation of Theodosius III on the throne.

Belonging to the Cibyrrhaeot Theme of the Byzantine Empire from early 8th to the 12th century, it became a centre of shipbuilding and commerce and in 1090 was taken by the forces of Seljuk Turks after the Battle Manzikert. With Rhodes being recaptured by the Emperor Alexios I Komnenos during the First Crusade a new period came in where the Byzantine central power started to decline under the Angeloi emperors of 1185-1204 and Rhodes evolved into an independent domain under Leo Gabalas and his sibling John before being taken over by the Genoese in 1248-1250.

Questions for Reflection

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1.What did Paul talk about to the Rhodians during his brief stay? 2.How did they react? 3.What do you think was the environment at that time? 4.Would you walk into such an environment? Or would you have stayed away?

Samos

Samos is a Greek island located in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of , north of Patmos and the Dodecanese complex, and off the coast of Asia Minor.

It was a very wealthy and powerful city-state in ancient times, known for its vineyards and wine production with Samian wine being infamous even in antiquity. Pythagoras, Epicurus and Aristarchus of Samos were born here.

It was a semi-autonomous Principality of Samos under the Ottoman suzerainty from 1835 until it joined Greece in 1912.

Early and Being renowned for its Samian wines and its red pottery which was called Samian ware by the Romans, led the city to be a centre of Ionian culture and luxury with its most famous attraction being the Ionic order archaic Temple of goddess Hera the Heraion.

During the great migration, an Ionian population with origins to Epidaurus in were received; Samos to become one of the twelve members of the Ionian League and by the 7th century BC it had peaked as the leading commercial centres of Greece. Developing an extensive

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PAUL 66 oversea commerce and facilitating the importation of textiles from Asia Minor, made the city very wealthy. Due to them opening trade with the populations in the , Egypt, Cyrene, Corinth and , resulted in the formation of a rivalry with . Even though the Persian Wars had an effect, Samos was largely safe due to the alliance they had with the Egyptians and their powerful fleet, while also being credited as the first Greeks to reach the Straits of Gibraltar.

Becoming an open strife during the in the 7th century BC, with the Milesians trying to establish supremacy in the eastern waters led to Samos defending its position from the aggressors, the Asiatic Kings, which led to Miletus being exposed. Polycrates overthrew the oligarchy in 535 BC and helped Samos reach the height of prosperity with its naval defending against invasions while ruling supremely in the Aegean waters with the trireme. It was a beautiful city with public works, schools, sculptors, metal-workers and engineers which received high repute.

Eupalinian aqueduct In the 6th century BC the tyrant was Polycrates and two groups were working under the lead of the engineer Eupalions. They dug a tunnel through Mount Kastro so that an aqueduct could be constructed to support the ancient capital with fresh water. The tunnel had the highest defense due to its importance. During the reign of the tyrant Polycrates in 6th century BC, two working groups that were under the lead of the engineer Eupalions, dug a tunnel through Mount Kastro so that they could build an aqueduct to supply the ancient capital with fresh water, with it being of the highest defensive importance.

Persian Wars and Persian rule

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Suffering a severe blow after Polycrates death, when the Persian Achaemenid Empire struck, took over and partly depopulated the island before it regained much of its power in 499 BC when it joined the general revolt of the Ionian city-states against Persia, though due to its long-standing jealousy of Miletus their service was lacking and at the battle of Lade in 494 BC part of the contingent of sixty ships was found guilty for outright treachery. Leading the revolt against Persia in 479 BC, in the Battle of Mycale which constituted part of the offensive by the Delian League.

Peloponnesian War Between 431 – 404 BC, during the Peloponnesian War Samos sided with Athens against Sparta and provided their port to the Athenian fleet. Remaining loyal to Athens and holding a position of special privilege until 440 when during the dispute between Miletus and Samos, Athens sided with Miletus and persuaded them to secede. Even though they had a large fleet consisting of sixty ships, they still lost to Athens in a naval battle that was led by Pericles and were forced to surrender. Even though it was punished, according to , it was not as heavy as it was against other rebellion city-states, meaning instead of paying tribute, Samos had to pay the damage that the rebellion cost the Athenians equalling to 1,300 talents, paying it instalments of 50 talents per annum.

With the closing of the Peloponnesian War, Samos appeared as one of the most loyal dependencies of Athens, having served as a base for the naval wars and as a temporary home of the Athenian democracy in 411 BC when the revolution of the Four Hundred happened at Athens. Due to its loyalty it was rewarded the Athenian franchise. Even though the friendly attitude shown towards Athens was because of the series of political revolutions which ended with the establishment of a democracy, Samos was besieged by Lysander after Athens fell and became an oligarch city-state.

The withdrawal of the Spartan navy in 394 BC made the island declare its independence and tired to re-establish a democracy which failed by

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PAUL 68 the peace of Antalcidas in 387 it fell under Persian dominion. Twenty years later it was recovered by Athens in 366 after an eleven month long siege and was provided a strong body of military settlers called the cleruchs which proved vital in the Social War of 357-355. Once the in 322 was over, during which Athens was deprived of Samos, the changes of the island couldn’t be followed

Hellenistic and Roman Eras Serving as a base for the Egyptian fleet of the Ptolemies during 275-270 BC, it was recognized in other periods as the overlord ship of Seleucid and in 189 BC it was transferred by the Romans to their vassal, the Attalid dynasty’s Hellenistic kingdom of Pergamon in Asia Minor.

Being inducted into the Roman province of Asia Minor in 133, Samos allied with Aristonicus in 132 and Mithridates in 88 against their overlord, forfeiting its autonomy which barely survived between the reigns of Augustus and Vespasian. However, Samos flourished and contended with and Ephesus for the title of “First city of Ionia” , being noted as a health resort and its manufacture of pottery. Starting from Emperor Diocletian’s Tetrarchy it became part of the Provincia Insularum in the diocese of Asiana in the eastern empire’s pretorian prefecture of Oriens.

Byzantine and Genoese Eras Passing through changes of government that were similar to Chios during the Byzantine Empire in the 13th century and just like Chios, it became the property of the Genoese firm of Giustiniani during 1346- 1566 with an interruption in 1475 by an Ottoman period which later was ruled by Tzachas in 1081-1091.

Ottoman rule Coming under the Ottoman rule for a period of time between 1475 or 1479/ 80, with the result being that the island was practically abandoned due to piracy and the plague, remaining desolate for almost a full

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PAUL 69 century before the Ottoman authorities secured control of the Aegean and then took interest in repopulating the island.

Being granted as a personal domain in 1572/ 3 to Kilic Ali Pasha who was the who induced certain privileges such as a seven- year tax exemption, a permanent exemption from the tithe in exchange for a lump of annual payment of 45,000 piastres and a considerable autonomy in local affairs which attracted many settlers with the island gradually recovering and reaching a population of 10,000 in the 17th century which still concentrated in the interior before in mid-18th century when the coast began to be densely settled.

Coming under the administration of the Kapudan Pasha’s Eyalet of the Archipelago more as a part of the than a distinct province, since they were under Ottoman rule. The Ottoman authorities were represented by a voevoda who were in charge of the fiscal administration, the kadi, the island’s Orthodox bishop and four notables that represented the four districts of the island before the Ottoman reign was interrupted by the Russo-Turkish War of 1768-1774, when the island was put under Russian control in 1771-1774.

The treaty of Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca concluded the war with clauses that enabled a great expansion of the commercial activities of the Ottoman Empire’s Greek Orthodox population, while Samian merchants took advantage of this and the urban mercantile class which was based on commerce and shipping began to expand. Samos was introduced to the progressive ideas of the Age of Enlightenment and of the French revolution by the voyages of the merchants into the Mediterranean as well as the settlement of Greeks from the which passed from Venice into the French Republic in 1797. This led to the formation of two rival political parties, the progressive-radical Karmanioloi and the reactionary Kallikantzaroi who represented mostly the traditional land-holding elites. With the leadership of Lykourgos Logothetis in 1807 the Karmanioloi gained power in the island by introducing liberal and democratic principles and empowering the local popular assembly at

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PAUL 70 the expense of the land-holding notables, with their rule lasting until 1812 after which they were overthrown by the Ottomans and expelled.

Greek Revolution Coming in March 1821, the Greek War of Independence broke out and on the 18th of April, with Logothetis and the Karmanioloi at the head, Samos joined the uprising with a revolutionary government with its own constitution was set up, in May, to administer the island, having been inspired by Logothetis .

Repulsing three Ottoman attempts successfully with a naval battle occurring and then in 1828 the island became formally incorporated into the Hellenic State under Governor , as part of the Eastern even though the of 1830 excluded Samos form the borders of the independent Greek State.

Refusing re-subordination to the Sultan, Logothetis declared Samos to be an independent state, governed as before under the provisions of the 1821 constitution and finally due to the pressure of the Great Powers, it was declared an autonomous tributary principality under the Ottoman suzerainty. Still refusing to accept this decision until the Ottoman fleet enforced itself in May 1834 by forcing the leadership of the revolution and a part of the population to flee to Greece where they settled near Chalkis.

Samothrace /Samothraki

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Samothrace is one of the most rugged Greek islands in the northern Aegean Sea, with its main industries being fishing and tourism while the natural resources are granite and basalt.

Antiquity While it didn’t hold any political significance in Ancient Greece, it was still home to the Sanctuary of the Great Gods where many important Hellenic and pre-Hellenic religious ceremonies with an initiation ceremony ( Samothracian Mysteries ) to integrate into the cult. Lysander of Sparta, Philip II of Macedon and Lucius Calpurnius Piso Casoninus who was the father –in – law of Julius Ceasar attended and got initiated into the island cult. The ancient city called Palaeopoli ( Old City ) is situated on the north coast with a significant amount of remains of the Cyclopean Walls still existing.

Even though the traditional account is that Samothrace was first colonised by , Carians and then later on by Thracians with the Greeks, coming from Samos, settling at the end of the 8th Century BC which later got its name changed from Samos of Thrace to Samothrace, Strabo heavily denies it with archaeological evidence showing that the Hellenistic settlement was as late as the 6th century BC.

In 508 BC, the Persians invaded after which the control passed on to the Athenians and became a member of the Delian League in the 5th century BC. After being subjugated by Philip II, it went under Macedonian suzerainty until 168 BC. Even though it gained it’s independence after the Battle of Pydna, in 70 AD Vespasian annexed the island into the Roman Empire.

Due to the interest of the Roman Emperors the Sanctuary of the Great Gods expanded beyond the normal Greek parameters allowing Samothrace to become an international religious centre, bringing

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PAUL 72 pilgrims from all over the Roman world. Rome further increased Samothrace’s importance by building two ports which connected to the Troas – Macedonia sea route.

According to Biblical accounts, the Apostle Paul sailed from Troas to Samothrace, staying one night before heading towards Macedonia.

M iddle Ages to M odern Era The Byzantines ruled until 1204 before the Venetians took their place, only to be dislodged by a Genoan family known as the Gattikusi in 1355. Its name changed to Semadirek after the Ottomans took over in 1457 which led to an insurrection against them by the local population in the Greek War of Independence between 1821 and 1831 which led to the slaughter of 1,000 inhabitants. After the , Greece had dominion over it in 1913 though from 1941 to 1944, Bulgaria occupied it during WWII.

Questions for Reflection: 1.What do you think Paul did when he visited Samothrace? 2.How did the People receive him? 3.Why was he heading to Macedonia? 4.Why was he in Troas?

Immediately and with our delay Shaul / Paul and his co-workers embarked on a ship heading for the city of of Neapolis, present day Kavala, with the island of Samothracia (Samothrace, present-day Samothraki) as first stop of their voyage. The narrative of the book of Acts states nothing further: Obviously this overnight stay of Shaul/ Paul at Samothraki must have been due to the increased risk of having to sail in the night and not to any other reason. Although there doesn’t not seem to have been any safe haven on the island,

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PAUL 73 nonetheless near the settlement of present-day Palaeopolis, on the northern coast of the island, there were moorings for this kind of journey such as Demetrion, which today is identified by many with the bay of Kamariotissa.

Until very recently the only trace of Shaul/ Paul’s overnight stay on Samothraki was the remains of an early Christian church at Palaeopolis. However, in 2008 following actions taken by the local Church, a pilgrimage monument, Shaul/ Pauls Sedile, was constructed at that point where Shaul / Paul is said to have walked and spent the night on the island. In fact, it is a building of austere architecture, constructed of wood and stone, in accordance with the standards of the local architectural culture, in which a set of mosaics is also exhibited, on subjects inspired by moments of Shaul’s/ Paul’s short journey on Samothrace during his overnight sojourn there.

Thessaloniki

Located on the Thermaic Gulf, on the north-east corner of the Aegean Sea, Thessaloniki is the second largest city of Greece, being the capital of Greek Macedonia, an administrative region of and the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace with having a history of Co-reigning the Eastern Roman (Byzantine Empire alongside Constantinople) district.

In the Classical era it was discovered in 315 B.C by King of Macedon, who named the city after his wife Thessalonike, who was a half sister to Alexander the Great and being the daughter of Philip the Second made her princess of Macedonia.

The city retained autonomy and a parliament causing it to evolve into the most important city of Macedonia. Twenty years after the fall of the Macedonian kingdom in 168 B.C, Thessaloniki became the capital of the

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Roman province of Macedonia in 148 B.C. Afterwhich in 41 B.C, under Mark Anthony, it became a free city of the Roman Republic.

Growing into a significant trade-hub on the Via Egnatia ( A road crossing Illyricum, Macedonia and Thrace, connecting Dyrrachium with Byzantium which cleared the way for trades between great centres like Thessaloniki, Rome and Byzantium.

Located on the southern end of the main north-south route through the , amongst the Morava and Axios river valleys allowed it to link the Balkans with Greece. Due to said connections, it became capital of it’s own Roman district, out of the four. Later, it became capital of all Greek provinces for the Roman Empire due to its connections and importance in trade. It is known that in A.D Thessaloniki became one of the early centres of Christianity, where Paul visited the chief synagogues on a Sabbath three times and sowed seeds into Thessaloniki and the communities there. He wrote two letters names 1st and 2nd Thessalonians.

Acquiring a patron saint in 306 A.D named St. Demetrius who was put to death by Galerius after which in the 5th century a basilica was built in the Saint’s honour. Galerius Maximianus Caesar was the head of the administrative capital city Thessaloniki after the Roman Empire was divided into tetrarchy and commissioned an imperial palace, a new hippodrome, a triumphal arch and a mausoleum etc. Becoming the capital of the new Prefecture of Illyricum in 379 when it was divided into the East and west Roman Empires allowed Gothic troops, under Roman Emperor Theodosius I to lead a wholesale slaughter against the inhabitants of the city in 390 A.D due to the revolt caused by the people. By 476 ( Fall of Rome), Thessaloniki was the second largest city of the Eastern Roman Empire.

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After Constantinople, Thessaloniki was still considered the second largest city due to it’s immense wealth and size. Unsuccessful invasions from and during the 6th and 7th centuries caused the many Slavs to settle in the hinterlands of the city, even though modern theory is that the migration was not on the same scale as first thought. The first literary language of the Slavs which was most likely based on the Slavic dialect in the hinterland of their hometown, was created in the 9th century by the Byzantine Greek Missionaries Cyril and Methodius who were natives of the city.’

Even thought the city was sacked by Arab naval in 904, the economic expansion continued throughout the 12th century as the Byzantine control was expanded to the north due to the rule of the Komnenoi emperors. Before becoming the largest vassal of the , the city and the surrounding territories were incorporated into the by the forces of the Fourth Crusade, whom took the city from the Byzantines in 1204. After being overrun by a remnant of the former Byzantine Empire named in 1224, which was under the control of the self-proclaimed Emperor Theodore Komnenos , it soon became the capital of the short-lived Empire of Thessalonica. After his defeat at Klokotnitsa in 1230, the Empire became a vassal state of the Second Bulgarian Empire. In 1246, it was recovered by the Nicaean Empire.

The zealot movement which started in 1342 by an anti-aristocratic party of sailors and the deprived, is seen as a social-revolutionary movement, instead which indicates towards the independence of the city from the rest of the Empire. The city was reunited with the rest of the Empire after the movement was overthrown in 1350.

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The rapid expansion of Turkey in 1354 towards the southern Balkans which was conducted by both the Ottomans and the semi-independent Turkish ghazi warrior-bands was due to the capture of Gallipoli by the Ottomans. After which in 1369 Adrianople was captured as well. During 1383-1387, after a suffering siege, Thessalonica itself was captured and was taken out of Manuel II Palaiologos control along with most of eastern and central Macedonia. Before the Sultan laid waste to most Byzantine territories and Chrysopolis due to Manuel II escaping Ottoman control and being proclaimed Emperor, the surrendered cities were allowed complete autonomy if they paid the kharaj poll-tax. Because of it’s small resistance against the Ottoman rule, Thessalonica managed to retain most of it’s Christian possessions and institutions. After the where Bayezid was defeated and captured by Emperor Manuel II and Süleyman (his son) in the Ottoman succession struggle in 1402, Thessalonica as well as part of its hinterland, the Chalcidice peninsula and coastal region between the rivers Strymon and Pineios became an autonomous appanage of John VII palaiologos. Manuel’s third son, Despot Andronikos Palaiologos, succeeded him after his death in 1408, while being supervised by Demetrios Leontares until 1415. After 1403 peace followed, since the Turks had their own civil war, though in 1412 the rival Ottoman pretenders and in 1416 due to the uprising of Mustafa Çelebi against Mehmed, Thessalonica was attacked. The pressure on the city from Turkish forces increased after the Ottoman civil war ended leading to a divide in opinion during the siege of 1383- 1387, where one party was for resistance with Western Help and the other party was pro submission to the Ottomans. On March 29 of 1430 Sultan Murad II captured Thessalonica even after Despot Andronikos Palaiologos asked for help from the in 1423, in hopes of protections against Ottoman forces.

Even though one fifth of the city’s population was enslaved and many escaped such as Theodorus Gaze and Andronicus Callistus, it didn’t

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PAUL 77 change the city’s status as a major city and trading hub. Remaining one of the most important trading hubs along with Smyrna, their field of shipping and manufacturing was significant, while most of the city’s trade was under ethnic Greek control.

With a dense population of (Bulgarian, Greek, Albanian etc.) it is considered that the Jewish immigration was a deliberate invitation by the Ottoman regime to prevent the ethnic Greek population from dominating the city. It was the capital of the Sanjak of Selanik within the wider Rumeli Eyalet also known as the Balkans, until 1826 and following that the capital of Selanik Eyalet which became the Selanik after 1867. This consisted of the of Selanik, and Drama between 1826 and 1912. Yusuf , governor at that time, imprisoned more than 400 people in his headquarters once the Greek War on Independence started in Spring 1821. Once Yusuf found out about the rebellion of the villages on May 18th, he ordered the slaughter of half of his hostages before his eyes. Hayrıülah, the Mulla of Thessalonica, gave a description of the happenings: " Every day and every night you hear nothing in the streets of Thessaloniki but shouting and moaning. It seems that Yusuf Bey, the Yeniceri Agasi, the Subaşı, the hocas and the ulemas have all gone raving mad." It took until the end of the century for Thessalonica to recover.

June 1826, Ottomans slaughtered 10.000 while also destroying their base. This event became known as The Auspicious Incident. During the last few decades of Ottoman control, the city’s infrastructure became a significant revival subject. To protect the European face of both the city and the Ottoman Empire, an official face was appointed with the creation of the Government house as well as new public buildings were erect in the eclectic style. Between 1868 and 1889, city walls were torn down with expansion plans being

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PAUL 78 documented as early as 1879. 1888 allows the first tram service, a connection with Central Europe through rail connections of , Monastir (1893) and Constantinople (1896). 1908 brought electrical lamp posts for the streets.

21st Century:

In the early 20th century, Thessaloniki was in the center of radical activities by various groups; the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization, founded in 1897, and the Greek Macedonian Committee, founded in 1903. In 1903 an anarchist group known as the Boatmen of Thessaloniki planted bombs in several buildings in Thessaloniki, including the Ottoman Bank, with some assistance from the IMRO. The Greek consulate in Ottoman Thessaloniki (now the Museum of the ) served as the center of operations for the Greek guerillas.

Thessaloniki was also the center of activities of the , a political reform movement, which goal was to replace the Ottoman Empire's absolute monarchy with a constitutional government. The Young Turks started out as an underground movement, until finally in 1908, they started the from the city of Thessaloniki, by which their revolutionaries gained control over the Ottoman Empire.

As the broke out, Greece declared war on the Ottoman Empire and expanded its borders. When , Prime Minister at the time, was asked if the Greek army should move towards Thessaloniki or Monastir (now , Republic of Macedonia), Venizelos replied "Θεσσαλονί κη με κάθε κόστ ος!" (Thessaloniki, at all costs!). As both Greece and Bulgaria wanted Thessaloniki, the Ottoman garrison of the city entered negotiations with both armies. On 8 November 1912 (26 October Old Style), the feast day of the city's patron

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PAUL 79 saint, Saint Demetrius, the Greek Army accepted the surrender of the Ottoman garrison at Thessaloniki. The Bulgarian army arrived one day after the surrender of the city to Greece and Tahsin Pasha, ruler of the city, told the Bulgarian officials that "I have only one Thessaloniki, which I have surrendered". After the , Thessaloniki and the rest of the Greek portion of Macedonia were officially annexed to Greece by the Treaty of in 1913. On 18 March 1913 was assassinated in the city by Alexandros Schinas.

In 1915, during , a large Allied expeditionary force established a base at Thessaloniki for operations against pro- German Bulgaria.This culminated in the establishment of the , also known as the Salonika Front. In 1916, pro- Venizelist Greek army officers and civilians, with the support of the Allies, launched an uprising, creating a pro-Allied temporary government by the name of the "Provisional Government of National Defence" that controlled the "New Lands" (lands that were gained by Greece in the Balkan Wars, most of Northern Greece including Greek Macedonia, the North Aegean as well as the island of Crete); the official government of the King in Athens, the "State of Athens", controlled "Old Greece" which were traditionally monarchist. The State of Thessaloniki was disestablished with the unification of the two opposing Greek governments under Venizelos, following the abdication of King Constantine in 1917.

On 30 December 1915 an Austrian air raid on Thessaloniki alarmed many town civilians and killed at least one person, and in response the Allied troops based there arrested the German and Austrian and Bulgarian and Turkish vice-consuls and their families and dependents and put them on a battleship, and billeted troops in their consulate buildings in Thessaloniki.

Most of the old center of the city was destroyed by the Great Thessaloniki Fire of 1917, which was started accidentally by an unattended kitchen fire on 18 August 1917. The fire swept through the centre of the city, leaving 72,000 people homeless; according to the Pallis

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Report, most of them were Jewish (50,000). Many businesses were destroyed, as a result, 70% of the population were unemployed. Two churches and many synagogues and mosques were lost. Nearly one- quarter of the total population of approximately 271,157 became homeless. Following the fire the government prohibited quick rebuilding, so it could implement the new redesign of the city according to the European-style urban plan prepared by a group of architects, including the Briton Thomas Mawson, and headed by French architect Ernest Hébrard. Property values fell from 6.5 million Greek drachmas to 750,000.

After the defeat of Greece in the Greco-Turkish War and during the break-up of the Ottoman Empire, a population exchange took place between Greece and Turkey. Over 160,000 ethnic Greeks deported from the former Ottoman Empire – particularly Greeks from western Asia Minor and as well as Caucasus Greeks from various parts of Eastern Anatolia and the South Caucasus – were resettled in the city, changing its demographics. Additionally many of the city's Muslims, including Ottoman , were deported to Turkey, ranging at about 20,000 people.

During World War II Thessaloniki was heavily bombarded by Fascist Italy (with 232 people dead, 871 wounded and over 800 buildings damaged or destroyed in November 1940 alone), and, the Italians having failed in their invasion of Greece, it fell to the forces of on 8 April 1941 and remained under German occupation until 30 October 1944 when it was liberated by forces of the Greek People's Liberation Army, headed by Markos Vafiadis. The Nazis soon forced the Jewish residents into a ghetto near the railroads and on 15 March 1943 began the deportation process of the city's 56,000 Jews to its Nazi concentration camps. They deported over 43,000 of the city's Jews in concentration camps, where most were killed in gas chambers. The Germans also deported 11,000 Jews to forced labor camps, where most perished. Only 1,200 Jews live in the city today.

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The importance of Thessaloniki to Nazi Germany can be demonstrated by the fact that, initially, Hitler had planned to incorporate it directly in the Third Reich (that is, make it part of Germany) and not have it controlled by a puppet state such as the Hellenic State or an ally of Germany (Thessaloniki had been promised to Yugoslavia as a reward for joining the Axis on 25 March 1941). Having been the first major city in Greece to fall to the occupying forces just two days after the German invasion, it was in Thessaloniki that the first Greek resistance group was formed (under the name Ελε υθε ρί α, Eleutheria, "Freedom") as well as the first anti-Nazi newspaper in an occupied territory anywhere in Europe, also by the name Eleutheria. Thessaloniki was also home to a military camp-converted-concentration camp, known in German as "Konzentrationslager Pavlo Mela" ( Concentration Camp), where members of the resistance and other non-favourable people towards the German occupation from all over Greece were held either to be killed or sent to concentration camps elsewhere in Europe. In the 1946 monarchy referendum, the majority of the locals voted in favour of a republic, contrary to the rest of Greece.

After the war, Thessaloniki was rebuilt with large-scale development of new infrastructure and industry throughout the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Many of its architectural treasures still remain, adding value to the city as a tourist destination, while several early Christian and Byzantine monuments of Thessaloniki were added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1988. Today, Thessaloniki has become one of the most important trade and business hubs in Southeastern Europe, with the being one of the largest in the Aegean and allowing trade throughout the Balkan hinterland.

Jewish History in Greece

After the banishment from Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492, an awareness of Renaissance was brought with the Jews who moved into Thessalonica. In the 16th century Sephardic creativity reached a high

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PAUL 82 point and due to the economic stability and the tolerance shown by people allowed for thirty-two Kehiloth ( communities )which had their own synagogue, tradition and unique custom which bore the names of places of birth in Spain, Portugal and Italy.

The population continued to grow in 1912 with the absorption of Thessaloniki into the Greek state and even though the fire in 1917 destroyed most of the Jewish Quarter, it was still recorded that in 1940 there were over 500,000 tombs. After 1941 the population dropped with the ‘Final Solution ’being activated. Now there are only a handful of Jews.

Questions for Reflection:

What do you think Paul did when he visited the synagogues on Shabbat?

How do you think people reacted to the revelation of a mono-theistic religion?

Fifty kilometers from Apollonia, the same distance as today, the city of Thessaloniki (Thessalonica) was found multitudinous already by the standards of those times: with a population of 20 - 40,000 it was the metropolis of Macedonia. Even though Thessaloniki did not boast the past or the history of other cities of Greece such as Athens or Corinth, When Shaul/ Paul visit it, it was one of the fastest growing Greek cities with regard not only to its extent and population but also to its economy and trade. By means of its port, it was connected commercially with almost all cities of the time, since its position half way on the Via Egnatia and the possibility of direct access to the Danubian lands through he valleys of the Agios and the Morava rivers lent a particularly strategic significance to its position in the area.

The dates back to 316-315 B.C., when king Cassandra of Macedon consolidated twenty-six smaller towns on the site of the

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PAUL 83 ancient town of (present-day And Toumba) and named the new city after his wife Thessaloniki, Alexander the Great’s half-sister.

The Book of Acts states that when Shaul/ Paul arrived at Thessaloniki, “ as his manner was” , he went to the local synagogue, where “ three sabbath days he reasoned” with both Jews (Hebrews) and Gentile (Greek) God-Fearers on the issue that “ Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead and that this Jesus, […] is Christ” . The existence of a synagogue in Thessaloniki, and apparently neither in Philippi, with regard to which a mere mention of “ prayer” is made, nor in Apollonia, indicates a strong Jewish presence in this city. This assumption is confirmed by a set of historic events, such as the arrival of a large number of exiled Jews (Hebrews) from Alexandria at Thessaloniki in 145 B.C., etc. Jews (Hebrews) were seen as strangers in Thessaloniki, although they had the right to settle there (domicilium) and were active mainly in trade and the craft industry.

Shaul/ Paul seems to have entered the city form the West, where Langada Road is found today and where the Via Egnaita also used to run through, to arrive at the so-called Letaia gate [Yeni Kapu] and the road with was in the same area as Aghiou Dimitriou Street today. Indeed, according to tradition, six different points are indicated as possible places in which the synagogue where Shaul/ Paul preached may have stood: (a) the south chapel of Vlatadon Monastery, which is tellingly dedicated to Peter and Shaul/ Paul and near which another spot is shown where the house of Jason, Shaul/ Paul’s host is said to have been; (b) a second church below that of Saint Demetrius; ( C) the Saint George Rotunda; (d) the quarter on the west side of the Roman Agora, north of the church of panaghia Cchalkeon (“ the virgin of the coppersmiths); (e) the area north of where the former Governor’s house stands today, near the temple of doings; or (f) the area of the Letaia gate, near Agios Dimitrios Street. Indeed, in this connection, it is worth taking into account the witness of 19th- century travelers that the Ambon of the church of saint sophia was the tribune from which Shaul/ Paul spoke to the Thessalonians and which was brought

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PAUL 84 there from another point near the church of the holy apostles, in the vicinity of the church of saint demetrius and the Letaia gate.

Shaul’s/ Paul’s journey in Thessaloniki for about three weeks led to the establishment of a small community of faith there, since, as is stated in Acts [17:4ff.], some of the Jews (Hebrews) believed, and consorted with Shaul/ Paul and Sila; and of the devout Greeks (God-Fearers) a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few. This success os Shaul’s/ Paul’s preaching at Thessaloniki cause a reaction of the part of the Jews (Hebrews) which believe not, moved with envy, too unto them certain lewd fellows of baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar against Shaul/ Paul and his laborers, to cause turmoil. In fact, they succeeded in bringing Jason and some others of the new followers of Yeshua (Jesus) before the general assembly of the city, instead of Shaul/ Paul and his companions whom they were unable to find. They accused Jason and his brethren of breaking Caesar’s laws by supposedly claiming that the true king was only Yeshua (Jesus) and not the emperor. These developments must have been so intense that Shaul/ Paul was forced to flee the city. However, his contact with it and with is God-Fearing community of faith did not end her, since, as we know, he later addressed to it in two of his letters, i.e. the first and second books of Thessalonians.

“But as soon as night fell, the brothers sent Shaul and Sila off to Berea. As soon as they arrived, they went to the synagogue.” - Acts 17:10

Veria - Berea

Veria is a city located in Macedonia, northern Greece, 511 km north- northwest of Athens and 73 km west-southwest of Thessalonica.

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According to the writings of Thucydides in 432 BC we see that Veria was populated asfar back as 1000 BC making it a very old city even by the Greek standards. It was an important location to possess for Philip II, father of Alexander the Great, and for the Roman Empire. According to Biblical accounts, Apostle Paul preached and brought many into the faith of Christ in the Empire. Under Byzantine and Ottoman rule, Veria was a centre of Greek culture and learning.

Myths say that the city was named by Beres, its mythical creator or by the daughter of the King of Berroia who was presumed to be the son of Macedon. With the kings of the ruling over Veria, the city prospered greatly and became the second most important city of that Dynasty, after . During the , Veria reached its peak of glory, becoming a seat of the Koinon of , minted its own coinage and held sports games named Alexandreis, in honour of Alexander the Great, having athletes from all over Greece participating in them.

In 168 BC, Veria surrendered to Rome and became a place of worship for the Romans, being made a capital of the Roman province of Macedonia by Diocletian. During that time there was a Jewish synagogue where Apostle Paul and Silas went after leaving Thessalonica to preach in 50/ 51 AD.

Acts 17:10-15 Complete Jewish Bible (CJB): 10 But as soon as night fell, the brothers sent Sha’ul and Sila off to Berea. As soon as they arrived, they went to the synagogue. 11 Now the people here were of nobler character than the ones in Thessalonica; they eagerly welcomed the message, checking the Tanakh every day to see if the things Sha’ul was saying were true. 12 Many of them came to trust, as did a number of prominent Greek women and not a few Greek men.

13 But when the unbelieving Jews of Thessalonica learned that the word of God had been proclaimed by Sha’ul in Berea as well, they went there

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PAUL 86 too to make trouble and agitate the crowds. 14 The brothers sent Sha’ul away at once to go down to the seacoast, while Sila and Timothy stayed behind. 15 Sha’ul’s escort went with him as far as Athens, then left with instructions for Sila and Timothy to come as quickly as they could.

With the Byzantine Empire ruling over Veria, or Berrhoea as known then, continued to grow and prosper, developing a large and well – educated commercial class, becoming a centre of medieval Greek learning. This growth can be seen by the many Byzantine churches that were built during that time when it was a Christian bishopric.

While in the 7th century it is recorded that the Slavic tribe of Drougoubitai raided the lowlands of the city, it is presumed that in the 8th century with Empress Irene of Athens being in control, she rebuilt and expanded the city, naming it Irenopolis, after herself. Sources though indicate that this Irenopolis-Berrhoea was further east, towards Thrace.

Flickering between the Bulgarian Empire and the Byzantine Kingdom, the city was held by the Bulgarians in late 9th century with sources saying that Tsar Boris I built one of the seven cathedral churches, being referred to by Theopylact of Ohrid as “one of the beautiful Bulgarian churches” . The Byzantine Emperor Basil II quickly regained it from Bulgarian governor Dobromir who surrendered the city in 1001 AD. N mention of the city appears again until the Normans in 1185, during their invasion of the Byzantine Empire.

Becoming part of Boniface of Montferrat’s Kingdom of Thessalonica after the Fourth Crusade in 1204, a Latin bishop took up residence in the city. Four years later in 1206, Kalojan, Bulgarian ruler, took the city with the result of many dying and the others, including the Latin bishop fleeing. Installing Bulgarians as commandant and bishop, he resettled some of the leading families to Bulgaria. Even though it is said that after Kalojan’s death in 1207 the city returned to Latin rule, there is no

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PAUL 87 evidence of that and by 1220 it had already been occupied by Theodore Komnenos Doukas, the ruler of Epirus, for in that year the doux Constantine Pegonites was attested as governing the city in his name. Emperor of Nicea John III Doukas Vatatzes took over in 1246 and helped form part of the restored Byzantine Empire after 1261.

During the 14th century, the city went through various power struggles with it being pillaged by Karasid Turks in 1331, captured by the Serbian ruler Stephen Dushan in 1343/ 4 and became part of his Serbian Empire. Even though John VI Kantakouzenos recovered it for Byzantium in 1350, it was soon taken again by the Serbians and became the domain of Radoslav Hlapen after 1358. It took the disintegration of the Serbian Empire for it to be passed on to Byzantium once again in 1375 but the rising power of the Ottoman Turks was a threat.

According to tradition that was preserved by Yazıcıoğlu Ali, the two younger sons of the Seljuk sultan Kaykaus II were settled by Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos in Veria and made its governors. While one of their descendants converted to Christianity, the other one, a certain Lyzikos surrendered the city to the Ottoman Sultan and after the Ottoman conquest, he and his relatives settled at Zichna. This explains the presence of Gagauz people in Veria and its environs, with the Ottoman chronicles reporting that the town was first captured in 1385 while Byzantine chronicles recorded the date as 8 May 1387. Afterwards the city went through various rulers over the next few decades until settleing in the final Turkish conquest around 1430.

Question for reflection:

1.Paul was said to have passed by. What were his surroundings? 2.How was he treated? 3.Looking throughout the cities he had already visited, do we see a pattern?

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Shaul/ Paul’s next stop was the city of Very [historically also spelled Berea or Berea, as in the Bible]. At a distance of 70-80 km from Thessaloniki, Veria is on the fertile plain, on the easter foot of Vermion Mountains, near the Pierian Mountains. As the Via Egnatia does not go through these, Shaul/ Paul seems to have arrived at that city initially taking the Via Egnatia down to ancient Pella, in other words covering a distance of 30 Roman miles (ca. 44.5 km) and from there through some other detour and covering another 27 Roman miles (40 km) to Very after a journey that lasted almost two days.

In ancient times, Veria was the second most important city of Macedonia after Thessaloniki. The first information regarding this city dates back to the time of Alexander the Great, whereas the period of it great brilliant was that of the Antigonid dynasty. Following the Roman conquest, Very became the capital of the third administrative unit of Macedonia, while its strategic position, as it was constructed right on the main road linking Macedonia to , and the fact that it surrendered to the Romans without resistance, played a decisive part in its economic growth and prosperity during the Roman times.

According to the Book of Acts, upon arriving at Veria, Shaul/ Paul immediately headed for the local synagogue. The fact that there was a synagogue in Veria suggests, as in the aforementioned case of Thessaloniki, the existence of a large and thriving Jewish community in the city, indeed for the same reasons as in Thessaloniki, while its members too are thought to have been active in trade. Still, the Book of Acts describes the Jews (Hebrews) as “ more noble than those in Thessalonica” , which is undoubtedly connected not only with the behavior they displayed to Shaul/ Paul, perceived to have been better than that displayed to him bye the Jews (Hebrews) of Thessaloniki, but at the same time, with the higher cultural and living standards of the inhabitants of Veria.

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Shaul’s/ Paul’s preaching in Veria was more successful than in Thessaloniki. Acts state that the Jews (Hebrews) in the former “ received the word with all readiness of mind” , that those of them who believed were many, as well as “ not a few” of the God-fearing Greek men and women of the higher (“ honorable” ) social strata of the city.

Even so , Shaul/ Paul’s preaching in Veria was soon to be interrupted, since, as is stated in Acts, the Jews (Hebrews) of Thessaloniki found out that Shaul/ Paul was at Veria preaching and teaching the word of God and came to stir up the people there. Shaul/ Paul was to be sent away again with the help of the local community of faith, who indeed accompanied him to the next stop of his journey, Athens.

No monuments have been preserved in Veria from the time of Shaul/ Paul’s visit, except for the remains of the ancient walls of the city and other public and private buildings. Thus on Mitropoleos street the visitor may see paving stones from , transferred there from different points in the city. Yet, in commemoration of the important event of Shaul’s/ Paul’s visit to Veria and of his preaching there, at a short distance outside the city a modern monument has been erected, the so-called Tribune of the Apostle Paul, which bears mosaics inspired by Shaul’s/ Paul’s activities in Macedonia (the vision at Troas and preaching at the city of Veria).

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