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Christianity began in Roman Palestine (Judea), but its foremost proponent, St Paul, came from Tarsus in Cilicia, in what is now southernTurkey. Paul took advantage of the excellent Roman road system to spread Jesus’s teachings. When the Romans drove the Jews out of Judea in 70 AD, Christian members of this Diaspora may have made their way to the numerous small Christian congregations in the Roman province of Asia (Anatolia). On his firstjourney in about 47-49 AD, Paul went to Antioch (Antakya), Seleucia (Silifke), and along the southern coast through Pamphylia (Side, Antalya) and up into the mountains. First stop was Antioch in-Pisidia, today called Yalvac, near Aksehir. Next he went to Iconium (Konya), the chief city in Galatia; Paul had written an important ‘Letter to the Galatians’ which is now the ninth book of the New Testament. From Iconium, Paul tramped to Lystra, 25 miles south, and Derbe, nearby. Then it was back to Attaleia (Antalya) to catch a boat for Antioch. Paul’s second journey took him to some of these same cities, and later north-west to the district of Mysia where Troy (Truva) is located; then into Macedonia. His third trip (53-57) took in many of these same places, including Ancyra (Ankara), Smyrna (Izmir), and Adramyttium (Edremit). On the way back he stopped in Ephesus, capital of Roman Asia and one of the greatest cities of the time. Here he ran into trouble, because his teachings were ruining the market for silver effigies of the local favourite goddess, Cybele/ Diana. The silversmiths led a riot, and Paul’s companions were hustled into the great theatre for a sort of kangaroo court. Luckily, the authorities kept order: there was free speech in Ephesus; Paul and his companions had broken no laws; they were permitted to go freely. Later in this third journey, Paul stopped in Miletus. Paul got his last glimpses of Anatolia as he was being taken to Rome as a prisoner, for trial on charges of inciting a riot in Jerusalem (59-60). He changed ships at Myra (Demre); further west, he was supposed to land at Cnidos, at the tip of the peninsula west of Marmaris, but stormy seas prevented this. Other saints played a role in the life of Roman Asia as well. Tradition has it that St John retired to Ephesus to write the fourth gospel near the end of his life, and that he brought Jesus’s mother with him. John was buried atop a hill in what is now the town of Selçuk, near Ephesus. The great, now ruined, basilica of St John marks the site. As for Mary, she is said to have retired to a mountaintop cottage near Ephesus. The small chapel at Meryemana (‘Mother Mary’) is the site of a mass to celebrate her Assumption into heaven on 15 August. The Seven Churches of the Revelation were the Seven Churches of Asia Minor: Ephesus (Efes), Smyrna (Izmir), Pergamum (Bergama), Sardis (Sart, east of Izmir), Philadelphia (Alasehir), Laodicea (Goncali, between Denizli and Pamukkale), and Thyatira (Aksehir). |