Cilicia

sih-LISH-uh · Modern Tarsus / Mersin Province, Turkey

Cilicia is a province of the biblical world, known today as Tarsus / Mersin Province, Turkey.

What is known

Paul's home province, and the region where he ministered after his conversion before Barnabas sought him out (Acts 9:30; Galatians 1:21)
Named specifically among the people disputing with Stephen before his martyrdom (Acts 6:9)

History

Founded: A Roman province on Anatolia's southeastern coast, capital Tarsus
Population: Estimated 900,000 residents in the Roman province in the 1st century AD, concentrated in the fertile Cilicia Pedias plain
Coordinates: 36.9177° N, 34.8928° E

Archaeology

Excavations at the Gözlükule mound in Tarsus show continuous settlement from the Neolithic through Islamic periods, and a Roman-era colonnaded street with an underlying sewage system was accidentally uncovered in 1993. Much of Roman Tarsus remains inaccessible beneath the modern city, so most of Paul's-era Cilicia is known through partial excavation and literary sources.

Cleopatra's Gate in Tarsus, an ancient city gate in the capital of Roman Cilicia — source & licence

Scripture references

Acts 6:9
Acts 9:30
Acts 15:23
Acts 21:39
Galatians 1:21

On a modern map

Cilicia today

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