Island
Cyprus
SY-prus · Modern Cyprus
Cyprus is a island of the biblical world.
What is known
- Home island of Barnabas
- First stop on Paul's first missionary journey, where the Roman proconsul Sergius Paulus believed after the sorcerer Elymas was struck blind
History
- Founded
- Inhabited since the Neolithic era, with a long history of Greek, Phoenician, Persian, and Ptolemaic rule before Rome
- Population
- Estimated 150,000–250,000 residents across the island in the Roman era
- Industry
- Copper mining — the island's name is the historical root of the word "copper" — plus agriculture and shipping
- Coordinates
- 35.1856° N, 33.9436° E
Rulers and powers
- Roman senatorial province, governed by a proconsul (e.g. Sergius Paulus) — 22 BC onward
Archaeology
At Paphos, the city where Paul and Barnabas confronted the sorcerer Elymas before the proconsul Sergius Paulus (Acts 13:6-12), the Paphos Archaeological Park has revealed the House of Dionysos, a 2nd-century AD Roman villa with richly figured mosaic floors depicting mythological scenes. Nearby, a marble column known as "St. Paul's Pillar" stands at the site of the Chrysopolitissa Basilica; local Christian tradition, though not archaeologically provable, holds it as the site where Paul was scourged, while the surrounding excavated Early Christian basilica confirms the location's later importance to Cyprus's Christian community.
Scripture references
- Acts 4:36
- Acts 11:19-20
- Acts 13:4-6
- Acts 13:12
- Acts 15:39
- Acts 21:3
On a modern map
Further reading
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