City
Iconium
eye-KOH-nee-um · Modern Konya, Turkey
Iconium is a city of the biblical world, known today as Konya, Turkey.
What is known
- Paul and Barnabas preached here on their first missionary journey, seeing many converts before a plot to stone them forced them to flee to Lystra and Derbe (Acts 14:1-7)
- Ancient sources dispute whether Iconium belonged to Phrygia or Lycaonia — most Roman-era writers (Cicero, Strabo, Pliny) place it in Lycaonia, but Xenophon's Anabasis calls it "the last city of Phrygia," and Acts 14:6 itself seems to distinguish it from the "cities of Lycaonia" that Paul and Barnabas fled to
History
- Founded
- An ancient Anatolian city, prominent through the Hellenistic and Roman periods
- Population
- Estimated 10,000–20,000 residents in the 1st century AD
- Coordinates
- 37.8714° N, 32.4846° E
Archaeology
Ancient Iconium lies buried beneath Alaeddin Hill in central Konya, a settlement mound with layers reaching back to the Early Bronze Age; the mound was never fully excavated since a medieval mosque and public park now occupy the site, so most of the Roman-era city Paul knew remains inaccessible beneath later construction.
Scripture references
- Acts 14:1-7
- Acts 16:2
- 2 Timothy 3:11
On a modern map
Further reading
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