City
Tarsus
TAR-sus · Modern Tarsus, Turkey
Tarsus is a city of the biblical world.
What is known
- Birthplace of the Apostle Paul, who described himself as "a citizen of no ordinary city" (Acts 21:39)
- Many residents, including Paul, held Roman citizenship — a status he later invoked to his legal advantage
- Paul returned here after his conversion before Barnabas sought him out to help lead the church in Antioch
History
- Founded
- An ancient city dating back to at least the Hittite period, prominent by the classical Greek and Roman eras
- Population
- Estimated 50,000–100,000 residents in the 1st century AD, as capital of Cilicia
- Industry
- Known for weaving linen and goat-hair cloth (cilicium), and as a center of Stoic philosophy and learning
- Coordinates
- 36.9179° N, 34.8958° E
Rulers and powers
- Free city (civitas libera) under Roman rule — 1st century AD
Archaeology
Cleopatra's Gate, a Roman-period city gate traditionally associated with Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII's meeting at Tarsus in 41 BC, still stands, though the surviving structure is generally dated by archaeologists to a later Byzantine or early Islamic rebuilding on the site of the original gate. In 1993 construction work accidentally uncovered a well-preserved colonnaded, basalt-paved Roman road with an underlying sewage system, dated to roughly the 1st–2nd century AD — a glimpse of the urban infrastructure of the Roman provincial capital where Paul grew up as a Roman citizen. Much of ancient Tarsus remains unexcavated beneath the modern city.
Scripture references
- Acts 9:11
- Acts 9:30
- Acts 11:25
- Acts 21:39
- Acts 22:3
On a modern map
Further reading
Reflect
Paul spent quiet years back home in Tarsus before Barnabas came looking for him — what waiting season of yours might really be preparation?
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