Tarsus was the
capital of the Roman
Province of Cilicia,
situated between the
Taurus Mountains and
the Mediterranean
Sea. The Province of
Cilicia varied
between 30 to 60
miles wide and was
about 300 miles
long. The city of Tarsus was about
10 miles inland of
the Mediterranean on
the alluvial plain,
watered by the
Cydnus and may have
had as many as one
half million
inhabitants in the
time of St. Paul. Ramsey
described the city
as about 70 feet
above sea level on a
level plain.
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The lower
Cyndus was
made
navigable
and a port
had been
built to
carry goods
to and from
the sea. A
major road
lead to the
north where
the famous
mountain
pass known
as the
Cilician
Gates lay
less than 29
miles
inland. Sir
William
Ramsey
described
the pass as
one of the
most famous
and
important
passes in
history.
The origins
of the city
are shrouded
in mystery,
but it
appears the
city was a
native
Cilician
town taken
over by
Ionian
settlers of
antiquity.
Josephus
attributes
the city to
the Tarshish
of Genesis
10:4, but
this is by
no means
certain. It
is mentioned
several
places in
historical
record with
certainty. |
The Black Obelisk of
Shalmaneser says
this city was taken
by the Assyrians
(mid C9 BCE).
Xenophon passed
through in 401 BCE,
and found the ruler
to be a local.
Alexander found the
rulership in the
hands of the
Persians, and he
replaced the ruler
(334 BCE).
Coins found
in
excavations
of the
region make
no claim of
autonomy
until after
the defeat
of Antiochus
the Great at
the hands of
the Romans
(189 BCE).
Syria
appears to
have
undergone
some
reorganization
at this
time,
allowing
autonomy in
some of the
regions. Tarsus appears to
have grown
into
autonomy at
this time
establishing
a
constitution
as a free
city. The
city became
part of the
Roman Empire
with the
arrival of
Pompey the
Roman
General and
the defeat
of the
pirates that
often
harassed the
city by
about 64
BCE.
Some
scholars
speculate
that St. Paul may be a
descendant
of some of
those who
were
promised
free
citizenship
if they
moved to the
Cilician
city in 171
BCE. |
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Another claim for
the citizenship
ancestry of St. Paul can be
found in some who
raise the
possibility that St. Paul's
father or
grandfather helped
Marc Antony (and
thus Rome) during
Cleopatra's renowned
visit to Tarsus in 41
BCE.
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The historian Strabo
mentions the
splendor of the
event, as Cleopatra
sailed her gilded
barge in the Cyndus
into the city. In
addition, there is
reason to believe
that Antony and
Octavian used some
resources of the
city in their
struggle against
Brutus and Cassius,
who they later
defeated at Philippi
in Macedonia. Some
have even suggested
that a tent maker's
gift could have been
repaid in
citizenship (cp.
Acts 18:3), though
this is mere
speculation.
Autonomy meant that Tarsus was able
to govern
itself under
its own
laws, impose
import
taxation and
a variety of
other
freedoms.
Strabo
mentions
that the
city was
excited by
education,
and was home
to the third
largest
university,
after Athens
and
Alexandria. |
One
teacher or note that
came from Tarsus was the
famous Athenodorus,
a Stoic Philosopher
that tutored
Augustus at
Apollonia, and later
became his advisor
from 44 to 15 BCE.
This probably
accounts for
August's favor on
the city.
Athenodorus returned
to Tarsus and
established a reform
to the city in15
BCE. Along with the
reforms, he
established a
patrician class that
probably included
the family of St. Paul, who
boasts of his
association with the
city (Acts 21:39). |
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In addition to being
the hometown of St. Paul (Acts
9:11; 21:39; 22:3),
it was also the city St. Paul returned to after
his escape from
Jerusalem (Acts
9:30). Barnabas
found St. Paul in the
city and enlisted
him to service at Antioch (Acts
11:25ff). St. Paul may
well have visited on
the Second and Third
Mission Journeys
(Acts 15:41;
18:22-23).
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