1st Missionary Trip - Lorin

Lycaonian influence of the natives remained strong as well. It was this influence that Paul and Barnabas encountered
in the town. 137 We have very limited information about the later history of the city, since the references in
Acts are the last literary references to Lystra in all of ancient literature. 138
Luke’s depiction of their experiences begins with a summarizing statement covering both Lystra and
Derbe (vv. 6-7). Then he describes one episode where Paul and Barnabas were thought to be Greek gods, in vv.
8-18. This is followed by Paul’s stoning by a mob in the city that almost cost him his life (vv. 19-20).
Summary (vv. 6-7): 6 συνιδόντες κατέφυγον εἰς τὰς πόλεις τῆς Λυκαονίας Λύστραν καὶ Δέρβην καὶ τὴν
περίχωρον, 7 κἀκεῖ εὐαγγελιζόμενοι ἦσαν, 6 the apostles learned of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia,
and to the surrounding country; 7 and there they continued proclaiming the good news. When the two missionaries fled
Iconium, Luke says they came to the district of Lycaonia where Lystra and Derbe were located. 139 By only read-
with those of the native gods.” [D. S. Potter, “Lystra (Place)” In vol. 4, The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary, ed. David Noel Freedman
(New York: Doubleday, 1996), 426-27.]
137 “Augustus’ choice of the site for this colony was dictated by military considerations. In the course of the civil wars after the
murder of Julius Caesar in 44 B.C., Mark Antony had taken control over the E provinces of the Roman Empire — this by arrangement
with Augustus after the defeat of Brutus and Cassius, two of Caesar’s assassins, in 42 B.C. In the course of a thorough reorganization
of the region, Antony had abolished the great province of Cilicia, of which Lycaonia had been a part, because it had not been economically
practical for Rome to continue direct control over an area whose economy was seriously underdeveloped. He placed these areas
under the control of various local dynasts who could keep better order than the Romans. Lycaonia had fallen to Amyntas of Galatia, and
Augustus left him in power after his victory over Antony in 31 B.C. But when Amyntas died in 26 B.C., Augustus had no choice but
to reinstate direct Roman government, and the kingdom of Amyntas became the Roman province of Galatia (Syme 1939: 325–32; cf.
Levick 1967: 29–41, 195–97). To safeguard this territory, Augustus established a number of veteran colonies at strategic points. Lystra
was the southernmost of these colonies, and its location suggests that Augustus intended it to be a base for the campaigns that his governors
would wage against the tribes of the Taurus.
“Lystra was founded as a military colony to protect Roman invasion routes into the Taurus and, conversely, to protect the main road
in the N from raiders out of the mountains. Since the highlands were never brought completely under Roman control, Lystra probably
retained its character as a frontier town throughout its history and, despite its Italian foundation, it became very much a Lycaonian town,
rather than a Roman one. The nature of the place is best illustrated by Luke’s account of the visit to Lystra that Paul and Barnabas made
in the A.D. 40s. After Paul healed a cripple, according to the account in Acts (14:8–18), they were greeted by the local inhabitants who
called out to them in Lycaonian. These people identified them as the local gods who, through a form of local syncretism, were identified
with the Greek gods Zeus and Hermes. This is of some interest because the local Zeus, Zeus Ampelites, was portrayed on reliefs as an
elderly bearded figure, and because he is sometimes depicted with a young male assistant. The identification by the people of Lystra of
Barnabas as Zeus and Paul as Hermes ‘as he was the bringer of the word’ suggests that they thought that the two men were functioning
in the way that they envisaged their own gods as acting: the bearded Zeus was the initiator of the action and Hermes was his agent in
carrying out the action. This further suggests that the people may have thought that Barnabas resembled their Zeus, while Paul resembled
his helper. The passage is therefore of considerable importance as evidence for the physical appearance of Paul at this stage in his career,
as well as for the nature of life at Lystra in this period (Robert 1987: 383; Lane Fox 1987: 99–100).
[D. S. Potter, “Lystra (Place)” In vol. 4, The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary, ed. David Noel Freedman (New York: Doubleday, 1996),
427.]
138 “There is no description of any event at Lystra in literary works later than the Acts of the Apostles, but it is clear from inscriptions,
coin finds, and administrative records that the community retained its urban identity until at least the 11th century. The latest finds are
very close in time to the Seljuk conquest, and the toponym Zoldera, which preserves the memory of the name Lystra, suggests that it
continued to exist for some time after the establishment of the Turkish kingdom at Iconium (Levick 1967: 183). Records of the church
councils also make it clear that Lystra was substantial enough to have a bishop of its own and that its importance was not completely
eclipsed by Iconium. The story of Paul’s visit may have made it a place of some interest to people living in the Christian empire.” [D. S.
Potter, “Lystra (Place)” In vol. 4, The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary, ed. David Noel Freedman (New York: Doubleday, 1996), 427.]
139 “The territory of the Lycaones was a region of Central Asia Minor N of the Taurus range, bordered on the W by Phrygia, on the
E by Cappadocia, and on the N (after 232 B.C.) by ethnic Galatia.” “In 333 B.C. Lycaonia became part of the empire of Alexander the
Great and, after his death, of his Seleucid successors. . . .
“In 188 B.C. the Romans transferred Lycaonia from the Seleucids to the kingdom of Pergamum. When the Romans accepted the
bequest of the kingdom of Pergamum in 129 B.C., they bestowed its easternmost regions on neighboring rulers, Lycaonia going to the
king of Cappadocia. Mark Antony gave western Lycaonia to Polemon of Laodicea in 39 B.C.; three years later he transferred the whole
of Lycaonia to Rome’s ally Amyntas, king of Galatia. Soon afterward Amyntas seized the eastern cities of Derbe and Laranda and added
them to his realm. When Amyntas fell in battle against unruly tribesmen of the Taurus region in 25 B.C., his augmented kingdom was
reconstituted by Augustus as the Roman province of Galatia. In 20 B.C. Augustus gave eastern Lycaonia to Archelaus, king of Cappadocia
(Strab. 12.1.4; 12.2.7; 14.5.6; Dio Cass. 54.9.2). In western Lycaonia he planted two colonies of veteran soldiers—at Parlais and
Lystra—and these were linked by a road system with Pisidian Antioch in Phrygia, another colony.
“Eastern Lycaonia was bestowed by Emperor Gaius on Antiochus IV, king of Commagene, in A.D. 37. It was taken from him almost
immediately afterward, but was restored to him by Claudius in 41 (Dio Cass. 59.8.2; 60.8.1). About that time Derbe, on the frontier between
the province of Galatia and the kingdom of Commagene, received the honorific title Claudioderbe. Eastern Lycaonia now became
known as Lycaonia Antiochiana (Ptol. Geog. 5.6.17; CIL 10.8660); Pliny the Elder calls it Lycaonia ipsa ‘Lycaonia itself’ (HN 5.95).
Western Lycaonia, which remained part of the province of Galatia, may have been distinguished as Lycaonia Galatica.”
[F. F. Bruce, “Lycaonia (Place)” In vol. 4, The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary, ed. David Noel Freedman (New York: Doubleday,
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