Empire there must have been many towns and villages where local customs were untouched, and where Greek, though certainly understood, was not commonly spoken. Such, perhaps, were the places which now come before our notice in the Acts of the Apostles, small towns, with a rude dialect and primitive superstition '-"Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia."? The district of Lycaonia extends from the ridges of Mount Taurus and the borders of Cilicia, on the south, to the Cappadocian hills, on the north. It is a bare and dreary region, unwatered by streams, though in parts liable to occasional inundations. Strabo mentions one place where water was even sold for money. In this respect there must be a close resemblance between this country and large tracts of Australia. Nor is this the only particular in which the resemblance may be traced. Both regions afford excellent pasture for flocks of sheep, and give opportunities for obtaining large possessions by trade in wool. It was here, on the downs of Lycaonia, that Amyntas, while he yet led the life of a nomad chief, before the time of his political elevation, fed his three hundred flocks. Of the whole district Iconium was properly the capital: and the plain round Iconium may be reckoned as its great central space, situated midway between Cilicia and Cappadocia. This plain is spoken of as the largest in Asia Minor. It is almost like the steppes of Great Asia, of which the Turkish invaders must often have been reminded, when they came to these level spaces in the west; and the camels which convey modern travellers to and from Konieh, find by the side of their path tufts of salt and prickly herbage, not very dissimilar to that which grows in their native deserts." Across some portion of this plain Paul and Barnabas travelled before as well as after their residence in Iconium. After leaving the high land to the north-west, during a journey of several hours before arriving at the city, the eye ranges freely over a vast expanse of level ground to the south and the east. The two most eminent objects in the view are certain snowy summits, which rise high above all the intervening hills in the direction of Armenia,—and, in the nearer horizon, the singular mountain mass called the "Kara-Dagh," or "Black Mount," southeastwards in the direction of Cilicia. And still these features continue to be conspicuous after Iconium is left behind, and the traveller moves on over the plain towards Lystra and Derbe. Mount Argæus still rises far to the north-east, at the distance of one hundred and fifty miles. The Black Mountain is gradually approached, and discovered to be an isolated mass, with reaches of the plain extending round it like channels of the sea. The cities of Lystra and Derbe were somewhere about the bases of the Black Mountain. We have dwelt thus minutely on the physical characteristics of this part of Lycaonia, because the positions of its ancient towns have not been determined. We are only acquainted with the general features of the scene. While the site of Iconium has never been forgotten, and that of Antioch in Pisidia has now been clearly identified, those of Lystra and Derbe remain unknown, or at best are extremely uncertain. No conclusive coins or inscriptions have been discovered; nor has there been any such convergence of modern investigation and ancient authority as leads to an infallible result. Of the 1 See Leake, p. 45. "To the south-east the same plains extend as far as the mountains of Karaman (Laranda). At the south-east extremity of the plains beyond Konieh, we are much struck with the appearance of a remarkable insulated mountain, called Kara-Dagh (Black Mountain), rising to a great height, covered at the top with snow [Jan. 31], and appearing like a lofty island in the midst of the sea. It is about sixty miles distant." The lines marked on the Map are the Roman roads mentioned in the Itineraries. A view of the Kara-Dagh is given VIII. Ch. 2 See Leake, pp. 93-97. "(Feb. 1. From Konieh to Tshumra.) - Our road pursues a perfect level for upwards of twenty miles. (Feb. 2. From Tshumra to Kassaba.) — Nine hours over the same uninterrupted level of the finest soil, but quite uncultivated, except in the immediate neighborhood of a few widely dispersed villages. It is painful to behold such desolation in the midst of a region so highly favored by nature. Another characteristic of these Asiatic plains is the exactness of the level, and the peculiarity of their extending, without any previous slope, to the foot of the mountains, which rise from them like lofty islands out of the surface of the ocean. The Karamanian ridge seems to recede as we approach it, and the snowy summits of Argæus ... [] are still to be seen to the north-east.. 8 Col. Leake wrote thus, in 1824: "Nothing can more strongly show the little progress that has hitherto been made in a knowledge different hypotheses which have been proposed, we have been content in the accompanying map to indicate those1 which appear the most probable. We resume the thread of our narrative with the arrival of Paul and Barnabas at Lystra. One peculiar circumstance strikes us immediately in what we read of the events in this town; that no mention occurs of any synagogue or of any Jews. It is natural to infer that there were few Israelites in the place, though (as we shall see hereafter) it would be a mistake to imagine that there were none. We are instantly brought in contact with a totally new subject, with Heathen superstition and mythology; yet not the superstition of an educated mind, as that of Sergius Paulus, nor the mythology of a refined and cultivated taste, like that of the Athenians, but the mythology and superstition of a rude and unsophisticated people. Thus does the Gospel, in the person of St. Paul, successively clash with opposing powers, with sorcerers and philosophers, cruel magistrates and false divinities. Now it is the rabbinical master of the Synagogue, now the listening proselyte from the Greeks, - of the ancient geography of Asia Minor, than that, of the cities which the journey of St. Paul has made so interesting to us, the site of one only (Iconium) is yet certainly known. Perga, Antioch of Pisidia, Lystra, and Derbe, remain to be discovered."-P. 103. We have seen that two of these four towns have been fully identified, - Perga by Sir C. Fellows, and Antioch by Mr. Arundell. It is to be hoped that the other two will yet be clearly ascertained. 1 The general features of the map here given are copied from Kiepert's large map of Asia Minor, and his positions for Lystra and Derbe are adopted. Lystra is marked near the place where Leake conjectured that it might be, some twenty miles S. of Iconium. It does not appear, however, that he saw any ruins on the spot. There are very remarkable Christian ruins on the N. side of the Kara-Dagh, at Bin-bir-Kilisseh ("the 1,001 churches"), and Leake thinks that they may mark the site of Derbe. We think Mr. Hamilton's conjecture much more probable, that they mark the site of Lystra, which has a more eminent ecclesiastical reputation than Derbe. While this was passing through the press, the writer received an indirect communication from Mr. Hamilton, which will be the best commentary on the map. "There are ruins (though slight) at the spot where Derbe is marked on Kiepert's map, and as this spot is certainly on a line of Roman road, it is not unlikely that it may represent Derbe. He did not actually visit Divlé, but the coincidence of name led him to think it might be Derbe. He does not know of any ruins at the place where Kiepert writes Lystra, but was not on that spot. There may be ruins there, but he thinks they cannot be of importance, as he did not hear of them, though in the neighborhood; and he prefers Bin-bir-Kilisseh as the site of Lystra." ... The following description of the Bin-birKilisseh is supplied by a letter from Mr. E. Falkener. “The principal group of the Binbir-Kilisseh lies at the foot of Kara-Dagh. Perceiving ruins on the slope of the mountain, I began to ascend, and on reaching these discovered they were churches; and, looking upwards, descried others yet above me, and climbing from one to the other I at length gained the summit, where I found two churches. On looking down, I perceived churches on all sides of the mountain, scattered about in various positions. The number ascribed to them by the Turks is of course metaphorical; but including those in the plain below, there are about two dozen in tolerable preservation, and the remains of perhaps forty may be traced altogether. . . . The mountain must have been considered sacred; all the ruins are of Christian epoch, and, with the exception of a huge palace, every building is a church." |