Paphos

The city of Paphos occurs twice in the Bible (Acts 13:6, 13). Paphos is located on the western shore of the island of Cyprus (biblical Kittim, cf. Amos 9:7). According to legend, Cinyras, the first king of Paphos, named the city after his mother. The apostle Paul, along with Barnabas and John Mark (Acts 13:2, 16) traveled “through the island” on his first missionary journey (Acts 13:1—14:28) to Paphos, arriving around the spring of 48 A.D. (Acts 13:1-14:28).

The Paphos to which Luke refers is actually New Paphos, which was built in the fourth century B.C. (the older city is approximately ten miles away). The seaport of the original Paphos eventually became the dominant population center, thus forming New Paphos. New Paphos was made the capital of Cyprus under the Ptolemies, and was so until the fourth century A.D. The entire island of Cyprus, and with it the city of New Paphos, was annexed to Rome in 68 B.C., and became a Roman senatorial province in 22 B.C.

The worship of Aphrodite, the promiscuous Greek goddess of love, is particularly associated with the city. In Greek mythology, Aphrodite (Roman "Venus") emerges from the ocean on the beach adjacent to the original Paphos. Accordingly, Paphos became a center of Aphrodite worship, which included temple prostitution, in the ancient world.

Against the backdrop of entrenched paganism, Paphos was also the site of active Jewish synagogues at the time of Paul's arrival (cf. 1 Macc. 15:16-23; Ant. 13:284-287). Paul's powerful ministry resulted in the first assemblage of believers in Jesus the Messiah on the island. Through his standard modus operandi of missions, Paul introduced ethnic and proselyte Jews to Jesus by first preaching in the synagogues (Acts 13:15). The salient ministry of Paul resulted in polarization. Paul was resisted by "Bar-jesus" (Acts 13:6, literally Aramaic for "son of Joshua" or Jesus, a name not uncommon in the era; also known as Elymas in 13:8), a Jewish sorcerer, perhaps along the lines of Sceva (Acts 19:13-19) or the Samaritan magician Simon Magus (Acts 8:9-24). Paul's instituting temporary blindness upon the Jewish magician demonstrated that God's power is truly in Paul's Gospel (cf. Rom 1:16).

When Paul came to Cyprus, Acts 13.6 says that he traveled “through the island” to “new” Paphos, where the Roman proconsul was stationed, which agrees with Luke’s account of Sergius Paulus summoning Paul and Barnabas. As the governor appointed by the Roman senate over Cyprus (13:7), Sergius Paulus, described as an "intelligent" man personally and officially, is in the middle of the conflict of Bar-jesus and Paul. Sergius Paulus was a wise Roman (Acts 13:7) who was open to the Gospel (Acts 13:7). He may have been the first Roman civil ruler converted to Christ.

In 2000 Italian archaeologists working at Paphos discovered the fragments of a first or second-century marble inscription that they think may refer to Paul. The fragment was found in what is believed to be a first or second century Christian church and reads, “…los …osto…” They argue the original read “Paulos Apostlos.”¹ If this is correct, it is a very early archaeological evidence of Paul’s presence on the island. Additional archaeological excavations have revealed architecture dating to the Roman era, including an odeon (musical theater), an agora (marketplace or ancient open air mall), a temple, a theater, and two palatial villas (one of which may have been the Roman governor's palace).