Tarsus

Tarsus, the capital of Cilicia and the birthplace of the Apostle Paul, appears five times in the Bible, each reference in the Book of Acts (9:11, 30; 11:25; 21:39; 22:3). In Acts 21:39, Paul accurately described Tarsus as "no mean (literally 'insignificant' or 'undistinguished') city." Paul accurately capsulated the importance of Tarsus in his day, as it was one of three cities (along with Athens and Alexandria) with vaunted medical schools and, according to Strabo, boasted an intellectual climate surpassing even Athens and Alexandria in culture and learning (Geog. 14.5.131).

Tarsus' natural features promoted its commercial growth. Located on both sides of the Cydnus River, twelve miles inland from the Mediterranean Sea, the city was accessible to sea-going vessels, allowing for extensive maritime trade. Located twenty-five miles south of the Cilician Gates, the only major pass through the Taurus mountain range, the city, commercially, was called a place where "east meets west." Although by legend the city was founded by Perseus and Hercules, the site was likely colonized by Ionian Greeks (some surmise that Tarsus is Tarshish, one of the sons of Javan, founder of the Greeks; Gen 10:4). The first written historical record is in the Assyrian annals of Shalmaneser III (859-824 B.C.), who referenced Tarsus on the Black Obelisk as a conquest. The city is also mentioned in the Assyrian annals of Sennacherib (704-681 B.C.) and the Spartan historian-general Xenophon (Anabasis 1.2), who described the city as prosperous. Alexander thwarted the scorched-earth policy of the Persians initiated by Memnon, the Macedonian mercenary, by preventing the Persians from burning the city in 333 B.C., during his march through Asia Minor toward the Battle of Issus. Passing from Alexander's hegemony to the Seleucid dynasty, the city was renamed Antioch on the Cydnus under Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175-164 B.C.).

Pompey annexed the city for Rome in 67 B.C., with the famed Cicero serving as proconsul from 51-50 B.C. In the civil war between Julius Caesar and Pompey in 47 B.C., Tarsus renamed itself "Juliopolis." As the city sided with Mark Antony over Cassius, Antony rewarded it with "free city" status - exemption from taxation. Here Antony first courted Cleopatra in 41 B.C., where she arrived on her vessel arrayed as Aphrodite.

Tarsus' sophisticated and varied culture provided Paul the rearing and training to have the versatility to reach both Jew and Gentile, both the educated and mean, aristocrat and tradesman, eastern and western, and rich and poor. Tarsus was a center of Greek Stoic philosophy, hosted the latest in the arts, such as Cilician poets, was an east-west crossroads of trade, and whose citizens possessed Roman rights and citizenry. All this, combined with learning Jewish theology and Law at the feet of Gamaliel in Jerusalem (Acts 22:3), meant Paul was uniquely equipped with a level of remarkable versatility, both to comprehend and to communicate the Gospel, fructifying a powerful Apostleship (cf. 1 Cor 15:10).