Lystra #77

Lystra was a small city in the region of Lycaonia, in the interior of what is now Turkey. It was visited by Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey, and it appears in the New Testament as a place of dramatic contrast: a lame man healed, a crowd who tried to worship the missionaries as gods, and then a stoning that nearly killed Paul. It was also the hometown of Timothy, one of Paul’s closest coworkers.

Biblical Significance

After leaving Iconium because of a plot to stone them, Paul and Barnabas “fled unto Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia” (Acts 14:5-6). In Lystra, Paul saw a man crippled from birth listening to him, saw that he had faith to be made well, and called out, “Stand upright on thy feet.” The man leaped up and began walking (Acts 14:8-10). The crowd shouted in the Lycaonian language that “the gods are come down to us in the likeness of men,” calling Barnabas Zeus and Paul Hermes, and the priest of Zeus brought oxen and garlands to offer a sacrifice (Acts 14:11-13). The naming fits local tradition, since a Roman poet, Ovid, told a legend of Zeus and Hermes visiting the neighboring region of Phrygia in disguise.

Paul and Barnabas tore their garments and rushed into the crowd, insisting that they were only men and urging the people to turn from worthless things to the living God who made heaven, earth, and sea (Acts 14:14-18). Their success was short-lived. Jews from Antioch and Iconium arrived, won over the crowd, and stoned Paul, dragging him out of the city and leaving him for dead. But when the disciples gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city, and the next day left with Barnabas for Derbe (Acts 14:19-20).

Lystra also brought Paul a lasting companion. On his second journey, he met there a disciple named Timothy, “the son of a certain woman, which was a Jewess, and believed; but his father was a Greek,” and who was well spoken of by the believers in Lystra and Iconium (Acts 16:1-2). Paul later refers to the persecutions and sufferings he endured at Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, reminding Timothy that the Lord rescued him from them all (2 Timothy 3:11).

Today

Lystra was made a Roman colony under Augustus. The site is generally identified with a large mound near the village of Hatunsaray, roughly 25 miles south-southwest of the modern city of Konya, Turkey. The identification was proposed in 1885 by the American scholar J. R. S. Sterrett, based on an inscription found nearby that mentions the colony. The mound has seen only limited excavation, so the ancient city remains poorly known, and there is little to see beyond the mound itself. Some scholars remain cautious about the exact placement, but the identification is widely accepted.