ICONIUM—CITY OF THE PHRYGIANS Iconium was located on a high, well-watered, and fertile plateau. The city stood at a crossroads on an important trade route linking Syria with Rome, Greece, and the Roman province of Asia. The local religion in Iconium was worship of the Phrygian fertility goddess Cybele, which included elements adopted from Greek worship during the Hellenistic period. The city came under Roman influence in 65 B.C.E., and in the first century C.E., it was a large and prosperous center of trade and agriculture. Although Iconium was home to an influential Jewish population, the city seems to have retained its Hellenistic character. The Acts account, in fact, refers to resident Jews and to “Greeks.”—Acts 14:1. Iconium lay on the border between the Galatian regions of Lycaonia and Phrygia. Certain ancient writers, including Cicero and Strabo, called Iconium a city of Lycaonia, and from a geographic standpoint, the city did belong to that region. The Acts account, however, distinguishes Iconium from Lycaonia, where “the Lycaonian tongue” was spoken. (Acts 14:1-6, 11) For this reason, critics argued that the book of Acts was inaccurate. In 1910, though, archaeologists found inscriptions in the city indicating that Phrygian was indeed the language used in Iconium for two centuries following the visit of Paul and Barnabas. Hence, the writer of Acts was correct in distinguishing Iconium from the cities of Lycaonia.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Jul 2013 05:47:52 +0000
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