PAMPHYLIA

(Pam·phylʹi·a).

A small Roman province on the S coast of Asia Minor visited by Paul on his first missionary tour. Though the size of the province may have varied over the years, Pamphylia is commonly viewed as having been a strip along the coastline some seventy-five miles (121 kilometers) long and up to thirty miles (48 kilometers) wide. It was bounded by the provinces of Lycia on the W, Galatia on the N and the Kingdom of Antiochus on the E. (See ASIA.) On the coast the climate of Pamphylia was hot and tropical, while it moderated as one moved to the higher elevation of the Taurus Mountains.

The inhabitants are thought to have been a mixture of a native tribe with Greeks, some even suggesting Pamphylia to mean “of every race.” Evidently Jews or proselytes were in the area, for on Pentecost 33 C.E. persons from Pamphylia were in Jerusalem and were amazed to hear the disciples speaking in their “own language.”—Acts 2:6, 10.

A number of principal cities were on or near the coast, such as the seaport town of Attalia, Perga on the Cestrus (Aksu) River, and Side, where coastal pirates sold their booty and a slave market existed. From Paphos on Cyprus, Paul, Barnabas and John Mark sailed NW across the Pamphylian Sea “and arrived at Perga in Pamphylia.” Whether they landed at Attalia and traveled on land the few miles to Perga, or sailed right to Perga is not definitely known; it is reported that in ancient times the Cestrus was navigable at least as far as Perga. At this point John Mark separated from the others and returned to Jerusalem, but Paul and Barnabas went N through the mountains to Antioch in Pisidia (in the province of Galatia). (Acts 13:13, 14; 15:38; 27:5) That route was notorious for bandits. (Compare 2 Corinthians 11:26.) On the return trip the two Christians traveled through Pamphylia to Perga and preached there. Next they went to the port of Attalia and sailed from there to Antioch in Syria.—Acts 14:24-26.

Pamphylia over the years was ruled by Lydia, Persia, Macedonia and Rome. Under the Romans it was at various times united as a province with Cilicia (to the E) and then with Galatia and finally with Lycia.—Acts 13:13; 16:6; 27:5.