The Biblical Atlas
Tarsus and Paul's World
The events recorded in the Acts of the Apostles unfold across a compact but connected world: the eastern Mediterranean of the first century, bound together by Roman roads, seasonal sea lanes, and a chain of Greek-speaking cities from Jerusalem to Rome. At the hinge of that world stood Tarsus, the city of Paul's birth (Acts 21:39) — a Roman provincial capital in Cilicia where the coastal plain meets the principal pass through the Taurus Mountains. Nearly every route in this atlas either begins near Tarsus, passes within reach of it, or crosses the corridors it commanded.
This atlas gathers the principal places of the Pauline mission onto a single map: fourteen reference cities and sites, the route of Paul's First Missionary Journey, a table of straight-line distances between them, and an index linking each city to its own page in the reference library. It is intended as a geographic companion to the narrative pages — a way to see, at a glance, how far the earliest Christian communities actually lay from one another, and along which roads and sea lanes the news travelled.
First Missionary Journey (Acts 13–14 · c. AD 46–48)
The First Missionary Journey (Acts 13–14) is conventionally dated to c. AD 46–48 (Scholarship). It began at Antioch on the Orontes, where the church, at the prompting of the Holy Spirit, set apart Barnabas and Saul — soon called Paul — for the work (Acts 13:2-3), with John Mark accompanying them as an assistant. The route follows a clear geographic logic: a short sea crossing to Cyprus, Barnabas's home island (Acts 4:36), traversed from east to west; then a second voyage north to Perga on the coast of Pamphylia; and from there a climb inland onto the Anatolian plateau, moving city by city along the Roman road system of southern Galatia — Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. At Derbe the missionaries stood within reach of the Cilician Gates and the land route home through Tarsus, yet Acts records that they turned back and retraced their steps, strengthening the new communities and appointing elders in each city (Acts 14:21-23), before sailing from Attalia back to Antioch.
| Leg | Acts | Straight line | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Antioch → Salamis | Acts 13:4-5 | ~235 km | Sent out from Antioch, Barnabas and Saul went down to the port of Seleucia and sailed to Cyprus, proclaiming the word of God in the synagogues of Salamis with John Mark as their assistant. |
| Salamis → Paphos | Acts 13:6-12 | ~145 km | They passed through the whole island to Paphos, where Paul confronted the sorcerer Bar-Jesus (Elymas) and the proconsul Sergius Paulus believed. |
| Paphos → Perga | Acts 13:13 | ~280 km | Paul and his companions sailed from Paphos to Perga in Pamphylia, where John Mark left them and returned to Jerusalem. |
| Perga → Pisidian Antioch | Acts 13:14-52 | ~150 km | Climbing inland to Pisidian Antioch, Paul preached at length in the synagogue, and after opposition arose he and Barnabas declared they would turn to the Gentiles before being driven from the district. |
| Pisidian Antioch → Iconium | Acts 13:51-14:5 | ~125 km | Shaking the dust from their feet, they came to Iconium, where they spoke boldly for a considerable time until the divided city plotted to mistreat and stone them. |
| Iconium → Lystra | Acts 14:6-20 | ~40 km | Fleeing to Lystra, Paul healed a man lame from birth; the crowd hailed the missionaries as gods, yet soon after Paul was stoned and dragged out of the city, presumed dead. |
| Lystra → Derbe | Acts 14:20-21 | ~100 km | Paul rose, re-entered Lystra, and the next day went on with Barnabas to Derbe, where they preached the gospel and made many disciples before retracing their route to the coast. |
Distances are straight-line (great-circle) figures rounded to 5 km, computed from the reference coordinates. Ancient roads and sea lanes were considerably longer.
Second Missionary Journey (Acts 15:36–18:22 · c. AD 49–52)
The Second Missionary Journey (c. AD 49-52) opened not by sea but by road: Paul and Silas left Syrian Antioch on foot and "went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches" (Acts 15:41, Scripture) — a route that led straight through Tarsus, Paul's native city, and up through the Cilician Gates onto the Anatolian plateau. From the cities of the first journey the road ran on to Troas, where a night vision drew the mission across the Aegean into Europe for the first time; the legs below trace that whole arc, from Cilicia through Macedonia and Achaia to Corinth and home by sea through Caesarea and Jerusalem.
| Leg | Acts | Straight line | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Antioch → Tarsus | Acts 15:40-41 | ~140 km | Paul, having chosen Silas, departed from Syrian Antioch and "went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches" (Scripture), a road that leads directly through [Tarsus](/library/tarsus), Paul's native city and the principal city of [Cilicia](/library/cilicia) (Scholarship: Acts names the regions, not the city, but the Cilician road passes through Tarsus). |
| Tarsus → Derbe | Acts 15:41-16:1 | ~145 km | From the Cilician plain the party climbed through the Cilician Gates, the great mountain pass above [Tarsus](/library/tarsus), and crossed the Taurus onto the Anatolian plateau to reach Derbe (Scholarship: Acts names the regions, not the pass, but this was the only practical road). |
| Derbe → Lystra | Acts 16:1-3 | ~100 km | At Lystra Paul found the disciple Timothy, well reported of by the brethren, and took him as a companion for the journey (Scripture). |
| Lystra → Iconium | Acts 16:4-5 | ~40 km | The party moved along the familiar road of the first journey to Iconium, delivering in each city the decrees of the Jerusalem council, and the churches were confirmed in faith and increased daily (Scripture). |
| Iconium → Pisidian Antioch | Acts 16:6 | ~125 km | Continuing westward through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, the travellers passed by way of Pisidian Antioch, being forbidden by the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia (Scripture; the stop at Pisidian Antioch itself is inferred from the road, Scholarship). |
| Pisidian Antioch → Troas | Acts 16:7-9 | ~465 km | Attempting to enter Bithynia and being prevented, they passed by Mysia and came down to the port of Troas, where Paul saw the night vision of a man of Macedonia beseeching him to cross over (Scripture). |
| Troas → Philippi | Acts 16:11-15 | ~210 km | Sailing from Troas they ran a straight course to Samothracia and the next day to Neapolis, and thence went up to Philippi, the chief city of that part of Macedonia, where Lydia was baptized (Scripture). |
| Philippi → Thessalonica | Acts 17:1 | ~120 km | After imprisonment and release at Philippi, Paul and Silas travelled through Amphipolis and Apollonia to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews (Scripture); the route is identified with the Via Egnatia, the great Roman highway across Macedonia (Scholarship). |
| Thessalonica → Berea | Acts 17:10-11 | ~65 km | When opposition arose in Thessalonica, the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, whose hearers received the word with all eagerness, daily searching the scriptures (Scripture). |
| Berea → Athens | Acts 17:14-15 | ~315 km | When agitators followed from Thessalonica, the brethren conducted Paul as far as the sea and brought him to Athens, Silas and Timothy remaining behind for a time (Scripture). |
| Athens → Corinth | Acts 18:1-11 | ~75 km | After his address on the Areopagus, Paul departed from Athens and came to Corinth, where he met Aquila and Priscilla and remained a year and six months teaching the word (Scripture). |
| Corinth → Ephesus | Acts 18:18-19 | ~390 km | Having taken leave of the brethren and shorn his head at Cenchrae, for he had a vow, Paul sailed with Priscilla and Aquila to Ephesus, where he reasoned briefly in the synagogue (Scripture). |
| Ephesus → Caesarea | Acts 18:21-22 | ~915 km | Promising to return if God willed, Paul sailed from Ephesus and landed at Caesarea, the great harbour city on the coast of Judea (Scripture). |
| Caesarea → Jerusalem | Acts 18:22 | ~85 km | From Caesarea Paul "went up, and saluted the church" (Scripture), a phrase generally understood to mean the ascent to Jerusalem before his return to Antioch (Scholarship). |
Distances are straight-line (great-circle) figures rounded to 5 km, computed from the reference coordinates. Ancient roads and sea lanes were considerably longer.
Third Missionary Journey (Acts 18:23–21:17 · c. AD 52–57)
The Third Missionary Journey (c. AD 52–57) again began overland from Antioch, and again the road to the Galatian churches passed through Cilicia, Tarsus, and the Cilician Gates before Paul settled into his longest residence anywhere — about three years at Ephesus. Note that the line drawn on the atlas simplifies the journey's Macedonian loop: Acts records that Paul went from Ephesus to Macedonia, south into Greece for three months at Corinth, and then — a plot having closed the sea route to Syria — back north through Macedonia to sail from Philippi to Troas (Acts 20:1-6, Scripture); the map shows this double passage as a single sequence of legs. From Troas the journey becomes a coasting voyage of farewells, culminating in the address to the Ephesian elders at Miletus and the resolute ascent to Jerusalem.
| Leg | Acts | Straight line | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Antioch → Tarsus | Acts 18:23 | ~140 km | After spending some time in Syrian Antioch, Paul departed overland to strengthen the disciples, a route that once again ran through [Cilicia](/library/cilicia) and its capital [Tarsus](/library/tarsus) toward the Cilician Gates (Scholarship: Acts summarizes the road; the pass above Tarsus was the standard crossing). |
| Tarsus → Iconium | Acts 18:23 | ~235 km | From [Tarsus](/library/tarsus) the road climbed through the Cilician Gates and crossed the Taurus onto the plateau toward Iconium, as Paul "went through the country of Galatia and Phrygia, in order, confirming all the disciples" (Scripture; the Iconium stop is inferred from the route, Scholarship). |
| Iconium → Pisidian Antioch | Acts 18:23 | ~125 km | Continuing his systematic visitation of the Galatian and Phrygian churches, Paul passed westward from Iconium by way of Pisidian Antioch, strengthening congregations founded on the first journey (Scholarship: inferred from Acts 18:23's summary of the route). |
| Pisidian Antioch → Ephesus | Acts 19:1-10 | ~340 km | Having passed through the upper coasts of the interior, Paul came to Ephesus, where he spoke boldly in the synagogue for three months and then taught daily in the school of Tyrannus for two years, so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word (Scripture). |
| Ephesus → Philippi | Acts 20:1 | ~430 km | After the uproar of the silversmiths had ceased, Paul took leave of the disciples and departed to go into Macedonia (Scripture); his return to Philippi, chief of the churches he had founded there, is inferred from the route and confirmed by his later sailing from that city (Scholarship). |
| Philippi → Corinth | Acts 20:2-3 | ~365 km | Passing through the parts of Macedonia and exhorting the believers, Paul came into Greece and abode three months, understood to have been spent chiefly at Corinth (Scripture; the Corinthian sojourn is inferred, Scholarship). |
| Corinth → Troas | Acts 20:3-12 | ~350 km | When a plot was laid against him by the Jews as he was about to sail into Syria, Paul returned through Macedonia and sailed from Philippi after the days of the Azymes to Troas, where he restored Eutychus (Scripture). |
| Troas → Assos | Acts 20:13-14 | ~35 km | While his companions went by ship, Paul himself chose to travel from Troas to Assos on foot, and there they took him aboard (Scripture). |
| Assos → Miletus | Acts 20:14-16 | ~235 km | Sailing from Assos they came by Mitylene, Chios, and Samos to Miletus, for Paul had determined to sail past Ephesus that he might not be delayed in Asia, hastening to reach Jerusalem by Pentecost (Scripture). |
| Miletus → Patara | Acts 21:1 | ~230 km | After his farewell to the elders of Ephesus at Miletus, Paul sailed with a straight course to Coos, the day following to Rhodes, and from thence to Patara in Lycia (Scripture). |
| Patara → Tyre | Acts 21:2-3 | ~630 km | Finding a ship sailing over to Phenice, they went aboard, sighted Cyprus and left it on the left hand, and sailed into Syria, landing at Tyre where the ship was to unlade her burden (Scripture). |
| Tyre → Caesarea | Acts 21:4-8 | ~90 km | After seven days with the disciples of Tyre, who through the Spirit warned Paul not to go up to Jerusalem, the party sailed to Ptolemais and went on to Caesarea, lodging with Philip the evangelist (Scripture). |
| Caesarea → Jerusalem | Acts 21:10-15 | ~85 km | Despite the prophecy of Agabus, who bound his own hands and feet with Paul's girdle, Paul declared himself ready to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus, and the company went up to the city (Scripture). |
Distances are straight-line (great-circle) figures rounded to 5 km, computed from the reference coordinates. Ancient roads and sea lanes were considerably longer.
Voyage to Rome (Acts 27–28 · c. AD 59–60)
The Voyage to Rome (c. AD 59-60) was made not as a free traveller but as a prisoner appealing to Caesar, under the charge of Julius, a centurion of the Augustan band (Acts 27:1, Scripture). It is the most detailed ancient account of a Mediterranean sea passage to survive (Scholarship), and its early course carried Paul within sight of home waters: from Caesarea the ship crossed the open sea off Cilicia and Pamphylia — the coast of Tarsus, the apostle's birthplace — before the long westward struggle past Crete, the great storm, the shipwreck on Malta, and the final march up the Appian Way into Rome.
| Leg | Acts | Straight line | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Caesarea → Sidon | Acts 27:1-3 | ~125 km | Delivered with other prisoners to Julius, a centurion of the Augustan band, Paul sailed from Caesarea in a ship of Adrumetum and touched at Sidon, where the centurion courteously allowed him to visit his friends and be refreshed (Scripture). |
| Sidon → Myra | Acts 27:4-5 | ~575 km | Because the winds were contrary they sailed under the lee of Cyprus and crossed the open sea that lies off [Cilicia](/library/cilicia) — the waters of Paul's own home coast near [Tarsus](/library/tarsus) — and Pamphylia, coming to Myra, a city of Lycia (Scripture). |
| Myra → Fair Havens | Acts 27:6-8 | ~495 km | At Myra the centurion transferred the prisoners to an Alexandrian grain ship bound for Italy, which sailed slowly past Cnidus and under the lee of Crete by Salmone to a place called Fair Havens, near the city of Lasea (Scripture). |
| Fair Havens → Malta | Acts 27:9-28:1 | ~940 km | Sailing against Paul's warning after the fast was now past, the ship was seized by the tempestuous wind called Euroaquilo, drifted fourteen nights across the Adria, and was wrecked on an island they then learned was called Melita, where all two hundred seventy-six souls came safe to land (Scripture). |
| Malta → Syracuse | Acts 28:11-12 | ~145 km | After three months on [Malta](/library/places/malta), where Paul survived the viper and healed the father of Publius, the company sailed in an Alexandrian ship whose sign was the Castors and came to Syracuse in Sicily, tarrying there three days (Scripture). |
| Syracuse → Rhegium | Acts 28:13 | ~120 km | From Syracuse they fetched a compass along the Sicilian coast and came to Rhegium, the port at the toe of Italy facing the strait (Scripture). |
| Rhegium → Puteoli | Acts 28:13-14 | ~330 km | When the south wind rose after one day, they came the second day to Puteoli on the Bay of Naples, where brethren were found and Paul was desired to tarry with them seven days (Scripture). |
| Puteoli → Rome | Acts 28:14-16 | ~180 km | Travelling the final stage by land, Paul was met by brethren who came out as far as Appii Forum and the Three Taverns, and entering Rome he was suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier that kept him (Scripture); the stations named lie on the Appian Way, identifying the road of this last march (Scholarship). |
Distances are straight-line (great-circle) figures rounded to 5 km, computed from the reference coordinates. Ancient roads and sea lanes were considerably longer.
Roman roads and the shape of the land
Geography, as much as any itinerary, shaped the Pauline mission. The Taurus Mountains wall off the Anatolian plateau from the Cilician plain, and for most of antiquity the one practical breach was the Cilician Gates, the narrow defile that opens directly north of Tarsus — the pass through which armies and merchants had moved for centuries before Paul's day (Scholarship). On the plateau itself, the cities of the First Journey were not chosen at random: Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra all lay on or near the Via Sebaste, the Roman road built under Augustus, c. 6 BC, to bind the new colonies of southern Galatia together (Scholarship). Travel by sea was faster when the season allowed — the crossings to Cyprus and Pamphylia in Acts 13 follow well-attested lanes — but it was seasonal and weather-bound, while the roads were open in nearly all months; the journeys of Acts alternate between the two as circumstance required.
Something of this network can still be seen near Tarsus itself. A well-preserved stretch of paved Roman road survives some fourteen kilometres north of the city, on the ancient line running up toward the Cilician Gates — broad limestone paving, laid over the levelled bedrock where the terrain allowed, of the kind that carried imperial traffic across the region (Scholarship); a separate basalt-paved ancient street, excavated in the city centre above its original sewer channel, shows the same engineering within the town itself (Scholarship). Together with Cleopatra's Gate and St. Paul's Well, these belong to the small group of monuments that let a visitor stand on the physical fabric of Paul's world; the pilgrimage guide describes how these sites are visited today.
Distances from Tarsus
Straight-line distances from Tarsus to every reference place of the Library, nearest first. Each opens the full place entry.
| Place | Region | From Tarsus |
|---|---|---|
| Cleopatra's Gate | Cilicia (ancient); Mersin Province (modern) | ~0 km |
| The Roman Road | Cilicia (Mersin Province) | ~0 km |
| St Paul's Well | Cilicia (ancient); Tarsus, Mersin Province (modern) | ~0 km |
| Antioch on the Orontes | Syria (ancient province); Hatay Province (modern) | ~140 km |
| Derbe | Lycaonia (Roman province of Galatia) | ~145 km |
| Salamis | East coast of Cyprus, Bay of Famagusta | ~215 km |
| Iconium | Lycaonia / Phrygia (ancient); province of Galatia (Roman); Konya Province (modern) | ~235 km |
| Lystra | Lycaonia (Roman province of Galatia) | ~240 km |
| Paphos | Paphos District, southwestern Cyprus | ~330 km |
| Cyprus | Cyprus (Roman senatorial province) | ~330 km |
| Perga | Antalya Province (ancient Pamphylia) | ~360 km |
| Pisidian Antioch | Isparta Province | ~360 km |
| Damascus | Damascus Governorate, southwestern Syria | ~400 km |
| Caesarea Maritima | Mediterranean coast of the Sharon Plain, between Tel Aviv and Haifa | ~490 km |
| Jerusalem in the Life of Paul | Judaea (Roman province) | ~570 km |
| Miletus | Aydin Province (ancient Ionia, Roman province of Asia) | ~675 km |
| Ephesus | Asia (Roman province) | ~675 km |
| Troas | Çanakkale Province (the ancient Troad, north-western Asia Minor) | ~825 km |
| Athens | Attica | ~990 km |
| Philippi | Macedonia | ~1025 km |
| Corinth | Achaia | ~1065 km |
| Thessalonica | Macedonia | ~1115 km |
| Berea | Central Macedonia (Imathia) | ~1170 km |
| Malta (Melita) | Northern Region (St Paul's Bay) | ~1835 km |
| Rome | Italia (Roman Italy) | ~1995 km |
St Paul Global Week · 28–30 June 2027
Experience it in person
Gather in the birthplace of the Apostle Paul. An international gathering in Tarsus and Mersin, held around the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, with the Feast Day prayer programme broadcast live worldwide.
Travel and pilgrimage are arranged by Funny Tourism.