Tarsus
The Cilician city of Paul's birth — 'no mean city' — a Hellenistic capital of learning.
Location
Tarsus is an ancient city on the Cydnus river in Cilicia (south-eastern Asia Minor / south-central Turkey), about ten miles inland from the Mediterranean. It sat at the northern end of the Cilician Gates — the main pass through the Taurus mountains connecting the Anatolian plateau to Syria and Mesopotamia. In the first century it was a Roman provincial capital and a renowned centre of Stoic philosophy and Hellenistic learning.
Biblical importance
Tarsus is the birthplace of Saul of Tarsus, later the apostle Paul (Acts 22:3, 27; 21:39). Paul calls it 'no mean city' — an honest description; Strabo the ancient geographer said Tarsus's schools rivalled those of Athens and Alexandria. Paul was a Roman citizen from birth (Acts 22:28), a status inherited through his father — a fact which shaped his entire missionary career.
Historical timeline
- c. 2000 BC — First evidence of settlement.
- c. 700 BC — Rebuilt under Assyrian rule.
- Hellenistic era — Refounded by Seleucus I; becomes a great Hellenistic city.
- 41 BC — Cleopatra and Mark Antony meet at Tarsus (Plutarch, Life of Antony 26).
- c. AD 5 — Paul born at Tarsus, a Roman citizen (Acts 22:3, 28).
- c. AD 36-46 — After his conversion Paul spends 'silent years' partly in Tarsus (Acts 9:30; Galatians 1:21) before Barnabas fetches him to Antioch (Acts 11:25-26).
- c. AD 50-52 — Paul revisits Cilicia and Tarsus during his second missionary journey (Acts 15:41).
Important biblical events
- Acts 9:11 (KJV) 'Behold, he prayeth' — Ananias is told about 'one called Saul, of Tarsus.'
- Acts 9:30 (KJV) After his conversion, the disciples send Saul to Tarsus.
- Acts 11:25 (KJV) Barnabas goes to Tarsus to seek Saul.
- Acts 21:39 (KJV) 'I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city.'
- Acts 22:3 (KJV) 'Brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel' — Paul's education after his Tarsus childhood.
- Acts 22:28 (KJV) 'But I was free born' — Paul's Roman citizenship inherited at Tarsus.
Related People
- Paul — born and raised here.
- Barnabas — who fetched Saul from Tarsus.
- Paul's family (unnamed in Scripture) — a Roman-citizen Jewish family of the diaspora.
Connected Places
Christian tradition
- The Church of St Paul (a small Roman-era church restored in the modern era) preserves the memory of his birthplace in the Turkish city of Tarsus.
- St Paul's Well (Sen Pol Kuyusu) in Tarsus is a traditional site associated with Paul's family home.
- The Cilician Gates are a symbol of Paul's tireless missionary travel.
Household reflection
Tarsus teaches the household that God prepares His servants long before He calls them. Paul was born in a Roman-citizen family, in a city of Hellenistic learning, in a mixed Jewish-Greek diaspora — every one of which became a tool for the Gospel decades later.
The household need not fear the ordinary years of a child's life. The library, the school, the second language, the foreign holiday, the odd hobby — all are the LORD's preparation.
Room connections
Where this entry meets the household in the wider house of CrossAIHub.
- Read (Library) — Read Acts 9:1-30 and Acts 22:1-16 side by side — Paul's Damascus story from two angles.
- Pray (Chapel) — Pray for children in their studies — that all learning may serve the Lord who once was a boy at Tarsus's schools.
- Family (Kitchen Table) — On St Paul's feast (25 January), talk at the table about how the family's ordinary skills might one day serve God.
- Sing (Choir Room) — Sing 'O Christian, Awake' — an ancient Byzantine hymn of Paul.
- Learn (Workshop) — Study the Cilician Gates and the Roman road system Paul used.
Further reading
Acts 9:1-31 and Acts 22:1-21 in the KJV.
Strabo, Geography XIV.5 (on the schools of Tarsus).
Jerome, De Viris Illustribus 5 (short life of Paul).
Elsewhere in the Atlas
- Paul
- Damascus
- Antioch
- Jerusalem
- Return to the atrium — the Atlas's main room.
Continue Your Journey
Where else this page opens into the household library.