Cilicia
Cilicia is a region mentioned in the New Testament, located in the region of Asia Minor in modern-day Turkey. Known today as Tarsus. It appears across 8 verses in Scripture.
Biblical History
Cilicia was a coastal region in the southeastern corner of Asia Minor, bordering Syria to the east and the Taurus Mountains to the north, encompassing the fertile Cilician plain watered by the Cydnus River. It holds particular significance in the New Testament as the homeland of the apostle Paul, who was born in Tarsus, Cilicia's principal city. Paul identifies himself as "a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no ordinary city" (Acts 21:39). Cilicia appears in Acts 6:9, where a synagogue of Cilicians in Jerusalem argues with Stephen before his martyrdom. After Paul's conversion, he returned through Cilicia on his early missionary travels (Acts 15:41; Gal 1:21). The Jerusalem Council's decree concerning Gentile believers was sent to Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia (Acts 15:23). Cilicia's role as Paul's ancestral region links it to the great Gentile mission and to the theological development of the early church.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
Cilicia corresponds to the region around modern Adana and Tarsus in southern Turkey, centered on the Cilician plain between the Taurus Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea. Tarsus itself has been partially excavated, revealing occupation layers from the Neolithic period through the Byzantine era, with significant finds from the Bronze Age Hittite period and the Hellenistic-Roman phases most relevant to the New Testament. Tarsus was a prosperous Roman provincial city and intellectual center, home to a renowned philosophical school. The city has been continuously inhabited, making deep archaeological access difficult. Roman-period remains include a gate traditionally identified with Paul's Gate. Cilicia was incorporated into the Roman provincial system during the first century BC under Pompey.
Verse Appearances (8)
Sources: ISBE Encyclopedia · OpenBible Geocoding (CC BY) · Pleiades Gazetteer View all →