Chios
Chios is a body of water mentioned in the New Testament, located in the region of Asia Minor in modern-day Turkey. It appears across 1 verse in Scripture.
Biblical History
Chios appears once in the New Testament in Acts 20:15, when the apostle Paul and his companions sailed past the island during his third missionary journey as he made his way from Macedonia toward Jerusalem. Luke, who accompanied Paul on this leg of the journey and wrote in the first person, records: "The next day we arrived off Chios." The vessel was navigating the well-traveled sea route through the Aegean islands, passing Chios before anchoring at Samos and proceeding to Miletus, where Paul delivered his farewell address to the Ephesian elders. Chios was one of the largest and most prosperous islands in the eastern Aegean, renowned in antiquity as a center of wine production, marble quarrying, and commerce. Its mention in Acts reflects Luke's careful nautical record-keeping and grounds Paul's final journey in precise historical geography. The island reminds readers of the vast maritime world through which the gospel spread during the first century.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
Chios is a large Greek island in the northeastern Aegean Sea, approximately 8 kilometers from the Turkish coast near Cesme. In antiquity it was an independent city-state of considerable wealth and cultural prestige, claiming to be the birthplace of Homer. Archaeological research on the island has documented Mycenaean, Geometric, Archaic, and Classical period occupation, with the ancient city located beneath and around the modern capital Chios Town. The island was a major producer of Chian wine, whose distinctive amphora stamps have been found across the Mediterranean world. In the first century AD, Chios was part of the Roman province of Asia. The island remains inhabited today with a population of approximately 50,000.
Verse Appearances (1)
Acts
Sources: ISBE Encyclopedia · OpenBible Geocoding (CC BY) · Pleiades Gazetteer View all →