Bible Word Study
Μιτυλήνη
mitylēnē · Mitylene
Μιτυλήνη
Mitylene
Definition
Μιτυλήνη (Mitylene) is the name of the ancient capital city of the island of Lesbos, located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. In the New Testament, it is mentioned specifically as a port where the Apostle Paul's ship stopped during his third missionary journey (Acts 20:14). The city was a significant maritime and cultural center in the Roman province of Asia. The biblical reference solely denotes this specific geographical location, with no additional symbolic or alternative meanings used in Scripture.
Biblical Usage
This word is used only once in the New Testament, in Acts 20:14. It functions strictly as a proper noun identifying a geographical location—a port city on the island of Lesbos. The context is Paul's travel itinerary from Troas to Miletus, where he met his companions who had traveled by ship. The usage is purely descriptive, providing a detail of his journey's route.
Etymology
The name Μιτυλήνη (Mitylēnē) is of ancient Greek origin, directly derived from the name of the city itself. It is not derived from a common root word with a broader semantic range; it is a proper place-name. The city's name was well-established in classical antiquity and was adopted directly into Koine Greek without significant linguistic change.
Semantic Range
In the 1st century, Mitylene was the principal city of Lesbos, a large and fertile island. It was a free city within the Roman Empire, known for its harbors, commerce, and as a center of Hellenistic culture. For readers of Acts, its mention would have conveyed a recognizable point on a major sea route along the coast of Asia Minor (modern Turkey). Understanding its location helps modern readers visualize the scope and logistics of Paul's missionary travels.
Word Details
How this works
Definitions are from the Dodson Greek-English Lexicon, supplemented by STEPBible TBESG data (CC BY 4.0). Concordance and morphology data are derived from the interlinear Bible.
Full methodology & sources →References
- Abbott-Smith, G. (1921) A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament. Edinburgh: T&T Clark. [Public Domain]
- Brown, F., Driver, S.R. and Briggs, C.A. (1906) A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament. Oxford: Clarendon Press. [Public Domain]
- Tyndale House, Cambridge (n.d.) Tyndale Brief lexicon of Extended Strongs for Greek (TBESG). STEPBible. Available at: https://www.stepbible.org. [CC BY 4.0]
- Tyndale House, Cambridge (n.d.) Translators Formatted full LSJ (TFLSJ). STEPBible. Available at: https://www.stepbible.org. [CC BY 4.0]
- Thayer, J.H. (1889) A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. [Public Domain]
- Gesenius, W. (1846) Gesenius' Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament. [Public Domain]
- Dodson, J. (2010) Greek Lexicon. Biblical Humanities. [CC0]