Topic
Iconium
14 passages cited, from 4 classic reference works.
These works date from 1884–1915 and are in the public domain. They reflect the Protestant scholarship of their time: their history, archaeology and dates can be out of date, and where they interpret, other traditions read the text differently. The verses are shown in the King James Version, the wording these works were written against.
The verses
The passages the works cite, those cited by more of them first.
- Acts 13:51Easton · ISBE · Nave Paul preaches in
But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came unto Iconium.
- Acts 16:2Smith · ISBE · Nave Paul preaches in
Which was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium.
- Acts 14:1Smith · ISBE
And it came to pass in Iconium, that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake, that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed.
- Acts 14:21Smith · Nave Paul preaches in
And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch,
- Acts 14:22Smith · Nave Paul preaches in
Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.
- 2 Timothy 3:11ISBE · Nave Paul is persecuted by the people of
Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me.
- Acts 13:50Easton
But the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts.
- Acts 14:1–6Nave Paul is persecuted by the people of
And it came to pass in Iconium, that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake, that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed. But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles, and made their minds evil…
- Acts 14:3Smith
Long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of his grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands.
- Acts 14:6ISBE
They were ware of it, and fled unto Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and unto the region that lieth round about:
- Acts 14:11ISBE
And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men.
- Acts 16:1Smith
Then came he to Derbe and Lystra: and, behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman, which was a Jewess, and believed; but his father was a Greek:
Show 2 more
- Acts 16:6 ISBE
- Acts 18:23 Smith
In the reference works
Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897) · 5 references
The capital of ancient Lycaonia. It was first visited by Paul and Barnabas from Antioch-in-Pisidia during the apostle’s first missionary journey (Acts 13:50, 51). Here they were persecuted by the Jews, and being driven from the city, they fled to Lystra. They afterwards returned to Iconium, and encouraged the church which had been founded there (14:21,22). It was probably again visited by Paul during his third missionary journey along with Silas (18:23). It is the modern Konieh, at the foot of Mount Taurus, about 120 miles inland from the Mediterranean.
Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884) · 7 references
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) · 7 references
i-ko'-ni-um (Ikonion, also Eikonion, on inscriptions): Iconium was visited by Paul on his first and on his second missionary journey (Ac 13:51 ff; 16:2), and
if the "South Galatian theory" be correct, probably also on his third journey. His sufferings there are referred to in 2Ti 3:11.
1. Topographical Position:
The topographical position of Iconium is clearly indicated in Acts, and the evidence of Ac has been confirmed by recent research. Was Iconium in Phrygia or in Lycaonia, and in what sense can it be said to have belonged to one ethnical division or the other? The majority of our ancient authorities (e.g. Cicero, Strabo, Pliny), writing from the point of view of Roman provincial administration, give Iconium to Lycaonia, of which geography makes it the natural capital. But Xenophon, who marched with Cyrus' expedition through Phrygia into Lycaonia, calls Iconium the last city of Phrygia. The writer of Ac 14:6 makes the same statement when he represents Paul and Barnabas as fleeing from Iconium to the cities of Lycaonia--implying that the border of Phrygia and Lycaonia passed between Iconium and Lystra, 18 miles to the South. Other ancient authorities who knew the local conditions well speak of Iconium as Phrygian until far into the Roman imperial period. At the neighboring city of Lystra (Ac 14:11), the natives used the "speech of Lycaonia." Two inscriptions in the Phrygian language found at Iconium in 1910 prove that the Phrygian language was in use there for 2 centuries after Paul's visits, and afford confirmation of the interesting topographical detail in Ac (see Jour. Hell. Stud., 1911, 189).
2. In Apostolic Period:
In the apostolic period, Iconium was one of the chief cities in the southern part of the Roman province Galatia, and it probably belonged to the "Phrygian region" mentioned in Ac 16:6. The emperor Claudius conferred on it the title Claudiconium, which appears on coins of the city and on inscriptions, and was formerly taken as a proof that Claudius raised the city to the rank of a Roman colonia. It was Hadrian who raised the city to colonial rank; this is proved by its new title, Colonia Aelia Hadriana Iconiensium, and by a recently discovered inscription, which belongs to the reign of Hadrian, and which mentions the first duumvir who was appointed in the new colonia. Iconium was still a Hellenic city, but with a strong pro-Roman bias (as proved by its title "Claudian") when Paul visited it.
3. Later History:
About 295 AD, an enlarged province, Pisidia, was formed, with Antioch as capital, and Iconium as a "sort of secondary metropolis." The Byzantine arrangement, familiar to us in the Notitiae Episcopatuum, under which Iconium was the capital of a province Lycaonia, dates from about 372 AD. Iconium, the modern Konia, has always been the main trading center of the Lycaonian Plain. Trade attracted Jews to the ancient Phrygio-Hellenic city (Ac 14:1), as it attracts Greeks and Armenians to the modern Turkish town.
4. Thekla:
Paul's experiences at Iconium form part of theme of the semi-historical legend of Thekla, on which see Professor Ramsay's Church in the Roman Empire, 380 ff.
LITERATURE.
Ramsay Historical Commentary on Paul's Epistle to the Galatians, 214 ff; Cities of Paul, 317 ff. To the literature referred to in the notes to the latter book (pp. 448 ff) add Ath. Mitth., 1905, 324 ff; Revue de Philologie, 1912, 48 ff; Journal Hellenic Studies, 1911, 188 ff.
W. M. Calder
In the topical indexes
Texts: Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897); Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884); International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915); Nave's Topical Bible (1896), from the CrossWire SWORD modules (public domain). Verse references were parsed from the works' own markup and checked against the KJV verse list.