Bible Synapse
Derbe inscription
Inscription · AD 157 · The early church
See it on the map and timeline- Date
- AD 157 (the dedication)
- Found
- Kerti Hüyük, near Ekinözü, Karaman, Turkey, 1956. Found by Michael Ballance in 1956 lying on the lower slope of the mound of Kerti Hüyük, about 24 km north-north-east of Karaman, and published in Anatolian Studies in 1957.
- Now
- Konya Archaeological Museum, Konya, Turkey
- Passages
- Acts 14:6, Acts 14:20–21, Acts 16:1, Acts 20:4
What it is
A block of white limestone about a metre high, probably the shaft of a large statue base. Its text is a dedication by the council and people of Derbe and dates to AD 157. The stone weighs about a ton, so its finder argued that it can hardly have been moved far, and that it marks the site of Derbe.
How it connects to the Bible
Derbe was the furthest town Paul and Barnabas reached on their first journey before turning back (Acts 14:20–21). Paul came through again later (Acts 16:1), and his companion Gaius came from there (Acts 20:4). Before this find the town's site was only guessed at; the inscription placed it about 30 miles east of the mound W. M. Ramsay had proposed, at Kerti Hüyük or close by. The stone itself is about a century later than Paul's visits.
What scholars debate
A later inscription naming a bishop of Derbe was reported in the early 1960s as coming from Devri Şehri, a few kilometres away, so some prefer that site. Either way, Derbe lay in this district.