Bible Synapse
Lystra inscription
Inscription · 1st century AD (after AD 14) · The early church
See it on the map and timeline- Date
- 1st century AD (after AD 14) (the inscription)
- Found
- Zoldera mound, near Hatunsaray, Konya, Turkey, 1885. Found by J. R. Sitlington Sterrett in 1885 on the mound of Zoldera, a short way north of Hatunsaray, and published by him in 1888.
- Now
- Konya Archaeological Museum, Konya, Turkey
- Passages
- Acts 14:6–21, Acts 16:1–2, 2 Timothy 3:11
What it is
A large squared stone pedestal with a short Latin inscription. It records that the colony of Julia Felix Gemina Lustra dedicated a statue of the deified Augustus by decree of its town councillors. Lustra is the Latin form of Lystra, and the find fixed the site of the city.
How it connects to the Bible
Acts 14 tells how Paul healed a lame man at Lystra, how the crowd hailed Barnabas as Jupiter and Paul as Mercurius, and how Paul was later stoned and left for dead. On a later visit he met Timothy there (Acts 16:1–2). The inscription locates the town and shows that it had been made a Roman colony under Augustus.