In Acts, Paul reaches Antioch in Pisidia and preaches in its synagogue on two Sabbaths — first to a receptive crowd, then to opposition that drives him on. The city has been excavated on its Anatolian ridge, an imperial foundation on the Via Sebaste with temple, streets and gates, and a Christian church there was found built directly over an earlier synagogue. It cannot be proved to be the very room Paul spoke in, but it shows a first-century Jewish congregation exactly where Luke places one.
- What it is
- The hilltop Roman city on the Via Sebaste in central Anatolia, where a later Christian church was built over a first-century synagogue
- Date of artifact
- Roman city; church over an earlier synagogue
- Discovered
- near Yalvaç, south-central Turkey (excavated by W. M. Ramsay and later Michigan expeditions)
- Where it is now
- In situ; finds in the Yalvaç Museum
- Related to
- The synagogue where Paul preached on two successive Sabbaths
- Scripture
- Acts 13:14–52
What this find showsA first-century synagogue at the site, consistent with Luke's account of a synagogue audience in a real, identified city.
What it does not proveThere is no proof this is the specific synagogue of Paul's sermon; the church-over-synagogue link is suggestive, not decisive.
Sources & further reading