Map of New Testament Italy

Map of the Cities of Italy in New Testament Times

Matthew 28:18-20 - "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, [even] unto the end of the world."

Luke 24:46-49 "And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things. And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high."

Italy in Smith's Bible Dictionary (Read Full Article)

1. This word is used in the New Testament, Ac 18:2; 27:1; Heb 13:24 in the usual sense of the period, i.e. in its true geographical sense, as denoting the whole natural peninsula between the Alps and the Straits of Messina.

Italy in the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (Read Full Article)

At first confined as a name to the extreme southern part of the Italian peninsula in the region now called Calabria, whence its application was gradually extended. In Greek usage of the 5th century BC, the name was applied to the coasts as far as Metapontum and Posidonia, being synonymous with Oenotria. The Oenotrians are represented as having assumed the name of Italians (Itali) from a legendary ruler Italus (Dionysius, i.12,35; Vergil, Aen. i.533). The extension of Roman authority seems to have given this name an ever-widening application, since it was used to designate their allies generally. As early as the time of Polybius the name Italy was sometimes employed as an appellation for all the country between the two seas (Tyrrhenian and Adriatic) and from the foot of the Alps to the Sicilian Straits (Polyb. i.6; ii.14; iii.39,54), although Cisalpine Gaul was not placed on a footing of complete equality with the peninsula as regards administration until shortly after the death of Julius Caesar. From the time of Augustus the term was used in practically its modern sense (Nissen, Italische Landeskunde, I, 57-87).

The name Italy occurs 3 times in the New Testament: Acts 18:2, Aquila "lately come from Italy," because of the expulsion of the Jews from Rome under Claudius; Acts 27:1, the decision that Paul be sent to Italy; Heb 13:24, salutation from those "of Italy." The adjective form is found in the appellation, "Italian band" (cobors Italica, Acts 10:1).