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Paphos of Cyprus
Brief Overview of Paul's Visit to the Paphos on the Island of Cyprus on His First Missionary Journey
# 3 After ministering at Salamis, Paul journeyed from the east side of the island across to the west side preaching in the Jewish synagogues along the way. They reached Paphos, the city port on the western side of the island, and the seat of Roman government. Paphos was the worship center for the goddess Aphrodite (Venus), the Greek goddess of love, beauty, and fertility. According to a legend Aphrodite was born from the foam of the sea, and she floated in a shell on the waves, and landed on Cyprus near Paphos. Every year people came from all over the Mediterranean world to visit her temple.
When they left the city of Paphos, Paul and his companions set sail for Asia
(modern Turkey). Asia (also known as Asia minor) is a massive 3000-5000 foot
plateau with high mountain ranges all around it. The area is somewhat arid with
a few natural resources, therefore the land was used mainly for grazing and
grain. The mountains are a great source of resources, lots of timber, and
wealthy deposits of gold, silver, and copper, lead, iron, zinc, and marble.
There is fruitful rainfall along the coast producing grapes and olives which
were common around the Mediterranean. The main trade route in Asia minor during
the first century AD went from Ephesus to Antioch of Pisidia and then split
north to the Euphrates and south to Tarsus and down into Syria.