As I sat to write my latest travel article, I wanted to focus my attention on Saint Paul to celebrate the beginning of the Pauline Year. But as I began to write, I realized that to do the man any justice at all, the article would have to be incredibly long. So I got to thinking, which led to prayer, which led to an idea. Why not celebrate this Year of Saint Paul with an entire series of articles dedicated to him? The series can span the entire year, with one article a month. Certainly with twelve articles I can cover much more than I could have in one.
Many will write of Saint Paul this year. There will no doubt be some profound writings on his life and on his teachings, and I will read as many as I can. But, as a travel writer, I want to take a different approach. My goal here is to take you back to his time and to the places he lived and visited. And with all his journeys, I’m now wondering if twelve articles will be enough!
So over the next twelve months we’ll travel together to follow in the footsteps of Saint Paul. We’ll visit his birthplace in Tarsus. We’ll witness his conversion on the way to Damascus. We’ll set sail from Seleucia to spread the Gospel. We’ll pass through the Cilician Gates with Paul and Barnabas. We’ll travel to Antioch where the disciples were first called Christians. We’ll sail from Troas to Neapolis and be with Paul as he first sets foot on European soil. We’ll be there as Paul baptizes Lydia. We’ll hear Paul preach in Thessaloniki. We’ll travel south to Athens and walk with Paul through the Agora. We’ll explore Corinth where Paul wrote the Epistles to the Thessalonians and to the Romans. We’ll travel with Paul to Ephesus and then on to Jerusalem. We’ll be with Paul as he is arrested and eventually sent to Rome. We’ll experience the shipwreck at Malta. From Malta, we’ll sail to Rome. In Rome, we’ll visit places where he lived and was held captive. We’ll travel outside the walls of Rome where we’ll witness his martyrdom, visit his burial place and tour the basilica built in his honor.
Today we’ll start with Paul’s birthplace, Tarsus.
Long before Paul, Tarsus was a well known and important city. Situated on the Cydnus River, which emptied into the Mediterranean, and next to the Cilician Gates, a pass through the Taurus Mountains, Tarsus was already at an advantage geographically. But it was through the hard work of it’s people that Tarsus came to be a popular stop on the trade route. The determined people of Tarsus deepened the Rhegma lagoon, which the Cydnus passed through before hitting the Mediterranean, to form a port. They then enlarged and deepened the river to make a channel connecting the lagoon to the sea. These engineers worked on land as well, cutting a road through the Cilician Gates which connected the East to the West. Through these engineering feats, Tarsus became one of the greatest ports of the ancient world.
Augustus Caesar made Tarsus a free city which allowed the residents to have Roman citizenship. This would later help Paul as Roman citizens had rights that did not allow for scourging without being condemned and also allowed a person to appeal to the emperor if charge was brought against him.
It was here in Tarsus that Mark Antony ordered Cleopatra to meet him after his defeat over Philippi. Paul must have heard first hand tales of Cleopatra’s magnificent entry into the city, as the Greek historian Plutarch writes: “she came sailing up the river Cydnus in a barge with gilded stern and outspread sails of purple, while oars of silver beat time to the music of flutes and fifes and harps. She herself lay all along, under a canopy of cloth of gold, dressed as Venus in a picture, and beautiful young boys, like painted Cupids, stood on each side to fan her. Her maids were dressed like Sea Nymphs and Graces, some steering at the rudder, some working at the ropes. The perfumes diffused themselves from the vessel to the shore.” This event took place just 40 years before Paul’s birth.
Paul was born of the tribe of Benjamin and was named Saul after the first king. As he was Roman, he also went by the name Paul. He was taught the family trade of tent making. Tarsus was famed for its tent cloth, cilicium, made from goat hair.
Imagine Paul growing up here. Walking down a road past the weavers who were busy making their famous tent cloth. Passing merchants from the east and the west as they shared stories of journeys afar. Watching as ships set sail for distant lands and caravans headed north through the mountains. Looking out to sea with the open road to his back, surely he dreamt that someday he too would travel. But I doubt he could have imagined the places he would go and the impact he would have spreading the Word of God throughout the world.
