Tarsus in Turkey

This is the small town of Tarsus in Turkey.

Do you know this place?

Have you ever heard of Tarsus?

Yes? No?

I went there because Tarsus is a very special place in a man's life and do you know who he is?

He is Paul.

You may ask: Who is Paul?

What is his last name?

There are lots of Pauls we know but this Paul is very special.

He is Paul of Tarsus.

You may ask: Is Tarsus his last name?

No.

Back in 1st Century AD, people do not use last name to identify themselves.

Sometimes they use their father's name to identify who they are.

Like Son of ….

And sometimes, they use the place of their birth to identify themselves.

So this Paul of Tarsus means that Paul is from Tarsus.

Yes!

Map of Turkey

As you can see in the red dots there, it is possible to drive to Tarsus from Mersin.

Mersin is the big city that is closest to Tarsus.

Even though the Tarsus city was there in 1st Century AD, it is still there today.

It is amazing.

This is why I went to this place because in the Bible , in the New testament, Paul of Tarsus is the author to many books in there.

Start reading them.

This is why I came to Tarsus.

I arrived here in the evening and caught the sunset.

When I am here in Tarsus, my mind goes back to the history of Tarsus all the way to 6000 years ago because I love meditating on history.

History teaches us a lot of life lessons.

If you don't know, Tarsus as a city was always a stop over for traders and it was actually a focal point of many Civilizations.

Today, the switch has gone to Mersin.

But in Paul's time, Tarsus was the main port because of the Roman Empire.

The Roman Empire made Tarsus the capital of the province of Cilicia.

A lot of things were going on in Tarsus.

It was a prosperous city at that time.

It was here that Mark Antony and Cleopetra met!

Imagine that.

We read about this in our history book and now I can imagine this scene in my mind.

You can see the small district of Tarsus in front of you.

It is very beautiful.

Go to Tarsus.

It is a romantic city.

Whether you are religious or not, you need to know that Paul was a real person that existed on earth in the 1st Century A.D.

He is in the history book.

He is a phenomenal man whose name was not Pau in the beginning. His name was Saul.

He was a Jew.

He was a really good Jew and that's why I read about him.

All Jewish people would like him because he did so much for the Jewish people to help them know their God.

So remember, Paul's original name was Saul.

It was later that he was called Paul by God.

I will show you more tomorrow.

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Location information
● Tarsus, Mersin Province, Turkey

Related link
● https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarsus

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Tarsus in Turkey
This is posted on trips.teem