Map of the Roman Empire - Iconium
Iconium
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Ancient Iconium (Modern name is Qoniyah). In Roman times Iconium was a city on borders of Phrygia and Lycaonia. It was included in the Roman province Galatia in 25 BC. The Bible mentions Iconium in Acts 14:1ff.; Acts 16:2; and 2 Timothy 3:11.
Acts 14:1ff. - And it came to pass in Iconium, that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake, that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed.
Acts 16:2 - Which was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium.
2 Tim. 3:11 - Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of [them] all the Lord delivered me.
Iconium The modern Koniyeh; the capital of Lycaonia, in Asia Minor, and when visited by St. Paul a flourishing city. During the Middle Ages it was of great importance in the history of the Crusades. - Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. New York. Harper and Brothers.
Konya Ancient History. Excavations have shown that the region was inhabited during the Late Copper Age, around 3000 BC.[3] The city came under the influence of the Hittites around 1500 BC. These were overtaken by the Sea Peoples around 1200 BC. The Phrygians established their kingdom in central Anatolia in the 8th century BC. Xenophon describes Iconium, as the city was called, as the last city of Phrygia. The region was overwhelmed by Cimmerian invaders c. 690 BC. It was later part of the Persian Empire, until Darius III was defeated by Alexander the Great in 333 BC. Alexander's empire broke up shortly after his death and the town came under the rule of Seleucus I Nicator. During the Hellenistic period the town was ruled by the kings of Pergamon. As Attalus III, the last king of Pergamon, was about to die without an heir, he bequeathed his kingdom to Rome. Under the rule of emperor Claudius, the city's name was changed to Claudioconium, and during the rule of emperor Hadrianus to Colonia Aelia Hadriana. Saint Paul and Barnabas preached in Iconium during the First Missionary Journey in about 47-48 AD (see Acts 14:1-5 and Acts 14:21), and Paul and Silas probably visited it again during the Second Missionary Journey in about 50 (see Acts 16:2).[4] In Christian legend, it was also the birthplace of Saint Thecla. During the Byzantine Empire the town was destroyed several times by Arab invaders in the 7th-9th centuries. - Wikipedia
Iconium ICOŽNIUM
ICOŽNIUM (Ἰκόνιον: Eth. Ἰκονιεύς : Cogni, Kunjah, or Koniyeh), was regarded in
the time of Xenophon (Xen. Anab. 1.2.19) as the easternmost town of Phrygia,
while all later authorities describe it as the principal city of Lycaonia. (Cic.
Fam. 3.6, 8, 15.3.) Strabo (xii. p.568) calls it a πολίχνιον, whence we must
infer that it was then still a small place; but he adds that it was well
peopled, and was situated in a fertile district of Lycaonia. Pliny (5.27),
however, and the Acts of the Apostles, describe it as a very populous city,
inhabited by Greeks and Jews. Hence it would appear that, within a short period,
the place had greatly risen in importance. In Pliny's time the territory of
Iconium formed a tetrarchy comprising 14 towns, of which Iconium was the
capital. On coins belonging to the reign of the emperor Gailienus, the town is
called a Roman colony, which was, probably, only an assumed title, as no author
speaks of it as a colony. Under the Byzantine emperors it was the metropolis of
Lycaonia, and is frequently mentioned (Hierocl. p. 675); but it was wrested from
them first by the Saracens, and afterwards by the Turks, who made it the capital
of an empire, the sovereigns of which took the title of Sultans of Iconium.
Under the Turkish dominion, and during the period of the Crusades, Iconium
acquired its greatest celebrity. It is still a large and populous town, and the
residence of a pasha. The place contains some architectural remains and
inscriptions, but they appear almost all to belong to the Byzantine period.
(Comp. Ammian. 14.2; Steph. B. sub voce Ptol. 5.6.16; Leake, Asia Minor, p. 48;
Hamilton, Researches, vol. ii. p. 205, fol. ; Eckhel, vol. iii. p. 31; Sestini,
Geo. Num. p. 48.) The name Iconium led the ancients to derive it from εἰκών,
which gave rise to the fable that the city derived its name from an image of
Medusa, brought thither by Perseus (Eustath. ad Dionys. Per. 856) ; hence
Stephanus B. maintains that the name ought to be spelt Εἰκόνιον, a form actually
adopted by Eustathius and the Byzantine writers, and also found on some coins. - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography,
William Smith, LLD, Ed.