Fair Havens, a harbor on the island of Crete where Paul's ship stopped during his journey to Rome.
Fair Havens is mentioned in Act.27.8 as a harbor on the southern coast of the island of Crete, where the ship carrying the apostle Paul to Rome took shelter during difficult sailing conditions. The harbor's name, "Fair Havens" (Greek: Kaloi Limenes), suggests that it was a suitable place for ships to anchor and wait out unfavorable weather.
According to the narrative in Acts, Paul and his companions were sailing from Caesarea to Rome when they encountered strong winds that forced them to sail along the southern coast of Crete. After passing Cape Salmone, they arrived at Fair Havens, near the city of Lasea (Act.27.8).
While at Fair Havens, Paul advised the crew to spend the winter there, as he foresaw that continuing the voyage would result in damage and loss (Act.27.9-10). However, the centurion in charge of the ship decided to follow the advice of the pilot and the ship's owner, who wanted to reach Phoenix, another harbor on Crete, to spend the winter (Act.27.11-12).
The exact location of Fair Havens is believed to be near the modern-day village of Kaloi Limenes, which bears the same name as the ancient harbor. Archaeological evidence, including anchors and other maritime artifacts, has been found in the area, supporting the identification of this site as the Fair Havens mentioned in the Bible.
Approximate location: 34.921, 24.731 · view on a map · on the Bible atlas
A harbour in the south of Crete, some 5 miles to the east of which was the town of Lasea (Acts 27:8). Here the ship of Alexandria in which Paul and his companions sailed was detained a considerable time waiting for a favourable wind. Contrary to Paul’s advice, the master of the ship determined to prosecute the voyage, as the harbour was deemed incommodious for wintering in (9-12). The result was that, after a stormy voyage, the vessel was finally wrecked on the coast of Malta (27:40-44).
a harbor in the island of Crete, (Acts 27:8) though not mentioned in any other ancient writing, is still known by its own Greek name, and appears to have been the harbor of Lasaea.
FAIR HA'VENS, a harbor on the southern shore of the island of Crete. Acts 27:8-10,Acts 27:21. It is about midway between the eastern and western ends of the island, and is still known as Kalous Limionas, or "Fair Havens." It is a fair winter harbor, though not as good as Phoenice, 40 miles westward.
FAIR HA'VENS, a harbor on the southern shore of the island of Crete. Acts 27:8-10,Acts 27:21. It is about midway between the eastern and western ends of the island, and is still known as Kalous Limionas, or "Fair Havens." It is a fair winter harbor, though not as good as Phoenice, 40 miles westward.
Easton (1897), Smith (1863), Hitchcock (1869), Hastings (1898) and Schaff are in the public domain. Parsed text: neuu-org/bible-dictionary-dataset (CC BY 4.0). Headwords and whitespace normalised for this site.
1 verse in 1 book · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s G2570
After we had moved along the coast with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near the town of Lasea.
Names, family links and references: STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Short descriptions were drafted with AI assistance by STEPBible. Family links follow STEPBible’s scholarly decisions where genealogies are ambiguous.