← Places

Place

Paphos

Paphos was a city on the island of Cyprus, where Paul and Barnabas encountered a sorcerer and converted the proconsul to Christianity.

Paphos was a city located on the southwestern coast of the island of Cyprus. It served as the capital of the island during the Roman period and was known for its temple dedicated to Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty. In the New Testament, Paphos is mentioned in connection with Paul's first missionary journey (Act.13.6-13).

When Paul and Barnabas arrived in Paphos, they encountered a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus, who was an attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus (Act.13.6-7). The proconsul, an intelligent man, summoned Paul and Barnabas and sought to hear the word of God. However, the sorcerer, also known as Elymas, opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul away from the faith (Act.13.8).

Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, rebuked Elymas and temporarily blinded him, demonstrating the power of God (Act.13.9-11). As a result, the proconsul believed, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord (Act.13.12). After this incident, Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and traveled to Perga in Pamphylia (Act.13.13).

Approximate location: 34.754, 32.400 · view on a map · on the Bible atlas

Bible dictionary

Paphos Easton Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897)

The capital of the island of Cyprus, and therefore the residence of the Roman governor. It was visited by Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary tour (Acts 13:6). It is new Paphos which is here meant. It lay on the west coast of the island, about 8 miles north of old Paphos. Its modern name is Baffa.

Read the full entry →

Paphos Smith Smith’s Bible Dictionary (1863)

(boiling, or hot), a town at the west end of Cyprus, connected by a react with Salamis at the east end. It was founded B.C. 1184 (during the period of the judges in Israel). Paul and Barnabas travelled, on their first missionary expedition, “through the isle” from the latter place to the former, (Acts 13:6) The great characteristic of Paphos was the worship of Aphrodite or Venus, who was fabled to have here risen from the sea. Her temple, however, was at “Old Paphos” now called Kuklia . The harbor and the chief town were at “New Paphos,” ten miles to the northwest. The place is still called Baffa .

Read the full entry →

Paphos Hitchcock Hitchcock’s Bible Names Dictionary (1869)

which boils, or is very hot

Read the full entry →

Paphos Hastings Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible (1898)

PA'PHOS (boiling, or hot), a town in the western end of Cyprus. There were two towns of this name - old Paphos, or Paphos of the poets, situated on a height about 2 miles from the sea, and new Paphos, on the seashore, about 10 miles to the north-west of the old town. It was founded b.c. 1184. Paul and Barnabas visited it, and the Roman governor was converted. Acts 13:6-11. At the old town there was a famous temple dedicated to Venus, which was visited annually by great numbers of heathen pilgrims. There are still extensive ruins and catacombs on its site. Not long before the visit of Paul and Barnabas the new town had been destroyed by an earthquake. Augustus rebuilt it, and it became famous from its shrine and from the worship of Venus. Mingled with the ruins of palaces and churches are the poor dwellings and hovels of the Greek and Mohammedan inhabitants. The harbor is now nearly filled up. The modern name of the town is Baffa.

Read the full entry →

Paphos Schaff Schaff’s Dictionary of the Bible

PA'PHOS (boiling, or hot), a town in the western end of Cyprus. There were two towns of this name - old Paphos, or Paphos of the poets, situated on a height about 2 miles from the sea, and new Paphos, on the seashore, about 10 miles to the north-west of the old town. It was founded b.c. 1184. Paul and Barnabas visited it, and the Roman governor was converted. Acts 13:6-11. At the old town there was a famous temple dedicated to Venus, which was visited annually by great numbers of heathen pilgrims. There are still extensive ruins and catacombs on its site. Not long before the visit of Paul and

Barnabas the new town had been destroyed by an earthquake. Augustus rebuilt it, and it became famous from its shrine and from the worship of Venus. Mingled with the ruins of palaces and churches are the poor dwellings and hovels of the Greek and Mohammedan inhabitants. The harbor is now nearly filled up. The modern name of the town is Baffa.

Read the full entry →

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.

Where Paphos appears

2 verses in 1 book · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s G3974

Acts2

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.