Raymond L. Cox
[Raymond L. Cox, a frequent contributor to BIBLE AND SPADE, is pastor of the Salem, Oregon Foursquare Church. He has traveled extensively in Bible lands and has written over 1650 articles on biblical and archaeological subjects. In addition, he is the author of four books.]
Why did Paul walk to Assos from Troas?
After the all-night meeting in the city in northwestern Asia Minor where years before the apostle had heeded the Macedonian Call (cf. Acts 20:7–12), Paul’s party proceeded to the port. Luke reports, “We went before to ship, and sailed unto Assos, there intending to take in Paul: for so had he appointed, minding himself to go afoot” (Acts 20:13).
But why? Was it a sudden impatient or impulsive gesture on the apostle’s part? Did a threatened delay of sailing irk his impassioned spirit? Perhaps when Luke and the others climbed the gangplank the crew advised that the ship would be held over in port for cargo loading or by threatening weather. Paul would not have risked missing the boat at its next port (Assos) if he had not been certain he could reach that city ahead of the vessel. He surely could not outstrip the ship on foot over those 20 miles, even though the highway then was probably considerably better than the same route is today.
I regret that I did not take the same road the apostle walked when I was last in Troas. Instead, I detoured back to Turkey’s main north-south highway (number E 24) paralleling the Aegean in order to escape the horrendous road continuing south to Assos. This so-called “stabilized” route’s southern continuation looked as bad as the gravely track I had traversed to get to Troas. To be sure, I reached Assos from Troas faster and more comfortably than if I had continued on the direct road, but I missed an opportunity to follow the apostle’s steps along a route which likely has not changed much, if any, since New Testament times.
The Scripture does not explain why Paul was minded to walk alone to Assos, leaving his associates Luke, Silas, and Timothy to sail between the two ports. I wonder if he wanted time by himself, free
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from diversions, to meditate and commune with his Lord. Perhaps he desired illumination from God concerning some subject he would discuss in an ensuing epistle.
I can not picture Paul as champing at the bit over delay in a ship’s sailing schedule, as some explain his motivation for the long walk. On the other hand, the Lord may have directed him on the trek in order to encounter some way farer, as Philip did the Ethiopian eunuch. Not every encounter of the apostle is documented in the book of Acts. Or perhaps he wanted to visit some friend who lived along the way.
At any rate, Paul was usually very sensitive to divine direction. At the beginning of his second missionary journey to western Asia Minor he acceded to the Holy Spirit’s restraints on ministering in Mysia, the region which included both Troas and Assos. Paul certainly must have had good reason to walk alone. Otherwise his associates could have saved their boat fares and hiked along with him.
Paul caught his first glimpse of the impressive acropolis of Assos from the north. My detour brought me toward the site from the east. A good black-topped road now links Ayvacik on highway E 24 with Behramkale, the village which huddles amidst the ancient ruins of Assos. I was pleasantly surprised. My guidebook had instructed, “At Ayvacik you have to hire a jeep, for the stony track winding between pinewoods through a craggy landscape is really appalling. The
Summit of Assos acropolis.
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distance is 23 kilometers. After a series of climbs and steep descents further complicated by sharp turnings, and after crossing a final little humpbacked bridge over the Tuzla Chayi (river), near the north end of the ruins we come to the picturesque little village of Behramkale built on a slope of an ancient acropolis” (p. 367, Nagel’s Encyclopedia-Guide: Turkey, Nagel Publishers, Geneva, 1968).
I did not find the route at all as described except that the new road lurches over that same hump-backed bridge near Assos. The distance is now 18 kilometers (about 11 miles), not 23, so many of the former track’s winding curves have been by-passed or straightened. There were up-and-down roller-coaster sections, to be sure, but it was by no means the nightmare the guide-book described. My Volkswagen covered the distance without incident. Moreover, I found Behramkale somewhat less than “picturesque”.
The junction of the black-topped route from Ayvacik and the “stabilized” track from Troas appears near the foot of the high hill on which Assos perched. I parked my VW at a yellow Turkish archaeological antiquity marker which read “Assos”. Soon, a poorly-dressed youth approached me from a crude cafe across the street. His cap sported the word Muze, related to the Turkish word for museum. Though he could not speak English he managed to let me know that he was the official guide to the ruins. He was the first of many such officials who work at out-of-the-way sites rarely visited by tourists that I met on my 6,000 mile odyssey to all the places in Turkey mentioned in the Bible. He proved a competent escort, even though he tried to extort an outrageous fee from me at the end of the “tour”.
The guide led me up the high hill, circling around to the seaward side of the town which even in ruins still displays skill in building on steep slopes. Halfway up, the Muze shouldered my camera bag as he noticed me huffing and puffing from the climb on an excessively warm June afternoon. We passed through the ruins of the ancient walls at the main gateway and proceeded to the agora or marketplace after passing a sizeable gymnasium. Vestiges of the agora’s north and south stoas, temple, and city hall remain, uncovered by excavations in the 1880’s, the first archaeological effort attempted by the American School of Classical Studies.
The several terraces on which Assos perched reminded me of similar layouts at Pergamum. Most interesting to me was the ancient harbor of Adramyttium at the foot of the towering hill. Here Paul rejoined his party when the ship they rode from Troas docked at Assos. Above it, on an intermediate terrace, clings the ruins of a third century theater. It has a horse-shoe shaped orchestra, and dates to the Hellenistic period. A century ago this monument remained
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Harbor at Assos where Paul rejoined his party.
almost completely intact, but villagers have carried off its stones to use in building their houses. Little remains of the structure today.
Assos’ most celebrated monument is the Temple to Athena which crowns the acropolis, dating from the sixth century B.C. It attracted devotees from all over Western Asia Minor to honor the goddess. From the heights of the acropolis my eyes followed the route Paul had walked for many miles. I enjoyed a spectacular vista of the valley of Satnioeis and the Bay of Edremit, which is the modern name for ancient Adramyttium. It was at this port that the tramp ship was registered that later carried Paul from Caesarea to Myra on his journey as a prisoner to Rome (Acts 27:1–5).
We do not know how long a visit Paul had in Assos before boarding the ship his colleagues had taken from Troas on the first leg of the trip back to Judaea. If he had time, he must certainly have visited the agora. Here he would have had opportunity to buttonhole individuals and even groups in order to press the claims of Christ.
Some wonder whether this may not have been Paul’s prime purpose for walking. Did he want time to evangelize Assos?
Actually Assos had already been evangelized! Paul did not plant the churches of Mysia. The Ephesians did! It doubtless happened during the first two years of Paul’s earlier residence in Ephesus, during which period, Luke reports, “all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks” (Acts 19:10). Most of Mysia — including Assos and Troas — had by 52
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A.D. become part of the Roman Proconsular province of Asia. Converts from Ephesus fanned out over that entire area, spreading the good news of life in Christ. It may have been the most extensive and comprehensive evangelistic outreach of all time!
The New Testament tells us nothing of the church at Assos, but archaeology attests its prominence in later times. Eventually Christians were able to expropriate the property of the pagan temple in the agora. They made so many changes in its architecture, to suit it for Christian worship, that excavators have been able to learn very little about its original layout.
The ruins of the famed Athena Temple likewise represent the dominance Christianity came to have over paganism. Theodosius the Great, one of Constantine’s successors at Constantinople, issued an edict forbidding heathen worship. Believers at Assos proceeded to pillage Athena’s Temple. Turks later added to the destruction, so that all that survives today are the platform on which the columns stood, a few column capitals, and some remnants of a black and white marble mosaic. Nevertheless, the site strikes the visitor as impressive.
As I descended from the summit, past houses in advanced stages of disrepair, past the contemporary mosque, past wells recently drilled by the government to service the citizens whose dwellings have no
Ruins of Athena Temple at Assos.
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running water or other conveniences, the guide pointed out the direct road from Troas. I closed my eyes for a moment and pictured the apostle plodding along its dusty course. The most significant event in all the history of this once-prominent place was the brief visit of a Christian missionary who walked here for reasons unknown, though we may speculate concerning them. Knowing Paul as we do’ they must have been good reasons!
“What do you mean ‘How can we preserve it?’ Who’d be interested in seeing a used boat stuck on a mountain top?”
For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. 2 Peter 1:21
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