Assos
Assos was a coastal city in the Roman province of Asia where Paul arranged to meet his traveling companions' ship after choosing to walk the shorter overland route alone from Troas, likely to have a period of solitude before the long journey to Jerusalem that lay ahead. Paul boarded the ship at Assos and continued on toward Mitylene, Chios, Samos, and eventually Miletus, where he delivered his emotional farewell address to the Ephesian elders. Though its appearance in Acts is brief and purely logistical, Assos marks a small but genuine detail of Paul's final journey toward the imprisonment that awaited him in Jerusalem and Rome.
Details
- Region
- Asia Minor
- Modern Location
- Behramkale, Turkey
Key Passages
Paul Rejoins the Ship at Assos
Acts 20:13-14
Paul's choice to travel the overland route alone suggests a deliberate moment of reflection before the trials awaiting him in Jerusalem.
13nd 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.
Did You Know?
Aristotle lived and taught at Assos for three years - Paul's walking route passed the old haunt of Greek philosophy's greatest mind.
Paul chose to walk the twenty miles to Assos alone while his companions sailed - the apostle's last quiet road before Jerusalem and chains.
Assos's harbor mole, built in ancient times, still shelters fishing boats today.