Tarsus was the home of the young Paul who was born there about the time Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
The city had been in existence some 4,000 years before him. It was one of the important towns of the Hittites in the second millennium B.C. and may have been the capital of the Hittlte state of Kizzuwatna. When founded it was a seaport; the harbor was a large lagoon opening on the Mediterranean. That lagoon has silted up gradually through the centuries; by the fifth century A.D. ¡1 was an impassable swamp; the city is now about fifteen kilometers from the sea and in the midst of rich farm land.
The Cydnus (Tarsus Suyu) River flows through the city and has played its part in the history of the city. Alexander the Great nearly drowned in its cold waters in 333 B.C. Cleopatra, arrayed as Venus reclining on her throne, arrived in the city in 41 B.C. being rowed by her slaves up the Cydnus on a gaily decorated barge. The purpose of her display was a meeting with “the triple pillar of the world”, Mark Anthony, whom she “transformed into a strumpet’s fool”.
Several other famous people have been associated with the city. It was captured by Sennacherib in 696 B.C. A large rectangular cement-like enclosure near the center of town has been labeled, probably falsely, as the tomb of Sardanapalus; it may have been a temple to Tarz for whom the city was named. Cicero, the great Roman orator, was governor of Cilicia and lived in Tarsus in 50 B.C. Julius Caesar met representatives of the province in the city in 47 B.C. Mark Anthony exempted Tarsus from taxes when he was there in 41 B.C. because of its resistance to Cassius.
Church of St. Paul in Tarsus (the church and the surroundings are on the UN World Heritage tentative list)
But of all the great men and women who honored Tarsus by their presence none compares with the Apostle Paul in his influence on Christianity. Born a
Jew, but, unlike most Jews, having the benefits of Roman citizenship, he attended school in the large Jewish community in Tarsus and learned a trade like all Jewish boys. For him the trade was tent-making, one of the specialties of Tarsus. He must have grown up knowing Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek, and possibly something of the local dialect, too. As a young man he went to Jerusalem to study under the great teacher Gamaliel. He belonged to the Pharisees who held both scripture and tradition to be valid and binding. While in Jerusalem, he was an accomplice in the stoning of Stephen, the first Christian martyr.
After his sudden conversion to Christianity on the Damascus road he was active in proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah both there and in Jerusalem. In both cities he aroused so much hatred among the Jews that he had to flee for his life twice, the last time escaping to Tarsus.
In the meantime some of the Jerusalem community that had scattered’ In the repercussions following the death of Stephen had gone to Antioch. There they began speaking to Gentiles. Word of this got back to Jerusalem, and the church there sent Barnabas to investigate. He was favorably impressed, decided he needed someone to help him, and went up to Tarsus to get Paul. This is the last reference to Paul’s being in Tarsus in the Bible, but Paul probably went through Tarsus on his second and third missionary journeys before he started up into Galatia and Phrygia,
One feels a bit of Paul’s pride in his city when he speaks to the commandant of the garrison in Jerusalem in Greek and says, “I am a Jew, a Tarsian from Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city.”
The commandant seems to have thought he was someone quite different: “You are not the Egyptian who started a revolt some time ago?” he asks with surprise. There must have been a forcefulness in Paul’s bearing that gave credence to his claim: even after the commandant said, “It cost me a large sum to acquire this citizenship,” Paul answered, “But it was mine by birth,” and his word was accepted (Acts 21:39, 22:28).
Paul and Barnabas were so successful in Antioch that they were chosen by the church there to take the Gospel to the lands of the Gentiles. Thus from about the year 47 A.D. to 57 A.D. when he returned from Miletus to Jerusalem, Paul, with one or two other leaders of the church, went through what is now Turkey on his three great missionary journeys. He was arrested in Jerusalem for causing a riot in 57 A.D. Being a Roman citizen he appealed to Caesar for judgment rather than being tried where he thought he could not get an unprejudiced hearing, and so he was sent to Rome in 58 A.D. According to tradition he was beheaded in 62 or 64 A.D. after the great fire in the reign of Nero.
Very little remains in Tarsus today of the city which Paul knew. There is a gate in the Roman wall known affectionately as St. Paul’s gate; It probably was built much after his time, but it is made up of rubble from his city. There were three church councils in Tarsus in 431, 435, and 1177, but there is no church building in use as such now. Some of the projections on the front side of Ulu Cami are remains of a church; Kilise Cami is a basilica-shaped building. The tomb of “Seth, son of Noah” may have been a Christian shrine; the building, Eski Cami, in which it is found, is on the foundations of a Christian church. Not far from St. Paul’s gate is the Tarsus American College, a junior and senior high school for Turkish boys established In 1888 by what is now the United Church Board for World Ministries. The foundations of the hippodrome of Paul’s time lie under the campus of this school.
Tarsus,
During this time of Pompey (67 BC), Tarsus was made capital over the Roman province of Cilicia, and Jews began to receive Roman citizenship. Antony, who controlled the eastern provinces, declared the city free in 42 BC. Tarsus continued to receive special privileges under Augustus, who exempted the city from imperial taxation because Athenodorus, his teacher and friend, was a Tarsian. Tarsus grew into a cultural and intellectual center. Stoic philosophers like Athenodorus, Zeno, Antipater, and Nestor lived in the city in the first century AD
St. Paul Church ; It is thought that structure devoted to St. Paul and in Ulu Mosque District at south of the city, is constructed during the 11th and 12th centuries A.D. Although it had begun to be protected in 1993, and tried to open as a Monument Museum, church internal and external place restoration works are continuing gradually.
There is bell tower at north east edge of the church. At the center of the ceiling, there are frisks of Jesus Christ, Yohannes, Mattios, Marcos and Lucas. In 1992 and 1993, Vatican had organized “St. Paul Symposium and Ceremony” in St. Paul Church. Christians, are visiting St. Paul Monument Museum regularly with the aim of hadj.
Tarsus was the hometown of the apostle Paul (Acts 9:11), a city of great importance (21:39) as a learning center of the ancient world, alongside Alexandria and Athens. Notably, Jewish citizens of Tarsus were granted Roman citizenship. As a child, Paul was raised in Jerusalem and properly educated under the tutelage of Gamaliel, a member of the Sanhedrin. Paul’s trade, tentmaking, fits well with Tarsus, a city well-known for making a certain type of felt cloth from the wool of shaggy black goats. Legend says that St. Paul often drank from this well, said to have special curative properties.
It’s speculated that this is St. Paul’s church, but under good understanding being this is the remains of one of few Christian Churches in the area. Therefore the logic that St. Paul would have been here is precise.
There are information kiosks inside and out of the church. The grounds have a small garden with ornamental pieces of pillars within it. The roof is red clay tile which looks like Spanish tile, and there are the remains of what looks like a mini steeple or bell tower on the roof.
The church has windows in the shape of crosses and a very decretive door on the side which used to be the main entrance. The church is surrounded by a brick wall and has a large gate next to a water well located in the back corner. Inside the church it is very decorative. But closer view will show that it has been restored to look like this.The frescos, gold accents, and even marble pillars, have all been painted quite professionally to look real. So a huge effort has taken place to make this building appear as St. Paul’s private Church of worship, you’ll have to visit it and be the judge! Normally there are local women venders outside the grounds selling anything from scarfs to bread.