Lystra

Lystra was an ancient city in Lycaonia, a region of Asia Minor corresponding to present-day central Turkey. It is best known for its role in the New Testament as a site visited by Paul and Barnabas during their first missionary journey. According to Acts, they reached Lystra after Derbe, preached there, and healed a man lame from birth. The crowd initially celebrated them as gods, with Barnabas called Zeus and Paul Hermes, but Jewish leaders from Antioch and Iconium soon stirred the people against them. Paul was dragged out of the city and stoned, left for dead, and he nevertheless survived. Afterward, Paul and Barnabas continued their travels to Derbe and then retraced their steps to strengthen the Christian communities in the region.

Geographically, Lystra’s exact location is not definitively identified in the modern era. Various sites in central Turkey have been proposed as candidates, but no consensus has been reached. The historical and biblical references to Lystra primarily underscore its role as part of Paul and Barnabas’s itinerary in Lycaonia and its place in early Christian narrative rather than as a well-documented urban center.

In broader historical terms, Lystra is often mentioned alongside nearby towns such as Iconium and Derbe as part of the broader landscape of southern Asia Minor during the Hellenistic and early Roman periods.