PAMPHYLIA (BariOuXia), a province of Asia Minor mentioned several times in the Acts of the Apostles. It lies upon the southern coast, and bends in the form of a crescent round a wide open bay, which was hence called Panzphylius Sinus; and as a portion of Cilicia bordered upon the same bay, it is correctly termed by Luke `the sea which lies off Cilicia and Pamphylia ' (rd raa-yos Tb Kara rip Kaidclav Kai ; Acts xxvii. 5). This bay, or sea, is now called Adalia, from a town of that name (anciently Attaleia). Round the head of the bay sweeps an undulating plain, shut in in the background by a semicircle of lofty mountains. Both on the west and east sides the mountains approach the shore, to which they break down in steep wooded slopes, and here and there in cliffs of remarkable wildness and grandeur (Fellows, Asia Minor, pp. seq.) The plain is narrow—nowhere more than twenty miles broad ; and its surface is furrowed by a series of alternate low rocky ridges and broad picturesque valleys, down which wind rivers and torrents. This strip of plain constituted the ancient province or prin cipality of Pamphylia. According to Strabo its western boundary was the fortress of Olbia, situ ated between the city of Phaselis (now Tekirava) and the river Catarrhactes (Deden-su), and its eastern boundary was Coracesium (now Alara), where it joined Cilicia. ' The whole of the voyage,' he adds, ` along the coast of Pamphylia, is 640 stadia' (xiv. 4, p. 667). Its total length was thus about eighty miles, and its breadth did not average more than fifteen. In later times, when Roman power prevailed in Asia Minor, the boundaries of Pamphylia were greatly extended, and included a large section of Pisidia on the north, and of Lycia on the west. At one period the proconsul of Pamphylia ruled all Lycia (Dio Cass. lx. 17). His province was 150 miles long by forty wide. The greater part of it was wild and mountainous, but intersected by beautiful vales. It presented a great variety of soil and climate, ranging from the perpetual snow region on the summits of Taurus, down to the orange-groves that to this day encircle the town of Adalia. The southern aspect and sheltered situation of the coast give it a tempera ture higher than that of most parts of Palestine. Luke, however, distinguishes Lycia from Pam phylia ; for he states that when they passed the sea of Pamphylia they ` came to Myra, a city of Lycia' (Acts xxvii. 5). At the time of Paul's voyage Lycia appears to have formed part of pro consular Asia, to which the ship, on leaving Cassarea, directed its course (ver. 2 ; cf. Smith, Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul, p. 60, 2d ed.) ; but the arrangement of the proconsular divisions in Asia Minor was frequently altered.
Perga was one of the chief cities of Pamphylia, situated on the river Cestrus, about eight miles from the coast. It was the first place in Asia Minor which Paul visited in his earliest missionary journey. Luke tells us that they `loosed from Paphos (in Cyprus) and came to Perga in Pam phylia.' They sailed up the wide bay, having in front and on each side some of the grandest scenery in the East. They entered the mouth of the Ces
trus, and finally landed at Perga. There is no record of apostolic work or missionary success there ; only one incident is mentioned, and it was a sad one, which led to estrangement and final separation between Paul and one of his dearest friends. John, for some reason, probably through timidity, left them and turned back (Acts xiii. 13) ; and on a future occasion, when projecting another mission tour, Barnabas wished to take John with him, but Paul would not again trust him, ' and the contention was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one from the other' (xv. 36-39).
From Perga the apostles travelled to Antioch of Pisidia (xiii. 14). It was a wild mountain road, running over the snowy summits of the Taurus range. It was beset with dangers of many kinds —natural dangers in swollen torrents and storms ; and ' perils of robbers,' for ' the lawless and ma rauding habits of the population of those moun tains which separate the table-land in the interior of Asia Minor from the plains on the south coast, were notorious in all parts of ancient history' (Conybeare and Howson, Life of St. Paul, i. 175); and the Pisidians, through whose territory the apostles had to pass, were the worst of them (Strabo, xii. 7 ; Xen. Anab. i. I. I1 ; iii. 2. t4, etc.) The sight of the rugged mountains, and the stories of the bloodthirsty bandits that infested their fastnesses, which were no doubt freely spoken of in the streets of Perga, may have had much to do with John's desertion of his companions and his work (Life of SE. Paul,l. c.) After a successful journey through the interior, the apostles returned again by Pisidia into Pam phylia, apparently following the same route over the mountains from Antioch to Perga. Leaving the latter city, they descended (Kariggo-av) to Atta leia on the coast, and thence sailed for Syria (xiv. Various accounts have been given of the origin of the Pamphylians. Some say they were a mixed race, composed of a number of amalgamated tribes, and hence their name IIcimq5vXot. (` mingled tribes '). This appears to he the opinion of Hero dotus (vii. 91) and Pausanias (vii. 3). Others maintain that they sprung from a Dorian chief called Pamphylus (Rawlinson's Herod. iii. 276, note) ; others from the daughter of Rhacius (Stepp. Byz., s. v.) The truth seems to be that there was an ancient tribe of this name, speaking a language of its own, and which in more recent times partly amalgamated with the Greeks who overran Asia Minor. It is this language to which Luke refers in Acts ii. so. It was probably a barbarous patois, known only to the residents in the little province of Pamphylia (cf. Arrian, Anab. i. 26) ; and hence the astonishment of those who heard the apostles speak it.
The greater part of Pamphylia is now thinly populated, and its soil uncultivated. There are still a few little towns and villages near the coast, surrounded by fruitful fields and luxuriant orchards. Some of these occupy ancient sites, and contain the remains of former grandeur.—J. L. I'.