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Via Egnatia—A Highway That Aided ExpansionAwake!—1997 | August 22
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[Maps on page 16, 17]
(For fully formatted text, see publication)
BRITAIN
EUROPE
AFRICA
BALKAN PENINSULA
MACEDONIA
GREECE
Dyrrachium, Illyricum (Durres, Albania)
Thessalonica
Apollonia
Amphipolis
Philippi
Neapolis (Kaválla)
Byzantium (Istanbul)
BLACK SEA
SEA OF MARMARA
THRACE
AEGEAN SEA
Troas
TURKEY
[Credit Line on page 16]
Mountain High Maps® Copyright © 1995 Digital Wisdom, Inc.
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Via Egnatia—A Highway That Aided ExpansionAwake!—1997 | August 22
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Via Egnatia—A Highway That Aided Expansion
BY AWAKE! CORRESPONDENT IN GREECE
IN 50 C.E., a group of Christian missionaries first set foot on European soil. They had come in response to an invitation received by the apostle Paul in a vision: “Step over into Macedonia and help us.” (Acts 16:9) The message about Jesus Christ that Paul and his companions brought had a dramatic impact on Europe.
An important aid to the spread of Christianity in Macedonia was the Via Egnatia, a paved Roman highway. After landing at the seaport of Neapolis (now Kaválla, Greece) at the northern end of the Aegean Sea, the missionaries evidently traveled on that highway to Philippi, the principal city of the district of Macedonia. The road led on to Amphipolis, Apollonia, and Thessalonica, the next stops of Paul and his companions.—Acts 16:11–17:1.
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Via Egnatia—A Highway That Aided ExpansionAwake!—1997 | August 22
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After landing at Neapolis in 50 C.E., the apostle Paul and his companions traveled ten miles [16 km] northwest along the Via Egnatia to Philippi.
“On the sabbath day,” Luke wrote, “we went forth outside the gate beside a river, where we were thinking there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and began speaking to the women that had assembled.” Among the women who listened to Paul was Lydia. On that very day, she and her household became believers.—Acts 16:13, 14.
From Philippi, Paul and his associates moved on along the Via Egnatia through Amphipolis and Apollonia to Thessalonica, a total of some 75 miles [120 km]. (Acts 17:1)
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