Acts 14:1-2

Iconium was a Greek city-state in the geographic region of Phrygia, the easternmost city in that region.

". . . while Rome chose Antioch of Pisidia and Lystra as bastions of its authority in the area, Iconium remained largely Greek in temper and somewhat resistant to Roman influence, though Hadrian later made it a Roman colony." [Note: Longenecker, p. 431.]

"Iconium" comes from eikon, the Greek word for "image." According to Greek mythology, Prometheus and Athena recreated humanity there after a devastating flood by making images of people from mud and breathing life into them. [Note: Ibid., pp. 431-32.]

Iconium was, ". . . a garden spot, situated in the midst of orchards and farms, but surrounded by deserts. . . . Iconium, too, owed its bustling business activity to its location on the main trade route connecting Ephesus with Syria and the Mesopotamian world, as well as its orchard industries and farm produce." [Note: Merrill F. Unger, "Archaeology and Paul’s Visit to Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe," Bibliotheca Sacra 118:470 (April-June 1961):107-108.]

In Iconium Paul and Barnabas followed the same method of evangelizing that they had used in Antioch (Acts 13:14). They visited the synagogue first. They also experienced the same results: many conversions among both Jews and Gentiles but also rejection by some of the Jews (cf. Acts 13:43). These unbelieving Jews stirred up unbelieving Gentiles who joined them in opposing the missionaries (Acts 13:50).