Iconium

A Phrygian city, usually under foreign domination, in Asia Minor; it was taken by the Gauls in 278 BCE, and the central part of Asia Minor was then known as Galatia. In 25 BCE the whole of Galatia became a Roman province. In Acts 13 Iconium and other neighbouring cities are cited as belonging to Galatia, and Paul and Barnabas are said to have enjoyed some success before being expelled on account of the friction they caused amongst the mixed population of Jews and Gentiles. They returned to Iconium twice (Acts 14:21–3; 16:1–6; c.49–51 CE), and Paul's letter to the Galatians may have included the Church of Iconium as one of the recipients. In the 2nd cent. the apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thecla was set at Iconium.