The NT mentions 34 port cities, in many of which early Christian churches are attested: five in Judea (Gaza, Azotus, Caesarea, Joppa, Ptolemais), five in Syria/Cilicia (Antioch, Seleucia, Sidon, Tyre, Tarsus), two in Cyprus (Salamis, Paphos), two in Pamphylia (Attaleia, Perge), two in Lycia (Myra, Patara), one in Achaia (Corinth/Cenchreae), two in Macedonia (Philippi/Neapolis, Thessalonica), five in the province of Asia (Ephesus, Miletus, Smyrna, Troas, Assos, Adramyttium), five in the islands (Mitylene, Samos, Chios, Cos, Rhodes), one in Crete (Phoenix), two in Italy (Rome/Ostia, Puteoli), and one in Egypt (Alexandria). The three harbor towns in Galilee and the Gaulanitis (Capernaum, Magdala, Bethsaida) could be added. A new publication on the port cities of the Roman empire is thus of immediate interest for NT scholars.
The 16 essays, all focused on the epigraphical evidence, constitute the first book arising from the Roman Mediterranean Ports project “which seeks a holistic understanding of...
