Zeus and Hermes at Lystra
The specific pairing of Zeus and Hermes that the crowd at Lystra reaches for is attested as a local cult in that district.
Confirmed by the groundInscription2nd–3rd century AD
Acts has the crowd at Lystra shout in Lycaonian that Barnabas is Zeus and Paul Hermes. Inscriptions and a stone altar from the area show Zeus and Hermes worshipped together as a local pair — a combination not common elsewhere.
And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker.
- Found
- Near Lystra, central Anatolia, Turkey, 1909 — William Calder and later surveys
- Now held at
- Museums in Konya, Turkey
- Language
- Greek and Latin
- How it reached us
- Dug up, or still standing where it was built.
What it shows
The inscriptions are later than Paul's visit; they show the local cult, not the episode.
How historians use it
A frequently cited example in the study of Anatolian religion and of Acts' local colour.
In Scripture
Connects to
Sources
- Calder, "Acts XIV.12", Expository Times 37 (1926); Hemer (1989)
These summaries are written in English for now. Translations follow.