7. Paul's desire was to preach the word throughout the Roman proconsular province of Asia, which comprised Phrygia, and the maritime districts of Mysia, Lydia and Caria. But divine influences closed up his path, both in this direction and northward toward Bithynia; so he journeyed westward across Phrygia and Mysia, and at last reached the shore of the Ægean Sea at _Troas_. (Acts 16:6-8.) This was the site of ancient Troy, the scene of Homer's Iliad, and has been the place of great discoveries in modern times. There was a city near the ancient site in Paul's time; and it is probable that in it he founded a church, for there he was joined by Luke, the historian of the Acts and author of the third Gospel, and in a later journey met "the disciples" of the place. (Acts 20:7.) Here the vision of the "man of Macedonia" summoned Paul from Asia to Europe (Acts 16:9, 10), and opened a new chapter in the history of Christianity. [Illustration: THE ACROPOLIS AT ATHENS. (AREOPAGUS ON THE LEFT.)] II. =The European Stations.= All the places named as visited by the apostle in this journey were included in the two provinces of Macedonia and Greece, of which the Roman name was Achaia. _Macedonia_ was the province north of Greece, and famous in history from its conquering kings, Philip, and his greater son, Alexander. Its boundaries were: on the north, the Hæmus or Balkan Mountains; on the east, Thrace and the Ægean Sea; on the south, Achaia (Greece); on the west, the Pindus Mountains, separating it from Epirus and Illyricum. It consists of two great plains, watered respectively by the Axius, near Thessalonica, and the Strymon, near Apollonia. Between these two rivers projects a peninsula, having three points, like a hand of three fingers, across the palm of which, in Paul's time, ran the great Roman road known as the Ignatian Way. It was divided by the Romans into four districts, of which the capitals were Amphipolis, Thessalonica (the residence of the provincial proconsul), Pella (the birthplace of Alexander the Great), and Pelagonia. Of these, Amphipolis had become less important than the rival city of Philippi, in the same district. _Achaia_ was the Roman name of the little land of Greece, whose fame has filled all history. In the later period of its independence, its ruling state had been Achaia, which gave its name to the entire province when annexed to the Roman empire. In the apostolic age, Corinth was its metropolis and political capital, though Athens still retained its fame as a centre of art and literature.