=Journey to Antioch in Galatia.= From Paphos it was easy to secure a passage northward to the coast of Pamphylia, for along this course passed many of the merchant ships from Alexandria to Rome. The apostles probably landed at Attalia and thence went to Perga, the chief city of central Pamphylia. It lay five miles from the river, on a plain at the foot of a bold, extended acropolis. The climate of these low-lying coast plains was sultry and malarial. The city was dominated by the worship of a local goddess and there is no evidence that there was a Jewish synagogue at this point. Because of these unfavorable conditions, Paul and Barnabas simply passed through this southern city on their way to the great strategic centres farther north. The journey thither through the deep valleys and over the rough heights was exceedingly arduous. Here Paul doubtless experienced many of those perils of rivers and perils of robbers which he mentions in II Corinthians 11:26. =Conditions at Antioch.= It was at the Roman colony of Antioch,^{(131)} that the apostles found their first great field of activity in Asia Minor. The town lay about three thousand six hundred feet above the level of the sea, on an isolated plateau two miles in circumference, which rose from one to two hundred feet above the western plain. On the east it was protected by a rocky gorge through which flowed the River Anthios. The city was, therefore, a natural fortress, able to resist the frequent attacks of the warlike Pisidian mountaineers. It had been made a Roman colony by Augustus a little before the beginning of the Christian era and hence was an outpost of Rome itself and dominated the southern part of the great Roman province of Galatia. The worship of the local deity had recently been abolished, so that the city offered an unusual field for missionary work. The Jewish colony was apparently large and influential, for many Gentiles joined with the Jews in worship at their synagogue. From the first Paul and Barnabas appear to have made a profound impression upon the people of this important city. It was their success that aroused certain of the Jews and the Roman magistrates of the city so that the apostles were forcibly expelled.