=At Iconium.= From Antioch they turned eastward, following the Roman highway that led to Lystra. Instead, however, of going at once to Lystra, they turned to Iconium,^{(132)} eighty miles east of Antioch. This town lay on a level plain three thousand three hundred and seventy feet above the sea. It was protected on the west by a lofty mountain range, from which emerged the river, which first irrigated and then lost itself in the wide, thirsty plain on which Iconium lay. Unlike Antioch, Iconium had no natural barriers. Great energy and skill were required to utilize successfully the waters of its main stream and to protect it from the annual floods. Here grew up a flourishing commercial city with an active, resourceful population. A Jewish colony and a synagogue offered an excellent field for the apostles' work. Here they remained for a long time, preaching, teaching, and laying the foundations for the strong Christian church which made Iconium long after an important religious centre. In time, however, the opposition of the Jews crystallized and the apostles were driven forth by a mob. =At Lystra and Derbe.= From Iconium they turned southward to Lystra,^{(133)} twenty miles distant. It was a quiet town, situated in a pleasant valley in the midst of which rose a bold, elongated hill about one hundred and fifty feet high, which was the acropolis. The valley was watered by two streams which flowed from the western hills. While it was a Roman colony and connected with Galatian Antioch, it was aside from the great highways of commerce. The apostles evidently turned to it as a refuge. Antioch and Iconium were strong Græco-Roman towns, but at Lystra Paul and Barnabas came into contact with the native Lycaonian population. The readiness with which the natives identified the energetic spokesman, Paul, with Hermes, and the more reserved and dignified Barnabas with Zeus, reveals the naïveté of the small provincial town. Again the attack of a mob, incited by Jews who came from Antioch and Iconium, compelled the apostles to seek refuge in Derbe, on the southeastern end of the Lycaonian plain. The town was probably situated on a low hill that stands in the midst of the great plain about forty-five miles south of Iconium.^{(134)} On the south the lofty range of the Taurus shuts it off from the sea. Here the apostles were among the native people, with little Roman, Greek, or Jewish influence to interfere with their work, which appears to have been successful and undisturbed by persecution. From this point they retraced their steps through all the cities where they had recently labored. Thence going southward they stopped for a short time at Perga and then sailed from Attalia back to Antioch.