Cnidus
Summary
A free city on the southwestern coast of Asia Minor, passed by Paul's ship during his voyage to Rome.
☩Location and Description
Cnidus was a city of Caria at the extreme southwestern corner of Asia Minor, situated on a long peninsula called Triopium (modern Cape Crio) that projects into the Aegean Sea between the islands of Cos and Rhodes. The city was built partly on the mainland and partly on an island connected to it by an artificial causeway (now a sandy isthmus), forming two harbors—one on the north and one on the south. The entire plan of the ancient city can still be traced in its ruins, including sea-walls, piers, two theaters, and an odeum.
☩Paul's Voyage
Paul's ship, sailing from Myra to Rome, came 'over against Cnidus' after many days of difficult sailing due to adverse winds. The distance from Myra was about 130 miles, which with fair winds could have been covered in one day, but adverse northwest winds (the Etesian winds that prevail in the Aegean toward summer's end) made the voyage slow. After passing Cnidus, the ship had to run under the lee of Crete because the wind did not permit a direct course northward.
☩Historical Significance
Though ethnologically in Caria, Cnidus was politically a free city of the Roman province of Asia. It contained Jewish residents as early as the second century BC, as evidenced in 1 Maccabees 15:23. The city was especially noted for its shrine of Venus and the famous statue of that goddess by Praxiteles. Here Sir C. Newton discovered the statue of Demeter, now in the British Museum, along with the Aphrodite of Cnidus and the huge Cnidian lion.
Related Verses1 mention
Acts· 1 verse
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Cnidus," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. II (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.James Orr (ed.), "Cnidus," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. II (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).
- 3.James Hastings (ed.), "Cnidus," in Dictionary of the Apostolic Church, vol. I (T. & T. Clark, 1915–1918).