Acts 28:15

THE MARKET OF APPIUS AND THE THREE TAVERNS. Acts 28:15.

Acts 28:15

And from thence the brethren, when they heard of us, came to meet us as far as The Market of Appius and The Three Taverns; whom when Paul saw, he thanked God, and took courage.

Acts 28:15 In order to get some idea of the territory the apostle is covering at this time, we quote from Dallmann respecting the trip from Puteoli to The Market of Appius and the Three Taverns.

On the eighth day after landing, Paul left Puteoli for Rome, one hundred and seventy miles away. On the Via Consularis he passed the temple of Serapis. Going between the two mountains beyond the city, he crosses the famous and fertile fields of Campania. After a march of nineteen miles he spends the night at Capua, famous for its mighty ancient amphitheatre and its statue of Venus.
He leaves on the Via Appia, built by the Censor Appius Claudius in 312 B.C. during the Samnite War. In 280 the blind man by a great speech had hindered a peace with Pyrrhus. He was also Rome's first author and composed a collection of wise sayings. Eight hundred years later this -queen of Roads-', as Statius calls it, was still in such perfect state as to astonish Procopius, secretary of General Belisarius. Procopius writes: To traverse the Appian Way is a five days-' journey for a good walker. It leads from Rome to Capua. Its breadth is such that two chariots may meet upon it and pass each other without interruption, and its magnificence surpasses that of all other roads. Procopius goes on to tell us Appius had the material brought from a great distance -so as to have all the stones hard and of the nature of millstones.-' Then he had the stones smoothed and polished and cut in corresponding angles so as to bite together in jointures without the intervention of copper or any other material to bind them, and in this manner they were so firmly united that, on looking at them, we would say they had not been put together by art, but had grown so upon the spot. Milestones were all along the way. Every forty feet was a seat. About every twenty miles was a mansion or poststation where horses, mules, and vehicles were kept for travelers and government dispatches. (ibid, p. 264-265).
Paul landed at Appii Forum where Appius Claudius founded a market for the country people when he built the Queen of Roads, of which the great Caesar himself had once been a curator. Suetonius says: Claudius Drusus erected a statue of himself wearing a crown at Appii Forum. A hundred years before, Horace was here with Virgil and Maecenas.. to reconcile Augustus and Mark Anthony. He found the water was utterly bad. The place was full of boatmen and extortionate tavern-keepers.
Four buildings, one a miserable inn, is all that remains of Foro Appio. The forty-third milestone is still there. Here Paul was met by Christians who had come from Rome to greet him.
Three Taverns is ten miles beyond the Market of Appius. At Antium on the sea, where Nero was born, Cicero had a Villa and on his way to Mormiae he stopped at Three Taverns. While the horses were being changed he tasted the wine and wrote a letter to Atticus on the festival of Ceres, April 12, 58 B.C. Here more Christians from Rome came to greet the apostle. When Paul saw these, he thanked God and took courage. (ibid, p. 267-268)
Evidently there were groups of Christians in both places. Paul must have entered this great city with apprehension and wonder as to how he would be received among the Jewish Christians and as to how his trial would turn out. So when these persons showed their love by coming more than forty miles to greet him, he did indeed thank God and was encouraged.

1013.

When was the road of Appia built?

1014.

How many days walk from Capau to Rome?

1015.

Give three interesting facts about this road.

1016.

What was the method of travel from Puteoli to Appii Forum?

1017.

How far had the Christians traveled to see Paul?