Paul the Apostle

Follow Paul the Apostle's Biblical Journey

Damascus

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Paul the Apostle

Conversion on Damascus road

ACT.9.3

And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:

Events

The stoning of StephenACT 7:59

The road to DamascusACT 9:3

Paul at the AreopagusACT 17:22

The shipwreck on MaltaACT 27:41

Paul a prisoner in RomeACT 28:16

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Updated on August 16, 2026

Paul, originally named Saul of Tarsus, was a Pharisee who persecuted early Christians before his dramatic conversion on the road to Damascus. He became one of the most influential apostles, undertaking three major missionary journeys across the Roman Empire. He wrote 13 epistles that form a significant portion of the New Testament, establishing churches and developing Christian theology. His letters to the Romans, Corinthians, and Galatians remain foundational texts for Christian doctrine.

Read the full story of Paul the Apostle

Paul the Apostle's journeys, in distance

Paul's second missionary journey

ACT 15:36 · ACT 18:22

Distance: ~2,400 km; following valleys and wells, not a straight line
Stops: 17; named stops along the way
On foot: ~3 months; at 28 km a day, a small group on foot

plus ~2,100 km by sea, 19 to 36 days under sail

Leg	Terrain	Straight line	On the ground	On foot	Verse
Antioch (Syria)Tarsus	coast ×1.10	140 km	150 km	~5 days	ACT 15:41
TarsusDerbeThrough the Cilician Gates, over the Taurus.	mountains ×1.45	140 km	210 km	~8 days	ACT 16:1
DerbeLystra	plain ×1.15	85 km	95 km	~3 days	ACT 16:1
LystraIconium	plain ×1.15	30 km	35 km	~1 day	ACT 16:2
IconiumPisidian Antioch	hills ×1.30	120 km	160 km	~6 days	ACT 16:6
Pisidian AntiochTroasAcross Phrygia and Mysia, turned away from Asia and Bithynia.	mountains ×1.45	450 km	650 km	~25 days	ACT 16:8
TroasNeapolisBy Samothrace; two days, says the text.	by sea ×1.15	200 km	230 km	2–2 days	ACT 16:11
NeapolisPhilippi	hills ×1.30	13 km	17 km	~1 day	ACT 16:12
Philippi ThessalonicaThe Via Egnatia, by Amphipolis and Apollonia.	coast ×1.10	120 km	130 km	~5 days	ACT 17:1
ThessalonicaBerea	plain ×1.15	65 km	75 km	~3 days	ACT 17:10
BereaAthens	by sea ×1.15	300 km	350 km	3–6 days	ACT 17:14-15
Athens Corinth	coast ×1.10	75 km	85 km	~3 days	ACT 18:1
CorinthCenchreae	plain ×1.15	11 km	12 km	~1 day	ACT 18:18
CenchreaeEphesus	by sea ×1.15	400 km	450 km	4–8 days	ACT 18:19
Ephesus Caesarea	by sea ×1.15	900 km	1,100 km	10–20 days	ACT 18:21-22
Caesarea Jerusalem	hills ×1.30	85 km	110 km	~4 days	ACT 18:22
Jerusalem Antioch (Syria)	hills ×1.30	500 km	650 km	~25 days	ACT 18:22

How these numbers are made

Great-circle distance between consecutive stops, multiplied by a terrain factor (plain ×1.15, hills ×1.30, mountains ×1.45, desert ×1.25, coast ×1.10), because nobody walks in a straight line. The range runs from the straight line to the routed distance. Days divide the routed distance by the pace of the travellers: 18 km a day with flocks and children, 28 for a small group on foot, 35 for a forced march. Every figure is rounded, on purpose.

Sea legs are measured between ports with a coastal-sailing allowance of 15 %, and never converted into walking days: an ancient sailing depended on winds and seasons, so a range is given only where the sources allow one.

Journey Timeline

Early Lifec. AD 5
Tarsus
Birth in Tarsus
ACT 22:3
Persecutorc. AD 33-34
Jerusalem
Persecutes the Church
ACT 8:1-3
Conversionc. AD 34
Damascus
Conversion on the Damascus Road
ACT 9:3-19
Preparationc. AD 34-37
Arabia
Years in Arabia and Damascus
GAL 1:17-18
First Missionary Journeyc. AD 46-48
Antioch (Syria)
First Missionary Journey
ACT 13-14
Cyprus and the Proconsulc. AD 46
Cyprus
Sent out from Antioch, Barnabas and Saul sail to Cyprus and proclaim the word in the synagogues of Salamis, then cross the island to Paphos. There the magician Elymas opposes them before the proconsul Sergius Paulus. Saul, filled with the Holy Spirit, strikes him blind for a season, and the proconsul believes. From here Luke calls him Paul rather than Saul.
ACT 13:4-12
Jerusalem Councilc. AD 49
Jerusalem
Jerusalem Council
ACT 15:1-35
Philippi, the First Church in Europec. AD 50
Philippi
Crossing into Macedonia, Paul meets Lydia, a seller of purple, by the river outside Philippi, and she is baptised with her household. After he frees a slave girl from a spirit of divination, her owners drag him before the magistrates: Paul and Silas are beaten and jailed. At midnight they are singing hymns when an earthquake opens the doors, and the jailer asks what he must do to be saved.
ACT 16:11-40
Thessalonicac. AD 50
Thessalonica
For three sabbaths Paul reasons with them from the Scriptures that the Christ had to suffer and rise. Some believe, with many God-fearing Greeks and not a few leading women. Others gather a mob and drag Jason before the city rulers, crying that these men who have turned the world upside down have come here too.
ACT 17:1-9
Athens and the Areopagusc. AD 51
Athens
Waiting in Athens, Paul is provoked by a city full of idols. He disputes in the synagogue and daily in the marketplace until the philosophers bring him to the Areopagus. There he begins from an altar he has seen, inscribed to an unknown god, and declares the God who made the world and does not dwell in temples made with hands. Some mock at the mention of resurrection; Dionysius and Damaris believe.
ACT 17:16-34
Second Missionary Journeyc. AD 49-52
Corinth
Second Missionary Journey
ACT 15:36-18:22
Third Missionary Journeyc. AD 53-57
Ephesus
Third Missionary Journey
ACT 18:23-21:16
Arrest and Trialsc. AD 57
Jerusalem
Arrest in Jerusalem
ACT 21:17-23:35
Imprisonmentc. AD 57-59
Caesarea
Imprisonment in Caesarea
ACT 24-26
Journey to Romec. AD 59-60
Malta
Voyage to Rome
ACT 27-28
Roman Imprisonmentc. AD 60-62
Rome
First Roman Imprisonment
PHP 1:12-14
Martyrdomc. AD 67
Rome
Martyrdom
2TI 4:6-8