Derbe - American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

A small town of Lycaonia, in Asia Minor, to which Paul and Barnabas fled from Lystra, A. D. 41, . It lay at the foot of the Taurus mountains on the north, sixteen or twenty miles east of Lystra. The two missionaries gained many disciples here, and among them perhaps Gaius, who afterwards labored with Paul, ; 20:4.\par

Derbe - Apostolic Church, Dictionary - James Hastings

(Δέρβη)

Derbe was one of ‘the cities of Lycaonia’ into which Paul and Barnabas fled when driven from Iconium (). Strabo says it was ‘on the flanks of the Isaurian region, adhering (ἐπιπεφυκός) to Cappadocia’ (xii. vi. 3). It belonged to that part of Lycaonia which, in the 1st cent. b.c., the Romans added, as an ‘eleventh Strategia,’ to the territory of the kings of Cappadocia (xii. i. 4). From them it was seized, along with the more important town of Laranda, by Antipater the robber (called ὁ Δερβήτης), who is otherwise known as a friend of Cicero (ad Fam. xiii. 73). Antipater was attacked and slain by Amyntas of Galatia (circa, about 29 b.c.), who added Laranda and Derbe to the extensive territories which he ruled as a Roman subject-king. On the death of Amyntas in 25 b.c. his kingdom was formed into the Roman province of Galatia. But the ‘eleventh Strategia’ again received special treatment. After changing hands more than once, it was ultimately added-as the inscriptions on coins indicate-to the kingdom of Antiochus iv., and therefore called ‘Strategia Antiochiane’ (Ptolemy, v. 6), an arrangement which lasted from a.d. 41 to the death of Antiochus in 72. Derbe, however, being required as a fortress city on the Roman frontier, was detached from the Strategia and included in the province of Galatia, after which it received a new constitution, and was named Claudio-Derbe, which was equivalent to Imperial Derbe.

Ethnically and geographically Lycaonian, the city was now politically Galatian. As in Lystra, the educated natives were no doubt bilingual, speaking Lycaonian (Λυκαονιστί, ) among themselves, but using Greek as the language of commerce and culture. Derbe lay on the great trade-route between Ephesus and Syrian Antioch. All the cities on that line had been hellenized by the Seleucids, whose task the Romans now continued. St. Paul’s first visit to Derbe was very successful; he ‘made many disciples’ (), and the city is not mentioned as one of the places in which he was persecuted (). It is a striking fact that he made Derbe the last stage of his missionary progress, instead of going on to the neighbouring and greater city of Laranda. His action appears to be prompted by a motive which the historian does not formally state. Because Derbe was the limit of Roman territory, he made it the limit of his mission. He followed the lines of Empire. In his second journey he evidently crossed the Taurus by the Cilician Gates, passed through the kingdom of Antiochus, and so ‘came to Derbe and Lystra’ (; ). A third visit is probably implied by the statement that ‘he went through the region of Galatia and Phrygia in order, stablishing all the disciples’ (). On the Southern Galatian theory, the Christians of Derbe formed one of the ‘churches of Galatia’ (, ), and they were among the ἀνόητοι Γαλάται () whom he exhorted to stand fast in their Christian liberty (). Imperial Derbe stood in closer relations with the Roman colonies of Antioch and Lystra than with the non-Roman Lycaones of the kingdom of Antiochus.

Sterrett (Wolfe Expedition, 1888, p. 23) placed Derbe between the villages of Zosta and Bossola on the road from Konia to Laranda. In both of these places there are numerous ancient cut stones and inscriptions, but it is doubtful if they are in situ, and W. M. Ramsay thinks that the position of the ancient city is indicated by a large deserted mound, called by the Turks Gudelissin, about 3 miles W.N.W. from Zosta. It still waits to be explored.

Literature.-W. M. Ramsay, The Church in the Roman Empire, 1893, pp. 54-56, The Cities of St. Paul, 1907, p. 385ff., Hist. Com. on Gal., 1899, pp. 228-234; W. Smith. DGRG [Note: GRG Dict. of Greek and Roman Geography.] i. [1856] 770.

James Strahan.

Derbe - Faussets Bible Dictionary

Near Lystra, E. of the upland plain of Lycaonia, stretching eastwards along the N. of the Taurus range. Probably near the pass (*the Cilician gates*) from the plain of Cilicia up to the table land of the interior. Paul fled there from Iconium and Lystra (Act 14:6; Act 14:20-21; Act 16:1). In enumerating places (2Ti 3:11) he mentions Lystra but not Derbe, though in the independent history they are mentioned together: a delicate instance of accuracy, for he is here enumerating only those places where he suffered persecution. Gaius or Caius belonged to Derbe, Paul's companion in travel (Act 20:4). Identified by Hamilton (Researches in Asia Minor, 2:313) with Dirle, near the roots of Taurus near lake Ak-gol.

Derbe - Fleming, Don - Bridgeway Bible Dictionary

Originally Derbe was part of the ancient kingdom of Lycaonia, but when Rome redivided Asia Minor, Derbe became part of the Roman province of Galatia (Act 14:6; see GALATIA; LYCAONIA). Paul and Barnabas established a church in Derbe on their first missionary journey (Act 14:20-21), and Paul visited the church on his second and third journeys (Act 16:1; Act 18:23). It was one of the churches that Paul wrote to in his letter to the Galatians.

Derbe - Hitchcocks New and Complete Dictionary of the Holy Bible

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Derbe - Kitto, John - Popular Cyclopedia Biblical Literature

Der´be, a small town of Lycaonia, in Asia Minor, at the foot of the Taurian mountains, 60 miles south by east from Iconium, and 18 miles east of Lystra. It was the birthplace of Gaius, the friend and fellow-traveler of Paul (); and it was to this place that Paul and Barnabas fled when expelled from Iconium, A.D. 41 ().

Derbe - Smiths Bible Dictionary

Der'be. -21; ; . The exact position of this town has not yet been ascertained, but its general situation is undoubted. It was in the eastern part of the great upland plain of Lycaonia, which stretched from Iconium, eastward along the north side of the chain of Taurus. (Rev. L. H. Adams, a missionary, identifies it with the modern Divle, a town of about 4500 inhabitants, on the ancient road between Tarsus and Lystra. -- Editor).