Neapolis

Neapolis, whose Greek name means “New City,” was the Aegean seaport of eastern Macedonia and the harbor of Philippi. During his second missionary journey, after the “Macedonian call” vision at Troas, Paul sailed with a direct course to Neapolis — his first landing on European soil; from there he went on to Philippi, where the first believers in Europe were gathered.

Neapolis — its name comes from Greek nea, “new,” and polis, “city,” hence “New City” — lay on the Bay of Kavala in eastern Macedonia at the head of the Aegean, and served as the seaport of Philippi. Philippi itself sat about fifteen kilometers inland; although it was a Roman colony and the leading city of that part of Macedonia, it depended on the deep-water harbor and sea routes of Neapolis. The Roman-built Via Egnatia linked Neapolis with Philippi and ran west across Macedonia all the way to the Adriatic, making the port a junction of sea and land trade. The site was first settled by Greeks from the nearby island of Thasos; in Roman times it was an important free port of the province of Macedonia. In the Byzantine period it was renamed Christoupolis (“City of Christ”), and in medieval times it developed into modern Kavala, Greece. Acts chapter 16 records that during his second missionary journey, Paul was prevented by holy spirit from continuing his work in the province of Asia and came down to Troas. “A vision appeared to Paul during the night: a Macedonian man was standing there and pleading with him and saying: ‘Step over into Macedonia and help us.’ As soon as he had seen the vision, we tried to go over into Macedonia, concluding that Jehovah God had summoned us to declare the good news to them. Therefore we put out to sea from Troas and sailed with a direct course to Samothrace, and on the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, a colony and the leading city of the district of Macedonia” (Acts 16:9-12). Luke here uses the first-person “we” for the first time, indicating that he likely joined Paul at Troas. With favorable winds the party reached the island of Samothrace in two days and put in at Neapolis the next day. This voyage marks the first entry of the good news onto European soil: Neapolis was the first harbor where Paul landed in Europe, though he did not stay long, pressing on along the highway to inland Philippi. There Lydia the seller of purple and her household were baptized (Acts 16:14-15), and the jailer and his household also believed and were baptized (Acts 16:33), so that the first Christian congregation in Europe was established. On the return leg after his third journey Paul again sailed through these waters by way of Troas (Acts 20:5-6), but Neapolis’ role as “the first stop of the gospel in Europe” was fixed for good at Acts 16:11.