Holy Bible - Obsidian Study Guide

Nicopolis

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Nicopolis

Overview

  • Type: City
  • Testament: New
  • Modern Location: Near Preveza, Epirus, northwestern Greece

Biblical Significance

Nicopolis (“City of Victory”) was a city founded by the emperor Augustus on the western coast of Greece in Epirus, to commemorate his decisive victory over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. The city was located at the narrow entrance to the Ambracian Gulf and became a major Roman administrative and commercial center on the route between Rome and the eastern provinces. It had a prosperous harbor, held the Actian Games (second in prestige to the Olympics), and served as a gathering point for traffic between Italy and Greece.

The city appears just once in the New Testament, in the brief personal note at the end of Paul’s letter to Titus. Paul instructs Titus to come to him at Nicopolis, where Paul had decided to spend the winter. This suggests that Paul planned to use the city as a winter base for ministry on the western Greek coast, taking advantage of the halting of sea travel during the winter months. The request for Titus to come implies that Paul anticipated needing a trusted coworker for ongoing ministry there before the sailing season resumed.

The reference is significant for reconstructing the chronology of Paul’s later life. If the Pastoral Epistles reflect a period of ministry after the Acts 28 Roman imprisonment — as many scholars hold — then the Nicopolis reference indicates Paul was actively traveling and planting churches in previously unvisited regions of Greece and Dalmatia in the years before his final imprisonment and execution. The city thus represents the expanding frontier of Paul’s late ministry rather than a retreat or rest.

Key Events

Key People Associated

  • Paul (Apostle) - planned to winter in Nicopolis; sent for Titus to join him
  • Titus - instructed to meet Paul in Nicopolis after completing work in Crete

Important Verses

  • Titus 3:12

Cross-References

  • Titus - the letter containing the Nicopolis reference
  • Crete - where Titus was when he received Paul’s instruction to travel to Nicopolis
  • Macedonia - the Roman province to Nicopolis’s north

Notes

  • Nicopolis was a planned city, founded deliberately by Augustus, giving it a different character from organically developed Greek city-states — it was self-consciously Roman in culture and identity
  • Paul’s pattern of wintering in strategic cities (e.g., Corinth in Acts 18) suggests he used the slower travel months for intensive local teaching and church strengthening
  • The mention of Artemas and Tychicus in Titus 3:12 alongside the Nicopolis reference gives a glimpse of Paul’s travel team in his final years and the logistics of coordinating widely dispersed co-workers

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