Accurate Itineraries
'Testing Luke' #10
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In the book of Acts, in the Bible, Luke records Paul the apostle travelling from Philippi to Thessaloniki, along the Via Egnatia. He mentions two cities, Amphipolis and Apollonia, which were fifty kilometres apart. These were places where travellers would stop overnight on the journey from Philippi to Thessaloniki.
Luke could have known about these cities from 'general knowledge,' because the Via Egnatia was one of the most important roads in the Roman Empire. But there are other places and routes that would not have been so widely known. For example, he records the cities of Derbe and Lystra in the right order as you come to them from the Cilician Gates.
A lot of the book of Acts is about Paul travelling around the eastern Mediterranean, telling people the Good News about Jesus Christ. Luke gets towns and cities in the right order on these journeys. He also gets right the details of the many journeys by sea in the book of Acts.
How could Luke be so accurate? He did not have the Internet – he did not even have printed books. Sometimes he was one of the travellers himself. Other times, he got his information from people who were there, like Paul.
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