I-koh´nee-uhm
A city (modern Konya) in south-central Asia Minor in a rich oasis at the edge of the central Anatolian plain. At the time of Paul’s first missionary journey as reported in (Acts 13:1-14:26), Iconium, Lystra, Pisidian Antioch, and Derbe were all considered part of Galatia. Paul and Barnabas were driven from the city by jealous members of the local Jewish community. They went on to Lystra, some eighteen miles south, but were hounded even there by Antiochian and Iconian Jews. They managed, nonetheless, to return to Iconium in order to encourage the fledgling church they had begun there (Acts 14:21-23). On his second missionary journey as reported in (Acts 15:40-18:21), Paul visited Iconium again (Acts 16:1-6), when he recruited as his companion Timothy of Lystra, who was well known and respected in Iconium. The church in Iconium may have been among the addressees of Paul’s Letter to the Galatians and of 1 Peter (Gal 1:2; Gal 3:1; 1Pet 1:1). The persecutions of Paul’s first visit to the city were later recalled in (2Tim 3:11).
