Myra

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

(Μύρα, a neut. plur.; often written Μύρρα, as in B)

Myra was ‘a city of Lycia’ ( Acts 27:5), situated on a hill 2½ miles from the sea (Strabo, Xiv. iii. 7), and the name often included the seaport of Andriaca. In the time of the Ptolemys, Myra shared with other Lycian towns the benefits of a great maritime traffic which was developed between Egypt and Asia Minor; and when Rome became mistress of the world, the conditions of navigation in the Mediterranean made Myra a place of growing importance. The corn-ships of Alexandria, which brought food to the population of Rome, were in the habit of sailing due north to Lycia, making Myra a place of call, and then proceeding westward. This long route was the shortest in the end. Instead of sailing straight for Italy, and, in doing so, contending with the westerly winds which prevail in the Eastern Mediterranean during the summer months, it was better seamanship to make for the S. W. of Asia Minor, and then get under the protection of the south coast of Crete. When, therefore, the centurion who brought St. Paul from Caesarea found an Alexandrian corn-ship in the harbour of Myra, about to continue her course to Italy, this was no surprising occurrence. It was not an unlucky event which made a disastrous change in his plans, as T. Lewin suggests ( The Life and Epistles of St. Paul 3, 1875, ii. 187). It was exactly what he had expected. Before he began his voyage he no doubt calculated on being able to trans-ship into one of the vessels of that great fleet of corn-ships which linked the names of Alexandria and Myra in the common talk of all men of the sea.

St. Nicholas, one of the bishops of Myra, became the patron saint of Levantine sailors. Myra was still an important city in the Middle Ages, being known as the portus Adriatici maris when ‘the Adriatic’ included the whole Levant.

Both Myra, which is now called Dembre , and Andriaca have some interesting ruins.

Literature.-W. M. Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveller and the Roman Citizen , London, 1895, p. 298 f.; E. Petersen and F. v. Luschan, Reisen in Lykien, Milyas und Kibyratis , Vienna, 1889.

James Strahan.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

Myra was a city of Lycia situated 2 1 / 2 miles from the coast, but the same name is often applied to its harbour of Andriaca. In Greek times Patara surpassed it, but in Roman times Myra became the chief seaport of Lycia, and was recognized by Theodoslus as the capital. It grew especially through the Alexandrian corn-trade with Italy. The Alexandrian ships did not coast round the Levant, but took advantage of the steady west winds to cross direct between Lycia and Egypt. These winds made it easier for a ship sailing from Egypt to make for Myra, but a ship sailing to Egypt would be sailing more before the wind by taking a line from Patara. Doubtless this was the usual custom. In   Acts 27:6 we read that the centurion in charge of St. Paul found at Myra ‘a ship of Alexandria sailing to Italy’; whereas in   Acts 21:1 Samt. Paul took ship direct from Patara to Tyre (though the Bezan text makes this ship touch at Myra). Myra retained its importance into the Middle Ages. Its bishop in the time of Constantine was St. Nicolas, and he became the patron saint of sailors in the E. Mediterranean, doubtless taking the place of a Lycian god to whom the sailors paid their vows on landing at Myra. There are splendid ruins on the site of Myra.

A. E. Hillard.

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

A town in Lycia, where Paul was taken from the Adramyttian ship into the Alexandrian ship bound for Rome. Myra is due N. of Alexandria. Its harbor, Andriace, two miles off the city, is good. The mountains are conspicuous from afar, and the current sets westward; all good reasons for the Alexandrian ship taking Myra in its course. The wind from the N.W., as it impeded the Adramyttian ship, would also impede the Alexandrian ( Acts 27:4-7). A large Byzantine church in the gorge leading to the mountains testifies of the Christianity probably first introduced by Paul. The Turks call Myra Dembre, the Greeks Myra.

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Myra (my'rah ), flowing, weeping. An ancient port in Lycia, on the southwest coast of Asia Minor.  Acts 27:5. It was on the river Andriacus, about 2½ miles from its mouth. The magnificent ruins of the city stand upon a hill not far from the sea.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

My'ra. An important town in Lycia, on the southwest coast of Asia Minor, on the river Andriacus, 21 miles from its mouth referred to in  Acts 27:5. Myra, (named Dembra , by the Greeks), is remarkable still for its remains of various periods of history.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

Seaport of Lycia, in Asia Minor, where Paul and those with him embarked on a ship sailing to Italy.  Acts 27:5 . It is now called Dembra.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

A town of Lycia, where Paul embarked for Rome, on board a ship of Alexandria,  Acts 27:5 .

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Acts 27:5-6 Acts 21:1

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Acts 27:5

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(τὰ Μύρα ), one of the chief towns of Lycia, in Asia Minor (Ptol. 5:3, 6). It is "interesting to us as the place where Paul, on his voyage to Rome ( Acts 27:5), was removed from the Adramyttian ship which had brought him from Csesarea, and entered the Alexandrian ship in which he was wrecked on the coast of Malta. (See Adramytium).

The travellers had availed themselves of the first of these vessels because their course to Italy necessarily took them past the coasts of the province of Proconsular Asia ( Acts 27:2), expecting in some harbor on these coasts to find another vessel bound to the westward. This expectation was fulfilled ( Acts 27:6). It might be asked how it happened that an Alexandrian ship bound for Italy was so far out of her course as to be at Myra. This question is easily answered by those who have some acquaintance with the navigation of the Levant. Myra is nearly due north of Alexandria, the harbors in the neighborhood are numerous and good, the mountains high and easily seen, and the current sets along the coast to the westward (Smith's Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul). Moreover, to say nothing of the possibility of landing or taking in passengers or goods, the wind was blowing about this time continuously and violently from the N.W., and the same weather which impeded the Adramyttian ship ( Acts 27:4) would be a hindrance to the Alexandrian (see  Acts 27:7; Conybeare and Howson, Life and Epistles of St. Paul, chapter 23). Some unimportant Mss. having Λύστρα in this passage, Grotius conjectured that the true reading might be Λίμυρα (Bentleii Crifica Sacra [ed. A. A. Ellis]). This supposition, though ingenious, is quite unnecessary. Both Limyra and Myra were well known among the maritime cities of Lycia. The harbor of the latter was strictly Andriace, distant from it between two and three miles, but the river was navigable to the city (Appian, ''B.C.'' 4:82)."

Myra lay about a league from the sea (in N. lat. 360 18', E. long. 30°), upon rising ground, at the foot of which flowed (a (navigable river with an excellent harbor (Andriace) at its mouth (Strabo, 14, page 665; Pliny, Hist. Nat. 32:8). In later times the emperor Theodosius raised it to the rank of the capital of Lycia (Hierocl. page 684). The town still exists, although in decay, and bears among the Greek inhabitants the ancient name of Myra; but the Turks call it Dembre (see Forbiger, Alte Geogr. 2:256). It is remarkable for its fine remains of antiquity (Leake, Asia Minor, page 183), which have been minutely described by Fellows (Discoveries in Lycia, page 169 sq.) and Texier (Descrip. de l'Asie Mineure; comp. Spratt and Forbes, Travels in Lycia, 1:131 sq.). "The tombs, enriched with ornament, and many of them having inscriptions in the ancient Lycian character, show that it must have been wealthy in early times. Its enormous theatre attests its considerable population in what may be called its Greek age. In the deep gorge which leads into the mountains is a large Byzantine church, a relic of the Christianity which may have begun with Paul's visit. It is reasonable to conjecture that this may have been a metropolitan church, inasmuch as Myra was the capital of the Roman province. In later times it was curiously called the port of the Adriatic, and visited by Anglo-Saxon travellers (Bohn's Early Travels in Palestine, pages 33, 138). Legend says that St. Nicholas, the patron saint of the modern Greek sailors, was born at Patara, and buried at Myra, and his supposed relics were taken to St. Petersburg by a Russian frigate during the Greek revolution." (See Asia Minor).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

mı̄´ra ( Μύρα , Múra ): A city of the ancient country of Lycia about 2 1/2 miles from the coast. Here, according to   Acts 27:6 , Paul found a grain ship from Alexandria. The city stood upon a hill formed by the openings of two valleys. At an early period Myra was of less importance than was the neighboring city Patara, yet later it became a prominent port for ships from Egypt and Cyprus, and Theodosius Ii made it the capital of the province. It was also famed as the seat of worship of an Asiatic deity whose name is no longer known. St. Nicholas, a bishop and the patron saint of sailors, is said to have been buried in a church on the road between Myra and Andraki, the port. Here an Arab fleet was destroyed in 807. In 808 Haroun al-Rashid, the renowned kalif of Bagdad, took the city, and here Saewulf landed on his return from Jerusalem. Dembre is the modern name of the ruins of Myra, which are among the most imposing in that part of Asia Minor. The elaborate details of the decoration of the theater are unusually well preserved, and the rock-hewn tombs about the city bear many bas-reliefs and inscriptions of interest. On the road to Andraki the monastery of St. Nicholas may still be seen.

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

My´ra, one of the chief towns of Lycia, in Asia Minor. It lay about a league from the sea (in N. lat. 36° 18′; E. long. 30°), upon a rising ground, at the foot of which flowed a navigable river with an excellent harbor at its mouth. The town now lies desolate. When Paul was on his voyage from Cesarea to Rome, he and the other prisoners were landed here, and were re-embarked in a ship of Alexandria bound to Rome .