The Apostle Paul passed through this exact stretch of southern Turkey and turned the ancient world toward Christ.
One hundred and fifty years later, the people nearby were still worshipping a river.
Archaeologists just dug up the proof – and where they found it will stop you cold.
A Pagan God Buried Under Paul's Path
Excavators in southern Turkey uncovered a massive Roman mosaic floor on Theater Street in the ancient city of Aspendos – just miles from the biblical city of Perga, where Paul landed during his first missionary journey in Acts 13.
The mosaic, measuring roughly 20 by 25 feet, depicts a young river god named Eurymedon clutching reed leaves and leaning against an overflowing amphora.
Archaeologists believe it once formed the floor of a pagan pool complex built in the early 3rd century A.D.
https://twitter.com/bpthaber/status/2078042318888702032?s=20
Turkish officials called it one of the most significant Roman-era finds in the country's recent history.
The reason is unusual: depictions of river gods are extraordinarily rare in ancient mosaic art.
Turkey's Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy called it "of great scientific importance," noting it "provides important scientific data on Roman-period Anatolian mosaic art."
The artistry is remarkable – intricate color gradations built from thousands of individual tesserae, placing it among the finest Roman mosaic work documented in the eastern Mediterranean.
A 262 A.D. earthquake later caused the structure to be broken into separate rooms – meaning this pagan worship space was still being actively modified generations after Paul had already moved through the region.
The Ground Paul Actually Walked
What happened in Perga is written directly in your Bible.
Acts 13:13 records Paul and Barnabas sailing from Cyprus and arriving in Perga in Pamphylia, the same coastline where this mosaic was buried.
They returned to preach there again on the way home, as recorded in Acts 14:25.
Biblical archaeology scholar Mark Fairchild, writing in Biblical Archaeology Review, notes that Paul "deliberately traveled to cities with Jewish populations" – and the region around Perga and Aspendos was thick with them.
This wasn't a random landing spot.
Paul chose this exact stretch of southern Turkey as his launchpad for carrying the Gospel from the Jewish world into the Roman world – the turning point that brought Christianity to the West.
Think about what this mosaic actually means: Paul preached the risen Christ in this neighborhood and moved on to change history.
And 150 years later, right where he walked, people were still pressing pagan gods into their floors in tile.
That's not a footnote.
That's the story of how Christianity actually spread – not overnight, not by decree, but inch by inch against a world that wasn't ready to let go.
What Turkey Keeps Pulling Out of the Ground
Turkey is on an absolute run of biblical and early Christian discoveries – and most Americans have no idea.
Just this summer, archaeologists revealed a rare 1,700-year-old Aramaic inscription at a Turkish temple documenting the displacement of the pagan cult Mithraism by early Christianity.
Last fall, excavators found a Roman military hospital in the ancient city of Kaunos that was later converted into a Christian sanctuary.
In 2025, archaeologists near Iznik – the site of the Council of Nicaea where the Nicene Creed was written – uncovered a rare fresco of Jesus as the Good Shepherd inside a Roman-era burial chamber.
First-ever systematic excavations at Colossae, the city Paul addressed in his New Testament letter to the Colossians, launched last year.
Every dig confirms what Scripture already said.
https://twitter.com/turkiyetodaycom/status/2078063661822734728?s=20
The Aspendos mosaic is different from the others, though.
It doesn't show Christianity winning.
It shows what Christianity was up against – a world soaked in pagan worship, where rivers had gods and floors were prayers – and it makes Paul's mission look not smaller, but bigger.
What's still buried under Theater Street may not be fully excavated for years.
But what's already been found is a window into the exact world Paul walked into – preserved in tile, 1,800 years under the Turkish sun.
Sources:
- Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, "Exceptional Mosaic of the River God Eurymedon Found in Ancient Aspendos," June 2026.
- Mark R. Fairchild, "Paul's First Missionary Journey through Perga and Pisidian Antioch," Biblical Archaeology Review, 2013.
- "Archaeology in Turkey – 2025 in Review," Turkish Archaeological News, January 2026.
- "2025 Packs Stellar Archaeological Discoveries for Türkiye," Daily Sabah, December 2025.
- "Aspendos Expands Beyond Its Iconic Theater as New Discoveries Reshape the Ancient City," Türkiye Today, April 2026.
