Nicopolis

the city of victory

Nicopolis

(city of victory) is mentioned in (Titus 3:12) as the place where St. Paul was intending to pass the coming winter. Nothing is to be found in the epistle itself to determine which Nicopolis is here intended. One Nicopolis was in Thrace, near the borders of Macedonia. The subscription (which, however, is of no authority) fixes on this place, calling it the Macedonian Nicopolis. But there is little doubt that Jerome's view is correct, and that the Pauline Nicopolis was the celebrated city of Epirus. This city (the "city of victory") was built by Augustus in memory the battle of Actium. It was on a peninsula, to the west of the bay of Actium.

Nicopolis

A city where Paul spent probably the last winter of his life, having previously written to Titus, at Crete, to meet him there, Ti 3:12. He is supposed to refer to the Nicopolis of Thrace, situated on the river Nestus, near the borders of Macedonia, and hence called, in the subscription to the epistle, Nicopolis of Macedonia. Others, however, suppose him to have meant Nicopolis in Epirus, which stood near the mouth of the Ambracian gulf, opposite to Actium, and which was built by Augustus in honor of his decisive victory over Antony.

NICOPOLIS

ni-kop'-o-lis (Nikopolis): A city in Palestine, half-way between Jaffa and Jerusalem, now called Ammas, mentioned in 1 Maccabees 3:40, 57 and 9:50. The earlier city (Emmaus) was burnt by Quintilius Varus, but was rebuilt in 223 A.D. as Nicopolis.

The Nicopolis, however, to which Paul urges Titus to come (pros me eis Nikopolin, ekei gar kekrika paracheimasai (Titus 3:12)) is probably the city of that name situated on the southwest promontory of Epirus. If this view is correct, the statement made by some writers that from Eastern Greece (Athens, Thessalonica, Philippi, Corinth) Paul's labors extended to Italy, that he never visited Western Greece, requires modification. It is true that we do not hear of his preaching at Patras, Zacynthus, Cephallenia, Corcyra (the modern Corfu), which, as a way-station to and from Sicily, always held preeminence among the Ionian islands; but there can be little doubt that, if his plan of going to Nicopolis was carried out, he desired to evangelize the province of Epirus (as well Acarnania) in Western Greece. Indeed, it was in this very city of Nicopolis, probably, that he was arrested and taken to Rome for trial-during one of the winters between 64-67 A.D.

Nicopolis was situated only a few miles North of the modern Prevesa, the chief city of Epirus today, the city which the Greeks bombarded in 1912 in the hope of wresting it from the Turks. The ancient city was founded by Augustus, whose camp happened to be pitched there the night before the famous fight with Antony (31 B.C.). The gulf, called Ambracia in ancient times, is now known as Arta. On the south side was Actium, where the battle was fought. Directly across, only half mile distant, on the northern promontory, was the encampment of Augustus. To commemorate the victory over his antagonist, the Roman emperor built a city on the exact spot where his army had encamped ("Victory City"). On the hill now called Michalitzi, on the site of his own tent, he built a temple to Neptune and instituted games in honor of Apollo, who was supposed to have helped him in the sea-fight. Nicopolis soon became the metropolis of Epirus, with an autonomous constitution, according to Greek custom. But in the time of the emperor Julian (362) the city had fallen into decay, at least in part. It was plundered by the Goths, restored by Justinian, and finally disappeared entirely in the Middle Ages, so far as the records of history show. One document has Nikopolis he nun Prebeza, "Nicopolis, which is now Prebeza." In the time of Augustus, however, Nicopolis was a flourishing town. The emperor concentrated here the population of Aetolia and Acarnania, and made the city a leading member of the Amphictyonic Council. There are considerable ruins of the ancient city, including two theaters, a stadium, an aqueduct, etc.

LITERATURE.

Kuhn, Ueber die Entstehung der staate der Alten.

J. E. Harry

City of victory, where Paul intended to winter (Titus 3:12). There were several cities of this name. The one here referred to was most probably that in Epirus, which was built by Augustus Caesar to commemorate his victory at the battle of Actium (B.C. 31). It is the modern Paleoprevesa, i.e., "Old Prevesa." The subscription to the epistle to Titus calls it "Nicopolis of Macedonia", i.e., of Thrace. This is, however, probably incorrect.