03 · Biblical Places

The city from 2,000
years ago is still there.

Jerusalem · Damascus · Ephesus · Babylon. See where Scripture's names sit on today's map — and what those lands look like now.

Mediterranean Sea Arabia N
Jerusalem
Bethlehem
Damascus
Ephesus
Philippi
Patmos
Babylon
Mt. Ararat

Tap a golden pin to see where Scripture lives today.

Article · Places

The city the Bible argues with most — Babylon.

Tower of Babel. 70-year exile. Daniel's lions. The Hanging Gardens. The verse named the city in Genesis 11. 4,000 years later, archaeologists are still excavating.

Article · Places

First of the seven churches — Ephesus.

Library of Celsus. A theater seating 25,000. The Temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders. The verse names the city. The marble names everything else.

Article · Places

The city that named the religion — Antioch.

Two billion people now answer to a label first applied in this city. Read Acts 11:26 — the verse names the place. The modern earthquake of 2023 has reshaped what's left.

Article · Places

A small town named in Scripture — Bethlehem.

30,000 people. A separation wall. Olive trees older than the verse. Bethlehem's address has been the same for nearly three thousand years.

Article · Places

An olive press at the foot of a hill — Gethsemane.

A patch of ground at the foot of the Mount of Olives where Jesus prayed before his arrest. Read Mark 14:32 — and notice that some of the olive trees have been radiocarbon-dated past 900 years.

Article · Places

World's oldest known city — Jericho.

Jericho has been inhabited for at least 10,000 years — older than the wheel, older than writing. Read Joshua 6:20 — the verse names the town. The town's archaeology argues with the verse, and excavation continues.

Article · Places

The wedding-day verse came from a port — Corinth.

The most-read wedding text in human history was written to a quarrelsome harbor town. Read 1 Corinthians 13:4 — and notice the address. The city is still on the map, the Bema is still standing.

Article · Places

5,137 metres of volcano — Mount Ararat.

The verse names *the mountains of Ararat*, plural. The dormant volcano on the modern map is the most famous candidate. Read Genesis 8:4 — the verse, and the search for the ark, and what Türkiye's tallest peak still does.

Article · Places

The road that named a turning — Damascus.

Damascus appears 60 times in Scripture. The road outside it is where one of history's most quoted reversals happened. The city is still on the map — and still in the news.

Article · Places

The town that named the man — Nazareth.

70,000 people in Galilee. The Basilica of the Annunciation. The hill called *Mount of the Precipice.* The town's name is now an adjective: Nazarene.

Article · Places

The mountain Moses climbed but did not descend — Mount Nebo.

On a clear day from this Jordanian hill you can see Jericho, the Dead Sea, and Jerusalem in the distance. Read Deuteronomy 34:1 — the verse that records the last view Moses ever had.

Article · Places

First church on European soil — Philippi.

A purple-cloth merchant. A jailed apostle. A midnight earthquake. Europe's first church started in a riverbank prayer group and became one of the most cited verses in Christian history.

Article · Places

The lake the disciples were called from — the Sea of Galilee.

21 km long, 13 km wide, 210 m below sea level. Israel's main freshwater source. The lake the verse names is the lake on the news, in the boats, in the maps.

Article · Places

The exile island that wrote a book — Patmos.

A small Aegean island became, almost by accident, the address of the New Testament's final book. Read Revelation 1:9 — the verse names the island. It still has a population, a cave, and a monastery.

Article · Places

The great city the prophet was sent to — Nineveh.

120,000 inhabitants in the eighth century BC. The Assyrian Empire's capital. The walls and gates are still partially standing. The city's name is still on the map.

Article · Places

The town Abraham left — Ur of the Chaldees.

Abraham's starting point is in southern Iraq, and its largest building is still standing. Read Genesis 11:31 — the verse names the town. The town has not lost its skyline.

Article · Places

Same name as 2,300 years ago — Thessaloniki.

Most biblical cities are ruins. Thessaloniki is a million-person modern city under the same name. Read 1 Thessalonians 5:17 — the verse Paul wrote to a place that never stopped being a place.

Article · Places

The same name after 3,000 years — Jerusalem.

A city named 660 times in Scripture. Where David stepped in, where Jesus was crucified — and still at the center of today's headlines.