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DERVI (Ancient city) LYKAONIA
Derbe (Derbe: Eth. Derbetes), a fortified place in Isauria, and a
port, according to Stephanus (s. v.); but the port (limen) is manifestly a mistake,
and it has been proposed by the French translators of Strabo to write limne for
it. Stephanus also speaks of the form Derbeia as probably in use; and of the form
Derme, according to Capito; and some, he says, called it Delbia (Delbeia), which
in the language of the Lycaonians means juniper. The last remark rather contradicts
the first part of the description, which places Derbe in Isauria; and we know
from the Acts of the Apostles (xiv. 6-21) that Derbe was in Lycaonia. St. Paul
went from Iconium to Lystra, and from Lystra to Derbe. Both Lystra and Derbe were
in Lycaonia.
Strabo places Derbe on the sides of Isauria, and almost in Cappadocia.
It was the residence of Antipater, a great robber. He was defeated and killed
by Amyntas, who seized Derbe and the rest of Antipater's possessions. Cicero,
in a letter to Q. Philippus, proconsul (B.C. 54), speaks of the hospitable relations
between himself and Amyntas, and he adds that they were exceedingly intimate.
Philippus, who was at this time proconsul of Asia, was displeased with Antipater
for some reason. He had the sons of Antipater in his power, and Cicero writes
to him on their behalf. It does not appear when Cicero made this respectable acquaintance.
It could not be when he was proconsul of Cilicia (B.C. 51), if the letter to Philippus
is assigned to the true time; but the date of the letter seems doubtful, and one
does not see at what time Cicero could have become acquainted with Antipater,
except during his Cilician proconsulship.
The position of Derbe is not certain. Strabo, when he says that the
eleventh praefecture of Cappadocia was extended as far as Derbe, may intend to
include Derbe in it, though he says elsewhere, as we have seen, that Derbe is
in Lycaonia. After Strabo's time, Derbe formed, with Laranda and the adjacent
parts of Taurus, a district called Antiochana, which was between Lycaonia and
Tyanitis. (Ptol. v. 6.) Leake (Asia Minor, p. 101) concludes that Derbe stood
in the great Lycaonian plain, not far from the Cilician Taurus, on the Cappadocian
side of Laranda; a situation precisely agreeing with that of the ruins called
the 1001 churches of Mount Kara-dagh. It was certainly further than Lystra from
Iconium, as St. Paul's travels show. Hamilton (Researches, &c. vol. ii. p. 313)
thinks that Derbe may have been at a place now called Divle, a name which resembles
the form Delbia. Divie is some distance south of the lake of Ak Ghieul, but near
enough to be described with reference to the lake; which makes it almost certain
that the passage of Stephanus may be safely corrected. The position of Lystra
also, if it is rightly fixed at Bir Bin Kilisseh, where there are ruins, corresponds
with that of Iconium (Konieh) and Divle.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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