Lysons, Daniel, an English divine and writer, eldest son of the Rev. Samuel Lysons, rector of Rod- marton, in Gloucestershire (1804-33), was educated at Gloucester and at St.jNIary's Hall, Oxford, at which uni- versity he attained the degree of jM.A. in 1785. Later he filled the curacy of Putney. He died Jan. 3, 1834. He published a sermon or two, and a History of the Or-
igin and Progress of the Meeting of the three Choirs of Gloucester, Worcester, and Hereford; but his fame rests entirely upon his topographical works, which are excel- lent for their laljorious research, accuracy of description, and useful record of matters which most probably would otherwise have been irrecoverably lost. On this point considt the English Cyclopadia, s. v., and Allibone, Bid. of British and American Authors, s. v.
Lys'tra (// Ai'trrpa, Acts xiv, 6, 21 ; xvi, 1 ; rii Avarpa, Acts xiv, 8; xvi, 2; 2 Tim. iii, 11), a city in Asia Minor, of much interest in the history of Paul and Timothy.
We are told in the 14th chapter of the Acts that Paul and Bamabas, driven by persecution from Iconium (ver. 2), proceeded to Lystra and its neighborhood, and there preached the Gospel. In the course of this service a remarkable miracle was worked in the healing of a lame man (ver. 8). This occurrence produced such an effect on the minds of the ignorant and superstitious people of the place that they supposed that the two gods, Mer- cury and Jupiter, who were said by the poets to have formerly visited this district in human form [see Lyca- onia], had again bestowed on it the same favor, and consequently were proceeding to offer sacrifice to the strangers (ver. 13). The apostles rejected this worship with horror (ver. 14), and Paul addressed a speech to them, turning their minds to the true Source of all the blessings of nature. The distmet proclamation of Chris- tian doctrine is not mentioned, but it is implied, inas- much as a Church was founded at Lystra, wliich in post-apostolic times was so important as to send its bishops to the ecclesiastical councils (Hierocles, Synecd. p. 675). The adoration of the Lystrians was rapidly followed by a change of feeling. The persecuting Jews arrived from Antioch in Pisidia and Iconium, and had such influence that Paul was stoned and left for dead (Acts xiv, 19). On his recovery, he withdrew, with Barnabas, to Derbe (ver. 20), but before long retraced his steps through Lystra (ver. 21), encouraging the new disciples to be steadfast. It is not absolutely stated that Paul was ever in Lystra again, but, from the general description of the route of the third missionary journey (xviii, 23), it is almost certain that he was. See Paul.
It is evident from 2 Tim. iii, 10, 11, that Timothy was one of those who witnessed Paul's sufferings and courage on the above occasion; and it can hardly be doubted that his conversion to Christianity resulted partly from these circumstances, combined with the teaching of his Jewish mother and grandmother, Eu- nice and Lois (2 Tim. i, 5). Thus, when the apostle, accompanied by Silas, came, on his second missionary journey, to this place again (and here we should notice iiow accurately Derbe and Lystra are here mentioned in the inverse order), Timothy was already a Chris- tian (Acts xvi, 1). Here he received circumcision, " because of the Jews in those parts" (ver. 3) ; and from this point began his connection with Paul's travels. We are doubly reminded here of Jewish residents in and near Lystra. Their first settlement, and the ancestors of Timothy among them, may very probably be traced to the establishment of Babylonian Jews in Phrj-gia by Antiochus three centuries before (Josephus, Ant. xii, 3, 4). Still it is evident that there was no influential Jewish population at Lystra: no mention is made of any synagogue, and the whole aspect of the scene de- scribed by Luke (Acts xiv) is thoroughly heathen. As to its condition in heathen times, it is worth while to notice that the words in Acts xiv, 13 (jov Atoc rov ovTOQ 7rp6 Ti)Q TToXiwe) wouUl lead us to conclude that it was under the tutelage of Jupiter. Walch, in his Spidlegium Anliqnitatum Lystrensium {Bissert. in Acta Apostolorum, Jena, 170(5, vol. iii), thinks that in this passage a statue, not a temple, of the god is intended.
Plinv (v, 42) places Lystra in Galatia, and Ptolemy (v, 4, 12) in Isauria ; but these statements are quite consistent with its being placed in Lycaonia by Luke, as it is by Hierocles {Synecd. p. 675).— Smith. This
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city vras south of Iconium, but its precise site is uncer- tain, as ^vell as that of Derbe, which is mentioned along ■with it. Col. Leake remarks that the sacred text ap- pears to i>lace it nearer to Derbe than to Iconium ; for ]'aul, on leaving that city, proceeded first to Lystra, and thence to Derbe; and in like manner returned to Lystra, to Iconium, and to Antioch of Pisidia (see Walch, Diss, ill Act. A2Mst. iii, 173 sq.). lie also observes that this seems to agree with the arrangement of Ptolemy (v, 4, 12), who places Lystra in Isauria, and near Isaura, which seems evidently to have occupied some part of the valley of Sidy Shehr, or Bey Shehr. Lender the Greek empire, Homonada, Isaura, and Lystra, as well as Derbe and Laranda, were all included in the consular province of Lycaonia, and were bishoprics of the metro- politan see of Iconium. Considering all the circum- stances. Col. Leake inclines to think that the vestiges of Lystra may be sought with the greatest probability of success at or near Wiran Khatiiii, or Khatun Serai, about thirty miles to the south of Iconium. " Nothing," says this able geographer, "can more strongly show the little progress that has hitherto been made in a knowl- edge of the ancient geography of Asia jMinor than that of the cities which the journey of St. Paul has made so interesting to us, the site of one only (Iconium) is yet certainly kno^ni" {Tour and Geo<jr. of Asia 3Iinor,-p. 102). Mr. Arundell supposes that, should the ruins of Lystra not be found at the place indicated by Col. Leake, they may possibly be found in the remains at Kara- hissar, near the lake Bey-shehr (^Discoveries in Asia Minor). — Kitto. Still more lately, IMr. Hamilton {Re- searches in Asia Minor, ii, 319) identifies its site with the ruins called Bin-bir-Kilisseh (the "Thousand and one churches"), at the base of a conical mountain of vol- canic structure named the Karadagh (generally thought to be those of Derbe, but which, according to his argu- ments, inust bs sought elsewhere, perhaps at Divle), as being more considerable (a bishop of Lystra sat in the Council of Chalcedon, according to Hierocles, St/necd. p. 675), and on the direct road from Iconium to Derbe. Another traveller ascended the mountain, and says, "On lodking down I perceived churches on all sides of the mountain, scattered about in various positions. . . . In- cluding those in the plain, there are about two dozen in tolerable preservation, and the remains of perhaps forty may be traced altogether" (Falkn^r in Conybeare and Howson, St. Paul, i, 202). Comp. Mannert, Geogr. VI, ii, 189 sq. ; Forbiger, Ilandb. ii, 322.