Jennifer Felsberg 1

Prison’s of Paul

Jennifer Felsberg

Grand Canyon University

BIB 123, New Testament History

October 18, 2009

 Jennifer Felsberg 2

The exact number of years Paul spent in Prison is estimated to be about seven. Paul was

arrested in Jerusalem in 58 AD. He spent two years in the Caesarea jail from 58 AD to 60 AD.

He was then shipwrecked on the way to Rome in 60 AD. This led to his first imprisonment in

Rome which lasted from 61 AD to 63 AD. Paul was released from Roman prison in 63 AD, but

was imprisoned again in 68 AD (Biblestudy.org). This paper will focus on descriptions of the

prison in Caesarea Maritima, the jail in ancient Philippi and the Mamertine prison in Rome

where Paul spent time according to biblical records.

Caesarea Maritima is where Paul was put in prison by Felix. He spent two years here

before sailing for Rome. During this time he also appeared before Festus and King Agrippa to

defend himself. The site has been excavated by archeologists. Figure 1 shows ruins of the

prison in Caesarea Maritime (Visual Bible Alive, 2009). Figure 2 shows the guard house where

the Roman authorities would have first held Paul (Lion Tracks Ministries, 2009).

Figure 1 Figure 2

Paul and Silas were arrested In Philippi for Paul casting out an evil spirit in a young

slave woman. It is not known if this is the exact cell that held Paul but he and Silas sat in cells

just like the figures 3 and 4 below. This is also the site where Paul & Silas were singing hymns

and praying when an earthquake happened. This caused the jail cell doors to open and their

chains to fall off. As a result, their guard was converted to Christianity (Biblestudy.org).
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Figure 3 Figure 4

Because Paul was a Roman citizen who had committed no serious crime, he was given

the privilege of being under house arrest during his first imprisonment in Rome. During Paul’s

second imprisonment the conditions were much worse. Figure 5, below, shows the steps leading

down to the cell and figure 6 shows the inside of the cell (Reymer, 2000).

Figure 5 Figure 6

The three prisons in Caesarea Maritima, ancient Philippi and the Mamertine prison in

Rome where Paul spent time as a prisoner were generally bleak and dreary places, as one would
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expect. It gave him much time to write. It is amazing that he was able to write and still offer

encouragement to the new churches. This time in prison and these writings were important

because most of the New Testament came from them.

References

Lion Tracks Ministries (2009). Lion Tracks Q ‘n’A. Retrieved October 17, 2009 from
http://www.bibleistrue.com/qna/pqna18.htm

Ministries, B. (1994). Paul's Prison. Retrieved October 15, 2009, from Bible Study:
http://www.biblestudy.org/biblepic/philpris.html

Reymer, E. (2000). History Link 101. Retrieved October 15, 2009, from History Link 101:
http://historylink102.com/italy/rome-pictures-main.htm

Visual Bible Alive. (2009). Retrieved October 14, 2009, from Ruins os Caesarea:
http://www.visualbiblealive.com/stock_image.php?id=70462