The Catacomb Adventures take place in Israel and the surrounding Greek communities.

Let’s check it out…

If you look at the map in your Bible, you’ll see the little country of Israel-where the most incredible events in history took place.  The tiny town of Bethlehem where Baby Jesus was born is just south of the capital city of Jerusalem. Jesus, as an adult, died on the cross outside this city and rose from the dead.  This was the area where the Christian Church started.

 

 

If you look closely, you can see two seas, which are more like large lakes. The Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. Connecting them is the Jordan River. These landmarks are places where many events of the Bible took place.

In our fictional story The Catacomb Adventures, Jacob and Anna lived in Jerusalem, then moved on to the Greek communities.

In our story, Jacob and Anna and their friends moved to Perga-you can see it further up and to the left from the island of Cyprus. It’s the main city of the province of Pamphylia. Don’t confuse it with Phyrgia, which you’ll find even further to the north.

 

Can you find Ephesus where Marcus, the Roman soldier, was stationed?

In the real story in the Bible, Paul (once Saul of Tarsus) traveled throughout the Greek communities telling people about Jesus.  Rome is in the far upper corner but the Romans were in control of it all so Roman soldiers were seen in every city.

If you look at the books of the New Testament in your Bible, you’ll see many  that were written to people in the places Paul visited.

On the map, I see Galatia, Corinth, Thessalonica, Colossae, and Philippi. Paul wanted to visit Rome but he didn’t get there until the end of his life-and then it was as a prisoner.

Studying the Bible is great fun when we understand the way people lived back then and the places they traveled to.

Watch for more stories where we’ll talk about the Sign of the Fish, the secret symbol the Christians used in order to recognize each other and stay safe. It’s still a symbol Christians use today to encourage each other.