Bible Locations

Bithynia was a region in northwestern Asia Minor, along the southern shore of the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara, in modern Turkey. It was an independent kingdom until King Nicomedes IV left it to Rome in his will in 74 BC, and it was later joined with Pontus into one province. On Paul's second journey, "when they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to" (Acts 16:7). Instead, Paul went to Troas and received the vision of the man from Macedonia. Christianity reached Bithynia anyway, and 1 Peter is addressed to believers there. Around AD 112, its governor, Pliny the Younger, wrote to Emperor Trajan asking how to deal with the many Christians. Later, church councils met in Bithynia at Nicaea in 325 and at Chalcedon in 451.