Greek word · G3460

Μύρα

myra

Myra

A proper name: Myra, a principal city of Lycia on the south-west coast of Asia Minor, with its harbour at Andriake.

Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

Μύρα, Μύρρα (LT, Tr., WH), -ων, τά,

Myra, a city of Lycia : Acts 27:5.†

(AS)

From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Acts 27:5

Range of meaning

A proper name: Myra, a principal city of Lycia on the south-west coast of Asia Minor, with its harbour at Andriake.

Against the English

KJV and WEB add 'a city' of Lycia for clarity. YLT spells it 'Myria'. The Greek form is grammatically plural, like Athens (Athēnai) or Philippi, which is why it looks odd.

Used elsewhere in the period

Mentioned by Strabo (Geography 14.3.7) as one of the major Lycian cities. Andriake later held a large Roman granary built under Hadrian (2nd century CE), showing the port's role in the grain trade. Lucian's dialogue 'The Ship' (2nd century) describes an Alexandrian grain freighter whose blown-off-course route ran along this same Lycian coast.

Where it appears

Acts · 1

  1. Acts 27:5 Μύρα Myra

    And when we had sailed across the open sea off the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra in Lycia.

    Here: A leading city of Lycia, a few kilometres inland, served by the port of Andriake. It was a regular stop for grain ships running from Egypt to Italy, which is why the centurion finds an Alexandrian ship there in verse 6.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.