How far is it from Jerusalem to Rome?

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Accepted Answer

Rome is about 2,305 km north-west of Jerusalem in a straight line, and about 2,235 km from Caesarea, the port from which Paul sailed. By his actual route on the map, from Caesarea by Sidon, Myra and Crete to the shipwreck on Malta (Melita) and on by Sicily to Puteoli and the Appian Way, the journey measures about 2,995 km stop to stop; it began in the autumn of AD 59 and, after three months' wintering on the island, ended in the spring of 60 on the usual chronology. Paul had long wished to see Rome: "oftentimes I purposed to come unto you", he wrote to the Romans, hoping to pass through on his way to Spain. In Jerusalem the Lord told him, "as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome." He arrived as a prisoner. At Puteoli, the port in the Bay of Naples, "we found brethren, and were desired to tarry with them seven days: and so we went toward Rome"; believers came out to meet him "as far as Appii forum, and The three taverns", and in Rome he "was suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier that kept him". The last stage, from Puteoli to Rome by the Appian Way, is about 205 km on the map. Rome lies on the Tiber about 25 km from the sea. Its Jewish community grew largely from captives whom Pompey brought to Italy after taking Jerusalem in 63 BC; about AD 49 Claudius expelled the Jews from the city, which is how Aquila and Priscilla came to Corinth. Paul lived two whole years in his own hired house, preaching; after the fire of AD 64 Nero blamed the Christians, and early tradition holds that Peter and Paul were put to death in Rome under him. Ten years after Paul's arrival, in AD 70, an army from Rome destroyed Jerusalem and its Temple.