Apparently one fisherman grew tired of wading from his boat to land each day and built himself a little dock. This rickety walkway does nothing to remind the visitor of the glory of the ancient city of Troas and its important harbor, long reclaimed by the ocean.
The apostle Paul passed through the port several times, beginning with his first trip to Europe and the city of Philippi (Acts 16:8-10). Luke joined Paul at this time, based on the first occurrence of the first person plural in the narrative.
On his third missionary journey, Paul returned this way to visit friends as he traveled to Jerusalem.
His lengthy oratory put Eutychus to sleep, an event which might have gone unnoticed had not Eutychus been sitting in a window on the third floor (Acts 20:9). As the NET Bible puts it, “Fast asleep, he fell down from the third story and was picked up dead.”
Some have suggested that following his release from prison in Rome, Paul was later arrested in Troas. This would explain why Paul left his cloak and scrolls there, and why he requested that Timothy bring them to him quickly (2 Tim 4:13).
Strabo called Troas “one of the most famous cities of the world,” but by the sixth century, its harbors were apparently silted up and the city was no longer a significant crossroads in the Byzantine empire.
