Road to Damascus

The Roman-paved highway from Jerusalem northeast through Galilee and across the Hauran plateau to the Syrian capital at Damascus — about two hundred and fifty kilometers, roughly a week's ride. Saul of Tarsus is travelling this road with letters from the high priest authorising him to arrest Christians in Damascus when a light from heaven flashes around him and the risen Jesus speaks (Acts 9). The encounter on this road becomes the paradigmatic conversion narrative of the early church.