Carpus of Troas

When was Carpus active?

Carpus of Troas is dated fl. c. 65 (death unrecorded) in the archive, which places Carpus in the Apostolic Age (AD 4–70). The dating is traditional and approximate; the archive marks it as uncertain rather than fixing a year the sources do not give.

Which early sources mention Carpus?

Carpus of Troas is named in 2 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Paul and John Chrysostom. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.

Where was Carpus from?

The archive associates Carpus of Troas with Troas.

Who were Carpus’ contemporaries?

The archive links Carpus of Troas to 3 other figures, including Paul of Tarsus, Timothy of Lystra and Eutychus of Troas. Each connection is drawn from a source that places them together, not from inference.

The cloke that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments.

“And Tychicus have I sent to Ephesus. **The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus**, when thou comest bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments.” — The word here translated “cloak” may mean a garment, or, **as some say, a bag, in which the books were contained**. But what had he to do with books, who was about to depart and go to God? **He needed them much, that he might deposit them in the hands of the faithful, who would retain them in place of his own teaching.** … But the cloak he requires, that he might not be obliged to receive one from another. For we see him making a great point of avoiding this. [Carpus is named only in the verse Chrysostom quotes; the comment that follows is on the cloak and the books, not on the man. What it yields is the setting: Carpus of Troas held property Paul thought worth sending for from a Roman prison weeks before his death — and on the reading Chrysostom reports without deciding between, what Carpus was keeping was not a garment but the bag holding Paul’s books and parchments. Chrysostom’s reason why a dying man wants his books is that they were to be handed to the faithful “in place of his own teaching.”]