Note 1 at Ac 17:1: The name Amphipolis means "a city surrounded by a river" (Strong's Concordance). This name came from the fact that the city was located at a bend in the mouth of the river Strymon so that it was nearly "surrounded by a river." Amphipolis was a city of Macedonia (see note 1 at Ac 16:9) approximately thirty-three miles southwest of Philippi (see note 6 at Ac 16:12). This is the only mention of Amphipolis in Scripture.

Note 2 at Ac 17:1: Apollonia was a town of Macedonia (see note 1 at Ac 16:9), located about twenty-eight miles southwest of Amphipolis (see note 1 at this verse) and thirty miles east of Thessalonica (see note 3 at this verse). This is the only mention of Apollonia in Scripture.

Note 3 at Ac 17:1: Thessalonica was a major city in the western portion of Macedonia (see note 1 at Ac 16:9). It was an ancient city originally named Therma. Cassander, a successor of Alexander the Great, renamed the city after his wife, Thessalonike. It was a major military and commercial center located on the coast of the Aegean Sea.

Paul and Silas were persecuted by the unbelieving Jews in Thessalonica and forced to flee the town after just three weeks (Ac 17:2), but not before they had established a church to which Paul later wrote two letters (1Th and 2Th). Two of Paul's co-workers, Aristarchus and Secundus, came from Thessalonica (Ac 20:4 and 27:2).

Thessalonica still exists today in Greece and is called Thessaloniki or Salonica. It has a present-day population of almost 400,000 people. Thessalonica is mentioned by name six times in Scripture.