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ANTIOCHIA (Ancient city) TURKEY
Antiocheia or -ea (Antiocheia: Eth. Antiocheus, Antiocheios, Antiochensis:
Adj. Antiochikos, Antiochenus), the capital of the Greek kings of Syria, situated
in the angle where the southern coast of Asia Minor, running eastwards, and the
coast of Phoenicia, running northwards, are brought to an abrupt meeting, and
in the opening formed by the river Orontes between the ranges of Mount Taurus
and Mount Lebanon. Its position is nearly where the 36th parallel of latitude
intersects the 36th meridian of longitude, and it is about 20 miles distant from
the sea, about 40 W. of Aleppo, and about 20 S. of Scanderoon. It is now a subordinate
town in the pachalik of Aleppo, and its modern name is still Antakieh. It was
anciently distinguished as Antioch by the Orontes (A. epi Orontei), because it
was situated on the left bank of that river, where its course turns abruptly to
the west, after running northwards between the ranges of Lebanon and Antilebanon;
and also Antioch by Daphne (A epi Daphnei, Strab. xvi. pp. 749-751; Plut. Lucull.21;
hepros Daphnen, Hierocl. p. 711; A. Epidaphnes, Plin. v. 18. s. 21), because of
the celebrated grove of Daphne which was consecrated to Apollo in the immediate
neigh-bourhood.
The physical characteristics of this situation may be briefly described.
To the south, and rather to the west, the cone of Mount Casius (Jebel-el-Akrab;
see Col. Chesney, in the Journal of the Roy. Geog. Soc. vol. viii. p. 228) rises
symmetrically from the sea to the elevation of more than 5000 feet. To the north,
the heights of Mount Amanus are connected with the range of Taurus; and the Beilan
pass opens a communication with Cilicia and the rest of Asia Minor. In the interval
is the valley (aulon, Malala, p. 136), or rather the plain of Antioch (to ton
Antiocheon peion, Strab. l. c.), which is a level space about 5 miles in breadth
between the mountains, and about 10 miles in length. Through this plain the river
Orontes sweeps from a northerly to a westerly course, receiving, at the bend,
a tributary from a lake which was about a mile distant from the ancient city (Gul.
Tyr. iv. 10), and emptying itself into the bay of Antioch near the base of Mount
Casius. The windings (from the city to the mouth) give a distance of about 41
miles, whilst the journey by land is only 16 1/2 miles. (Chesney, l. c. p. 230.)
Where the river passes by the city, its breadth is said by the traveller Niebuhr
to be 125 feet; but great changes have taken place in its bed. An important part
of ancient Antioch stood upon an island; but whether the channel which insulated
that section of the city was artificial, or changes have been produced by earthquakes
or more gradual causes, there is now no island of appreciable magnitude, nor does
there appear to have been any in the time of the Crusades. The distance between
the bend of the river and the mountain on the south is from one to two miles;
and the city stood partly on the level, and partly where the ground rises in abrupt
and precipitous forms, towards Mount Casius. The heights with which we are concerned
are the two summits of Mount Silpius (Mal. passim; and Suid. s. v. Io.), the easternmost
of which fell in a more gradual slope to the plain, so as to admit of the cultivation
of vineyards, while the other was higher and more abrupt. Between them was a deep
ravine, down which a mischievous torrent ran in winter (Phyrminus or Parmenius,
tou rhuakos tou legomenou phurminou, Mal. p. 346; Parmeniou cheimarrhou, pp. 233,
339; cf. Procop. de Aedif. ii. 10). Along the crags on these heights broken masses
of ancient walls are still conspicuous, while the modern habitations are on the
level near the river. The appearance of the ground has doubtless been much altered
by earthquakes, which have been in all ages the scourge of Antioch. Yet a very
good notion may be obtained, from the descriptions of modern travellers, of the
aspect of the ancient city. The advantages of its position are very evident. By
its harbour of Seleuceia it was in communication with all the trade of the Mediterranean;
and, through the open country behind Lebanon, it was conveniently approached by
the caravans from Mesopotamia and Arabia. To these advantages of mere position
must be added the facilities afforded by its river, which brought down timber
and vegetable produce and fish from the lake (Liban. Antioch. pp. 360, 361), and
was navigable below the city to the mouth, and is believed to be capable of being
made navigable again. (Roy. Geog. Soc. vol. viii. p. 230; cf. Strab. l. c.; Paus.
viii. 29. § 3.) The fertility of the neighbourhood is evident now in its unassisted
vegetation. The Orontes has been compared to the Wye. It does not, like many Eastern
rivers, vary between a winter-torrent and a dry watercourse; and its deep and
rapid waters are described as winding round the bases of high and precipitous
cliffs, or by richly cultivated banks, where the vine and the fig-tree, the myrtle,
the bay, the ilex, and the arbutus are mingled with dwarf oak and sycamore. For
descriptions of the scenery, with views, the reader may consult Camne's Syria
(i. 5, 19, 77, ii. 28.). We can well understand the charming residence which the
Seleucid princes and the wealthy Romans found in beautiful Antioch (A. he kale,
Athen. i. p. 20; Orientis apex pulcher, Amm. Marc. xxii. 9), with its climate
tempered with the west wind (Liban. p. 346; cf. Herodian. vi. 6), and where the
salubrious waters were so abundant, that not only the public baths, but, as in
modern Damascus, almost every house, had its fountain.
Antioch, however, with all these advantages of situation, is not,
like Damascus, one of the oldest cities of the world. It is a mere imagination
to identify it (as is done by Jerome and some Jewish commentators) with the Riblah
of the Old Testament. Antioch, like Alexandreia, is a monument of the Macedonian
age, and was the most famous of sixteen Asiatic cities built by Seleucus Nicator,
and called after the name of his father or (as some say) of his son Antiochus.
The situation was evidently well chosen, for communicating both with his possessions
on the Mediterranean and those in Mesopotamia, with which Antioch was connected
by a road leading to Zeugma on the Euphrates. This was not the first city founded
by a Macedonian prince near this place. Antigonus, in B.C. 307, founded Antigonia,
a short distance further up the river, for the purpose of commanding both Egypt
and Babylonia. (Diod. xx. p.758.) But after the battle of Ipsus, B.C. 301, the
city of Antigonus was left unfinished, and Antioch was founded by his successful
rival. The sanction of auguries was sought for the establishment of the new metropolis.
Like Romulus on the Palatine, Seleucus is said to have watched the flight of birds
from the summit of Mount Casius. An eagle carried a fragment of the flesh of the
sacrifice to a point on the sea-shore, a little to the north of the mouth of the
Orontes; and there Seleuceia was built. Soon after, an eagle decided in the same
manner that the metropolis of Seleucus was not to be Antigonia, by carrying the
flesh to the hill Silpius. Between this hill and the river the city of Antioch
was founded in the spring of the year 300 B.C., the 12th of the era of the Seleuidae.
This legend is often represented on coins of Antioch by an eagle, which sometimes
carries the thigh of a victim. On many coins (as that engraved below) we see a
ram, which is often combined with a star, thus indicating the vernal sign of the
zodiac, under which the city was founded, and reminding us at the same time of
the astrological propensities of the people of Antioch. (See Eckhel, Descriptio
Numorum Antiochiae Syriae, Vienna, 1786 ; Vaillant, Seleucidarum Imperium, sive
Historia Regum Syriae, ad fidem numismatum accommodate. Paris, 1681.)
The city of Seleucus was built in the plain (En tei pediadi tou aulonos,
Mal. p. 200) between the river and the hill, and at some distance from the latter,
to avoid the danger to be apprehended from the torrents. Xenaeus was the architect
who raised the walls, which skirted the river on the north, and did not reach
so far as the base of the hill on the south. This was only the earliest part of
the city. Three other parts were subsequently added, each surrounded by its own
wall: so that Antioch became, as Strabo says, a Tetrapolis. The first inhabitants
(as indeed a great part of the materials) were brought from Antigonia. Besides
these, the natives of the surrounding district were received in the new city;
and Seleucus raised the Jews to the same political privileges with the Greeks.
(Joseph. Antiq. xii. 31, c. Ap. ii. 4.) Thus a second city was formed contiguous
to the first. It is probable that the Jews had a separate quarter, as at Alexandreia.
The citizens were divided into 18 tribes, distributed locally. There was an assembly
of the people (demos, Liban. p. 321), which used to meet in the theatre, even
in the time of Vespasian and Titus. (Tac. Hist. ii. 80; Joseph. B. J. vii. 5.
§ 2, 3. § 3.) At a later period we read of a senate of two hundred. (Jul. Misopog.
p. 367.) The character of the inhabitants of Antioch may be easily described.
The climate made them effeminate and luxurious. A high Greek civilisation was
mixed with various Oriental elements, and especially with the superstitions of
Chaldaean astrology, to which Chrysostom complains that even the Christians of
his day were addicted. The love of frivolous amusements became a passion in the
contests of the Hippodrome. On these occasions, and on many others, the violent
feelings of the people broke out into open factions, and caused even bloodshed.
Another fault should be mentioned as a marked characteristic of Antioch. Her citizens
were singularly addicted to ridicule and scurrilous wit, and the invention of
nicknames. Julian, who was himself a sufferer from this cause, said that Antioch
contained more buffoons than citizens. Apollonius of Tyana was treated in the
same way; and the Antiochians provoked their own destruction by ridiculing the
Persians in the invasion of Chosroes. (Procop. B. P. ii. 8.) To the same cause
must be referred the origin of the name Christian, which first came into existence
in this city. (Acts, xi. 26; Life, &c. of St. Paul, vol. i. p. 130. See page 146.)
There is no doubt that the city built by Seleucus was on a regular
and magnificent plan; but we possess no details. Some temples and other buildings
were due to his son Antiochus Soter. Seleucus Callinicus built the New City (ten
nean, Liban. pp. 309, 356; ten kainen, Evag. Hist. Eccl. ii. 12) on the island,
according to Strabo, though Libanius assigns it to Antiochus the Great, who brought
settlers from Greece during his war with the Romans (about 190 B.C.). To this
writer, and to Evagrius, who describes what it suffered in the earthquake under
Leo the Great, we owe a particular account of this part of the city. It was on
an island (see below) which was joined to the old city by five bridges. Hence
Polybius (v. 69) and Pliny (v. 21. s. 18) rightly speak of the Orontes as flowing
through Antioch. The arrangement of the streets was simple and symmetrical. At
their intersection was a fourfold arch (Tetrapylum). The magnificent Palace was
on the north side, close upon the river, and commanded a prospect of the suburbs
and the open country. Passing by Seleucus Philopator, of whose public works nothing
is known, we come to the eighth of the Seleucidae, Antiochus Epiphanes. He was
notoriously fond of building; and, by adding a fourth city to Antioch, he completed
the Tetrapolis. (Strab. l. c.) The city of Epiphanes was between the old wall
and Mount Silpius; and the new wall enclosed the citadel with many of the cliffs.
(Procop. de Aedif. l. c.) This monarch erected a senate-house (Bouleuterion and
a temple for the worship of Jupiter Capitolinus, which is described by Livy as
magnificent with gold (Liv. xli. 20); but his great work was a vast street with
double colonnades, which ran from east to west for four miles through the whole
length of the city, and was perfectly level, though the ground originally was
rugged and uneven. Other streets crossed it at right angles, to the river on one
side, and the groves and gardens of the hill on the other. At the intersection
of the principal street was the Omphalus, with a statue of Apollo; and where this
street touched the river was the Nymphaevm (Numphaion, Evag. Hist. Eccl. l. c.;
Trinuphon, Mal. p. 244). The position of the Omphalus is shown to have been opposite
the ravine Parmenius, by some allusions in the reign of Tiberius. No great change
appears to have been made in the city during the interval between Epiphanes and
Tigranes. When Tigranes was compelled to evacuate Syria, Antioch was restored
by Lucullqs to Antiochus Philopator (Asiaticus), who was a mere puppet of the
Romans. He built, near Mount Silpius, a Museum, like that in Alexandreia; and
to this period belongs the literary eminence of Antioch, which is alluded to by
Cicero in his speech for Archias. (Cic. pro Arch. 3, 4.)
At the beginning of the Roman period, it is probable that Antioch
covered the full extent of ground which it occupied till the time of Justinian.
In magnitude it was not much inferior to Paris (C. O. Muller, Antiq. Antioch.;
see below), and the number and splendour of the public buildings were very great;
for the Seleucid kings and queens (Mal. p. 312) had vied with each other in embellishing
their metropolis. But it received still further embellishment from a long series
of Roman emperors. In B.C. 64, when Syria was reduced to a province, Pompey gave
to Antioch the privilege of autonomy. The same privilege was renewed by Julius
Caesar in a public edict (B.C. 47), and it was retained till Antoninus Pius made
it a colonia.
The era of Pharsalia was introduced at Antioch in honour of Caesar,
who erected many public works there: among others, a theatre under the rocks of
Silpius (to hupo toi orei theatron) and an amphitheatre, besides an aqueduct and
baths, and a basilica called Caesarium Augustus showed the same favour to the
people of Antioch, and was similarly flattered by them, and the era of Actium
was introduced into their system of chronology. In this reign Agrippa built a
suburb, and Herod the Great contributed a road and a colonnade. (Joseph. Ant.
xvi. 5. § 3, B. J. i. 21. § 11.) The most memorable event of the reign of Tiberius,
connected with Antioch, was the death of Germanicus. A long catalogue of works
erected by successive emperors might be given; but it is enough to refer to the
Chronographia of Malala, which seems to be based on official documents1 and which
may be easily consulted by means of the Index in the Bonn edition. We need only
instance the baths of Caligula, Trajan, and Hadrian, the paving of the great street
with Egyptian granite by Antoninus Pius, the Xystus or public walk built by Commodus,
and the palace built by Diocletian, who also established there public stores and
manufactures of arms. At Antioch two of the most striking calamities of the period
were the earthquake of Trajan's reign, during which the emperor, who was then
at Antioch, took refuge in the Circus: and the capture of the city by the Persians
under Sapor in 260 A.D. On this occasion the citizens were intently occupied in
the theatre, when the enemy surprised them from the rocks above. (Amm. Marc. xxiii.
5.)
The interval between Constantine and Justinian may be regarded as
the Byzantine period of the history of Antioch. After the founding of Constantinople
it ceased to be the principal city of the East. At the same time it it began to
be prominent as a Christian city, ranking as a Patriarchal see with Constantinople
and Alexandreia. With the former of these cities it was connected by the great
road through Asia Minor, and with the latter, by the coast road through Caesarea.
(See Wesseling, Ant. Itin. p. 147; Itin. Hieros. p. 581.) Ten councils were held
at Antioch between the years 252 and 380; and it became distinguished by a new
style of building, in connection with Christian worship. One church especially,
begun by Constantine, and finished by his son, demands our notice. It was the
same church which Julian closed and Jovian restored to Christian use, and the
same in which Chrysostom preached. He describes it as richly ornamented with Mosaic
and statues. The roof was domical (sphairoeides), and of great height; and in
its octagonal plan it was similar to the church of St. Vitalis at Ravenna. (See
Euseb. Vit. Const. iii. 50.) From the prevalence of early churches of this form
in the East, we must suppose either that this edifice set the example, or that
this mode of church-building was already in use. Among other buildings, Antioch
owed to Constantine a basilica, a praetorium, for the residence of the Count of
the East, built of the materials of the ancient Museum, and a xenon or hospice
near the great church for the reception of travellers. Constantius spent much
time at Antioch, so that the place received the temporary name of Constantia.
His great works were at the harbour of Seleuceia, and the traces of them still
remain. Julian took much pains to ingratiate himself with the people of Antioch.
His disappointment is expressed in the Misopogon. Valens undertook great improvements
at the time of his peace with the Persians, and opposite the ravine Parmenius
he built a sumptuous forum, which was paved with marble, and decorated with Illyrian
columns. Theodosius was compelled to adopt stringent measures against the citizens,
in consequence of the sedition and the breaking of the statues (A.D. 387, 388),
and Antioch was deprived of the rank of a metropolis. We are now brought to the
time of Libanius, from whom we have so often quoted, and of Chrysostom, whose
sermons contain so many incidental notices of his native city. Chrysostom gives
the population at 200,000, of which 100,000 were Christians. In these numbers
it is doubtful whether we are to include the children and the slaves. (See Gibbon,
ch.xv. and Milman's note, vol. ii. p. 363.) For the detailed description of the
public and private buildings of the city, we must refer the reader to Libanius.
The increase of the suburb towards Daphne at this period induced Theodosius to
build a new wall on this side. Passing over the reigns of Theodosius the Younger,
who added new decorations to the city, and of Leo the Great, in whose time it
was desolated by an earthquake, we come to, a period which was made disastrous
by quarrels in the Hippodrome, massacres of the Jews, internal factions and war
from without. After an earthquake in the reign of Justin, A.D. 526, the city was
restored by Ephrem, who was Count of the East, and afterwards Patriarch. The reign
of Justinian is one of the most important eras in the history of Antioch. It was
rising under him into fresh splendour, when it was again injured by an earthquake,
and soon afterwards (A.D. 538) utterly desolated by the invasion of the Persians
under Chosroes. The ruin of the city was complete. The citizens could scarcely
find the sites of their own houses. Thus an entirely new city (which received
the new name of Theupolis) rose under Justinian. In dimensions it was considerably
less than the former, the wall retiring from the river on the east, and touching
it only at one point, and also including a smaller portion of the cliffs of Mount
Silpius. This wall evidently corresponds with the notices of the fortifications
in the times of the crusaders, if we make allowance for the inflated language
of Procopius, who is our authority for the public works of Justinian.
The history of Antioch during the medieval period was one of varied
fortunes, but, on the whole, of gradual decay. It was first lost to the Roman
empire in the time of Heraclius (A.D. 635 and taken, with the whole of Syria,
by the Saracens in the first burst of their military enthfuIsiasm. It was recovered
in the 10th century under Nicephorus Phocas, by a surprise similar to that by
which the Persians became masters of it; and its strength, population, and magnificence
are celebrated by a writer of the period (Leo Diac. p. 73), though its appearance
had doubtless undergone considerable changes during four centuries of Mahomedan
occupation. It remained subject to the emperor of Constantinople till the time
of the first Comneni, when it was taken by the Seljuks,, (A.D. 1084). Fourteen
years later (A.D. 1098) it was besieged by the Latins in the first Crusade. Godfrey
pitched his camp by the ditch which had been dug under Justinian, and Tancred
erected a fort near the western wall. The city was taken on the 3d of June, 1098.
Boemond I., the son of Robert Guiscard, became prince of Antioch; and its history
was again Christian for nearly two centuries, till the time of Boemond VI., when
it fell under the power of the Sultan of Egypt and his Mamelukes (A.D. 1268).
From this time its declension seems to have been rapid and continuous: whereas,
under the Franks, it appears to have been still a strong and splendid city. So
it is described by Phocas (Acta Sanct. Mai. vol. v. p. 299), and by William of
Tyre, who is the great Latin authority for its history during this period. (See
especially iv. 9-14, v. 23, vi. 1, 15; and compare xvi. 26, 27.) It is unnecessary
for our purpose to describe the various fortunes of the families through which
the Frankish principality of Antioch was transmitted from the first to the seventh
Boemond. A full account of them, and of the coins by which they are illustrated,
will be found in De Saulcy, Numismatique des Croisades, pp. 1-27.
We may consider the modern history of Antioch as coincident with that
of European travellers in the Levant. Beginning with De la Brocquiere, in the
15th century, we find the city already sunk into a state of insignificance. He
says that it contained only 300 houses, inhabited by a few Turks and Arabs. The
modern Anstakieh is a poor town, situated in the north-western quarter of the
ancient city, by the river, which is crossed by a substantial bridge. No accurate
statement can be given of its population. One traveller states it at 4000, another
at 10,000. In the census taken by Ibrahim Pasha in 1835, when he thought of making
it again the capital of Syria, it was said to be 5600. The Christians have no
church. The town occupies only a small portion (some say 1/3, some 1/5 some 1/1)
of the ancient enclosure; and a wide space of unoccupied ground intervenes between
it and the eastern or Aleppo gate (called, after St. Paul, Bab-Boulous), near
which are the remains of ancient pavement.
The walls (doubtless those of Justinian) may be traced through a circuit
of four miles. They are built partly of stone, and partly of Roman tiles, and
were flanked by strong towers; and till the earthquake of 1822 some of them presented
a magnificent appearance on the cliffs of Mount Silpius. The height of the wall
differs in different places, and travellers are not agreed on the dimensions assigned
to them.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
The capital of the Greek kingdom of Syria, and long the chief city of Asia. It stood on the left bank of the Orontes, about twenty miles from the sea, in a beautiful valley. It was built by Seleucus Nicator, about B.C. 300, who called it Antiochia in honour of his father, Antiochus, and peopled it chiefly from the neighbouring city of Antigonia. It was one of the earliest strongholds of the Christian faith; the first place where the Christian name was used; and the see of one of the four chief bishops, who were called patriarchs.
This extract is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
It is difficult to realize that in the modern Antakieh, we have the once famous "Queen of the East", which, with its population of more than half a million, its beautiful site, its trade and culture, and its important military position, was a not unworthy rival of Alexandria, the second city of the Roman empire (cf. Josephus, Bel. Jud., III, 2, 4). Founded in 300 B. C. by Seleucus I (Nicator), King of Syria, Antioch stood on the Orontes (Nahr el Asi), at the point or junction of the Lebanon and of the Taurus ranges. Its harbour, fifteen miles distant, was Seleucia (cf. Acts, xiii, 4). The name by which it was distinguished [Antiochia e pros (or epi) daphne, now, Bet el ma, five miles west from Antioch] came from the ill-famed sacred grove, which, endowed with the right of asylum, and so once, by "a rare chance", the refuge of innocence (cf. II Mach., iv, 33 sq.), had become the haunt of every foulness, whence the expression Daphnici mores. However, the vivid description of Antioch's immorality, largely the result of the greater mingling of races and civilizations, may be exaggerated; as said in another connexion [cf. Lepin, Jesus Messie, etc. (2d ed., Paris, 1905), 54, note], les braves gens n'ont pas d'histoire, and of that class there must have been a goodly number (Josephus, Bel. Jud., VII, 33; Acts, xi, 21). The Jews had been among the original settlers, and, as such, had been granted by the founder here, as in other cities built by him, equal rights, with the Macedonians and the Greeks (Jos. Ant., XII, iii, 1; Contra Ap., II, iv). The influence of the Antiochene Jews, living, as in Alexandria, under a governor of their own, and forming a large percentage of the population, was very great (Josephus, Ant. Rom., XII, iii, 1; Bel. Jud., VII, iii, 3, VII, v, 2; Harnack, Mission u. Ausbreitung d. Christenthums, p. 5, note 2). Unknown disciples, dispersed by the persecution in which Stephen was put to death, brought Christianity to Antioch (Acts, xi, 19). Cf. Acts, vi, 5, where the author characteristically mentions the place of origin of Nicholas, one of the seven deacons. In Antioch the new Faith was preached to, and accepted by the Greeks with such success that Christianity received here its name, perhaps originally intended as a nickname by the witty Antiochenes (Acts, xi, 26). The new community, once acknowledged by the mother-church of Jerusalem (Acts, xi, 22 sq.), soon manifested its vitality and its intelligence of the faith by its spontaneous act of generosity toward the brethren of Jerusalem (Acts, xi, 27-30). The place of apprenticeship of the Apostle of the Gentiles (Acts, xi, 26), Antioch, became the headquarters of the great missionaries Paul and Barnabas, first together, later Paul alone. Starting thence on their Apostolic journeys they brought back thither the report of their work (Acts, xiii, 2 sq.; xiv, 25-27; xv, 35 sq.; xviii, 22, 23). Acts, xv (cf. Gal., ii, 1-10) clearly evidences the importance of the Antiochene Church. There arose the great dispute concerning the circumcision, and her resolute action occasioned the recognition of the "catholicity" of Christianity.
Edward Arbez, ed.
Transcribed by: WGKofron
This text is cited July 2004 from The Catholic Encyclopedia, New Advent online edition URL below.
Alexander reached Syria from Asia Minor by way of the coast at Issus,
and founded Alexandretta, a port girded by mountains. On the other side of the
Amanus ridge, Antigonus, Alexander's successor, founded Antigoneia on the banks
of the Orontes. Seleucus I founded two towns, Seleucia at the mouth of the river,
Antioch, 17 km from the sea, in a plain near Antigonia. Apparently Seleucia was
his capital at first but Antioch soon received the title. Greek civilization made
Antioch its principal Asian outpost, replacing Aleppo, 100 km to the E, as the
leading city of N Syria. Aleppo, however, regained its former importance with
the Islamic conquest; Seleucia has disappeared and Iskandarun and Antakye today
are small towns. The chief road connecting Asia Minor and Syria crosses the Taurus
passes and dips down again along the edge of the steppe--no longer along the valley
of the Orontes.
Even before Antioch was founded the low valley of the Orontes was
a trade route: excavations have uncovered an Athenian trading post dating from
the 5th c. B.C. at El Mina, at the mouth of the river, and some Cretan objects
in the Hittite palace of Tell Atchana. Also, excavations at Antioch, well below
the monumental Roman street, have revealed preclassical sherds beneath the stone
paving of the Hellenistic road.
The site, between Mt. Silpius and the river, facing a vast plain dominated
by the peaks of the Amanus ridge, favored the establishment of a military, political,
and commercial capital, and Seleucia offered an outlet on the Mediterranean to
the silk route that came from the heart of Asia through Iran and the Fertile Crescent,
or by way of the Persian Gulf and the Euphrates.
The city at first occupied only a few hectares along the river but,
according to ancient chroniclers as well as archaeological evidence, it was laid
out from the beginning on the strict gridiron plan common to all Hellenistic cities
in this period. The plan apparently covered the whole area of the plain, and was
followed rigorously as the city developed.
Successive enlargements, each marked by spurts of construction, are
milestones in the life of the city. Seleucus II Callinicus (246-226 B.C.) set
up a new quarter on the Island of the Orontes, surrounding it with a wall, and
Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175-164 B.C.) extended the city to the foothills of the
mountains. This new city, called Epiphaneia, did not receive its rampart until
Tiberius' reign, according to Malalas. Only then was its area finally settled,
except for the alterations carried out for strategic reasons by Justinian when
the city was rebuilt after A.D. 540.
Antioch's history is also marked by a series of catastrophes, particularly
earthquakes that damaged or destroyed it; efforts to repair or rebuild the city
were often made several times in a century, and each occasion called for the intervention
of the emperor of Rome or Byzantium. Alexander Balas intervened in 140 B.C., Caligula
in A.D. 37, Trajan in 115, Leon I in 458, and Justinian in 526 and 528. After
this the destruction of the city was completed by Chrosroes, who seized it in
a surprise raid in 540. The chroniclers also report several lesser earthquakes,
to which should be added the terrible storms that caused the streams, especially
Parmenios, to overflow. Each time torrents caused serious damage, particularly
by raising the ground level. Since the 3d c. B.C. the ground has risen 11 m in
the axis of the city; the stratum representing the second Byzantine conquest of
the 10th c. A.D. is on the average 4 m below the present ground level, that of
the reconstruction under Justinian 7 m, and that of the monumental Roman street
8.5 m.
Yet few ancient cities are as well known from the texts as Antioch.
Strabo, Malalas, Evagrius, Procopius, Libanius, the Emperor Julian, John Chrysostom--have
described the city, its urban plan and its monuments, and have recounted its history
and its misfortunes, its reconstruction, and the daily life of its citizens.
In the period of its greatest expansion Antioch occupied the whole
plain between the Orontes and the mountains, an area of 3.2 by 1.2-1.5 km. At
each end the hills and the river came closer together, almost sealing off the
plain. The great porticoed street constituted the axis, from the Daphne Gate to
the S to the Aleppo Gate to the N. The rampart wall scaled the mountain side,
enclosing vast stretches of uninhabitable ground, and the citadel was on top of
Mt. Silpius. To the W the wall ran along the river and encircled the Island, which
was linked to the ancient city by five bridges.
Inside this wall the city had from the beginning been laid out on
a grid of blocks ca. 120 by 35 m, spreading from the long axis to the river and
the last inhabited slopes. Water conduits, from the aqueducts hollowed out high
in the mountain, followed the E-W streets, and from them terracotta pipes ran
beneath the sidewalks of the N-S streets to supply the houses.
From the 2d c. A.D. on, the colonnaded street was over 27 m wide,
ca 9 m for the roadway and for each portico. In his praise of Antioch, Libanius
dwells particularly on the breadth, beauty, and convenience of these porticos.
A similar road, not located, led to the Island from an open place--the omphalos--where
the Temple of the Nymphs stood. The latter was also a fountain, frequently described.
At one of the other intersections of the main street stood the column of Tiberius,
at another the Mese Pule, the central gate built by Trajan. The Island also had
a gridiron plan, laid out like that of the city but probably on different axes:
two porticoed streets at right angles to each other with a tetrapylon at the intersection.
One street led to the palace, rebuilt by Diocletian, and the hippodrome, erected
in 56 B.C.
Two main streams flowed into the Orontes: Phyrminus to the S, which
skirted part of the outer rampart, and Parmenios in the center of the city, which
invaded the town itself during floods. In every period protective measures were
necessary: Hellenistic arches, discovered during excavation, the vaults of the
Forum of Valens, and a dam built by Justinian at Bab el Hadid.
Aerial photographs have revealed the Hellenistic gridiron plan: it
can still be traced in the Turkish town, barely hidden under the jumble of winding
streets; it reappears in the olive grove that now occupies four-fifths of the
ancient site, in the cart-tracks, and the property limits. The main street of
the modern town, which is continued to the NE on the same axis by the Aleppo road,
follows the axis of the ancient city: excavations have shown that it was built
over the W portico of the colonnaded street.
The depth of the ancient strata made excavation difficult: in the
beginning only a few walls could be seen, mainly sections of the surrounding wall
built by Seleucus I, enlarged, probably by Antiochus Epiphanus, and rebuilt by
Tiberius and Justinian. In the 18th c. Cassas drew some impressive overall views
of the wall, but after that it served, at least its S section, as a quarry for
a new barracks. The wall, 18 km around, climbed Mt. Silpius and topped the crest,
which was crowned with a citadel. Farther N it ran down a steep slope to Parmenios,
then scaled the other side, on Mt. Stauris. Here are the Iron Gates, Bab el Hadid,
where architects of the 6th c. A.D. built a dam to curb the floods. Beyond Mt.
Stauris the wall turned W where the mountain is closest to the river, then crossed
the monumental axis and headed back 5, following the river bank. Only one Roman
bridge survives out of the five that led to the Island (now gone). No trace could
be seen of the wall on the whole W face, although it has been located here and
there during later excavation.
A few houses built on the terracing of the mountain slopes have been
uncovered, along with their mosaics; a monumental rock-hewn bust, evidence of
a chthonic cult, in the Charonion area remains visible. But other excavations
in the city had to contend with the problems of deep excavation. Part of an amphitheater
at the foot of Mt. Silpius was uncovered, however, and, farther N, some immense
baths, probably built by Tiberius but containing a mosaic dated by an inscription
after the 528 earthquake. Excavations on the edge of the main street have clarified
the history of the street and its porticos, which had been buried in the earthquakes
and quarried in every period.
In the 3d c. B.C. the street was paved with stone--a road rather than
a street, with no monuments. Later, in a higher stratum, modest structures appear
on both sides, and then narrow sidewalks. To the N of Parmenios in a slightly
higher stratum are traces of a monumental reconstruction dating from about the
beginning of our era: sidewalks 4.4 m wide were added, probably lined with the
first colonnade, which included a series of shops and is attributed by the texts
to Herod and Tiberius. Then the street was destroyed (probably in the earthquake
of A.D. 115, under Trajan); after some provisional restoration it was completely
rebuilt, and the total width increased to more than 40 m. The roadway was paved
with opus polygonale, and the colonnade had disappeared, except for the foundations
(in one excavation the intercolumniation measured 4.8 m, elsewhere 3.65 m). This
sumptuous complex was begun under Trajan and completed under Antoninus, and when
Justinian later rebuilt the street, he laid a pavement of lava 1 m higher and
set the columns upright again.
These layers partly explain the confusion of the chroniclers and historians.
Only Procopius, in a somewhat fanciful account, shows us Justinian's city built
on the ruins of the Roman one. But the colonnade that Malalas describes, where
Libanius and the Antiochians strolled to the satirical amusement of the emperor
Julian, is not that of Herod and Tiberius but of Trajan and Antoninus, which was
2 m higher and retained only the orientation of the older street.
Excavation has revealed twin Hellenistic arches that carried the road
across the Parmenios when it was in spate. They served until A.D. 526, by which
time they were clogged with alluvial deposits and Justinian's architects built
the dam at the Iron Gates. No trace has been found of the omphalos, where the
second colonnaded street leading to the Island began, nor of the Forum of Valens,
the imperial palace, or the church of Constantine.
In 636 Antioch was taken by the Arabs without a battle, but the monumental
street was again destroyed at an undetermined date. The paving stones served as
foundations for other structures and the street, now on a different axis, was
set up over the W portico, where it remained. After Nicephorus II Phocas' conquest
in 969 the Byzantines built another city, part of which was apparently on an uninhabited
site. It followed the same orientation but was far smaller, though large and well
built. A church and cemetery have been uncovered on the other side of Parmenios,
and another church at Daphne. After the Mameluke conquest this city was laid waste
in its turn, and again 4 m of earth piled up in the olive grove.
On the Island the ancient strata were not as deep. Several baths were
found there, some of them immense, a second hippodrome, that of Q. Marcus Rex,
dating from 50 B.C., some distance from the first, and a villa with mosaics (the
triclinium of the Judgment of Paris). Later, however, the water level was too
high for excavation.
A suburb named Daphne developed 9 km S of Antioch on the first plateau
overlooking the Orontes and the plain, built around the springs of Castalia and
Pallas, next to which stood the Temple of Apollo. The water reached Antioch in
underground aqueducts set at a calculated slope, which then crossed several valleys
on arcades and ran in high galleries along the mountainsides above the city. Thus,
as Libanius says, every house could have its fountain.
At Daphne itself the original villas were later included in an orthogonal
city plan. The archaeological strata here were only 2-3 m below the surface, but
olive groves, orchards, and fields prevented extensive exploration; thus only
a few houses could be excavated, and many mosaics were removed.
The mosaics of both Antioch and Daphne have almost all been raised
and dispersed; some are in the local museum in Antioch, some in Paris, some in
museums in the United States. Only two mosaics of the 1st c. A.D. have been found.
They consist of geometric patterns. Figured mosaics begin in the 2d c. and continue
through to the end of the Classical period of Antioch in the 6th c. They form
a most valuable series, illustrating the development of the art of the mosaicist
through the Roman period.
Little sculpture and few inscriptions have survived, and the only
monuments that have been thoroughly explored are the Theater of Daphne and the
Martyrion of Qaoussie. The latter, with mosaics executed in A.D. 387, is cruciform
in plan: four naves 25 by 11 m, set on the sides of a square 16 by 16 m. Instead
of an apse there was a horseshoe-shaped Syrian bema at the center of the square.
In one corner was the sarcophagus that had held the body of Babylas, bishop and
martyr, which the emperor Julian returned from Daphne to Antioch (identified by
inscriptions now at Princeton University). Another church at Machouka, N of the
city, was a conventional basilica paved throughout with flowered mosaics (6th
c.).
The monuments listed in the ancient texts--temples and baths, honorific
monuments, fountains, two Hellenistic agoras, a forum of the 4th c. A.D., an amphitheater,
civic basilicas, palaces, churches, the octagonal Church of Constantine, and the
round Church of the Virgin built by Justinian--can probably never be brought to
light.
J. Lassus, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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