ANTIOCH

Turkish Antakya, populous city of ancient Syria, and now a major town of south-central Turkey. It lies near the mouth of the Orontes River, about 12 miles (19 km) northwest of the Syrian border. Antioch was founded in 300 BC by Seleucus I Nicator, a former general of Alexander the Great. The new city soon became the western terminus of the caravan routes over which goods were brought from Persia and elsewhere in Asia to the Mediterranean. Antioch's strategic command of north-south and east-west roads across northwestern Syria greatly contributed to its growth and prosperity in Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine times. The suburb of Daphne, five miles to the south, was a favourite pleasure resort and residential area for Antioch's upper classes; and the seaport Seleucia Pieria, at the mouth of the Orontes River, was the city's harbour. Antioch was the centre of the Seleucid kingdom until 64 BC, when it was annexed by Rome and made the capital of their province of Syria. It became the third largest city of the Roman Empire in size and importance (after Rome and Alexandria) and possessed magnificent temples, theatres, aqueducts, and baths. The city was the headquarters of the Roman garrison in Syria, one of whose principal duties was the defense of the empire's eastern border from Persian attacks. Antioch was also one of the earliest centres of Christianity; it was there that the followers of Christ were first called Christians, and the city was the headquarters of the missionary St. Paul about AD 4755. In the 4th century AD Antioch became the seat of a new Roman office that administered all the provinces on the empire's eastern flank. Because the church of Antioch had the distinction of having been founded by the Apostles Peter and Paul, its bishop ranked with the bishops of the other apostolic foundations, Jerusalem, Rome, and Alexandria (Constantinople was accepted in this category later). The bishops of Antioch thus became influential in theology and ecclesiastic politics. Antioch prospered in the 4th and 5th centuries from nearby olive plantations, but the 6th century brought a series of disasters from which the city never fully recovered. A fire in 525 was followed by earthquakes in 526 and 528, and the city was captured temporarily by the Persians in 540 and 611. Antioch was absorbed into the Arab caliphate in 637. Under the Arabs, it shrank to the status of a small town. The Byzantines recaptured the city in 969, and it served as a frontier fortification until taken by the Seljuq Turks in 1084. In 1098 it was captured by the Crusaders, who made it the capital of one of their principalities, and in 1268 the city was taken by the Mamluks, who razed it to the ground. Antioch never recovered from this last disaster, and it had declined to a small village when taken by the Ottoman Turks in 1517. It remained part of the Ottoman Empire until after World War I, when it was transferred to Syria under French mandate. France allowed the town and surrounding area to rejoin Turkey in 1939. Remarkably few remains of the ancient city are now visible, since most of them lie buried beneath thick alluvial deposits from the Orontes River. Nevertheless, important archaeological discoveries have been made in the locality. Excavations conducted in 193239 in Daphne and Antioch uncovered a large number of fine mosaic floors from both private houses and public buildings. Dating largely from the Roman imperial period, many of the floors represent copies of famous ancient paintings which otherwise would have been unknown. The mosaics are now exhibited in the local Archaeological Museum. The activities of the modern town are based mainly on the agricultural produce of the adjacent area, including the intensively cultivated Amik plain. The chief crops are wheat, cotton, grapes, rice, olives, vegetables, and fruit. The town has soap and olive-oil factories and cotton ginning and other processing industries. Silk, shoes, and knives are also manufactured. Pop. (1990) 123,871; (1994 est.) 137,200. a principality centred on the city of Antioch, founded by European Christians in territory taken from the Muslims in 1098, during the First Crusade. It survived as a European outpost in the East for nearly two centuries. Antioch's territory included the well-fortified, predominantly Christian city, the leading commercial centre of the Latin East, and an area that stretched north into Cilicia, east to the frontiers of Edessa and Aleppo, and south into central Syria. Its first prince, Bohemond I (reigned 10981111), and regents, Tancred (110412) and Roger, prince of Antioch (regent from 1112 to 1119), were successful in their attempts to expand the state, but the Muslims thwarted their campaigns to conquer Aleppo. Antioch's princes often died in battle, leaving heirs too young to rule; succession disputes were frequent, and the king of Jerusalem, the princes' feudal overlord, often intervened to restore order. The state prospered economically despite domestic unrest and Muslim onslaughts. Because trade was vital to Christian and Muslim alike, agreements were reached that enabled trade to continue despite religious differences. Spices, dyes, silk, and porcelain came on caravans from the East and were shipped to European markets. Nearby orchards and olive groves supplied sweet lemons and olive oil for export, and wood from the forests of Lebanon was traded to the Egyptians in return for fine cloth. In 1187 Bohemond III (reigned 11631201) of Antioch obtained guarantees for the principality from the Muslim leader Saladin (reigned 116993), after Saladin had conquered a large part of the kingdom of Jerusalem. After Bohemond's death, Antioch was torn by wars over the succession, and, though peace was restored, these disputes gave the Muslims time to gather their forces. By 1268 Antioch's territory had been severely diminished, and the city itself surrendered to the attacking army of Baybars I (126077), Mamluk sultan of Egypt and Syria. also called Antioch Pisidian, Greek Antiocheia Pisidias, ancient city in Phrygia, near the Pisidian border, close to modern Yalva, in west-central Turkey. Founded by Seleucus I Nicator (c. 358281 BC), it was made a free city in 189 BC by the Romans, who took direct control about 25 BC; soon thereafter the emperor Augustus made it a colony with the name Caesarea Antiochia. It became the centre of civil and military administration in southern Galatia, and in the time of the emperor Claudius I (reigned AD 4154), St. Paul made it one of the centres of his mission in that province. Antioch was finally assigned to Pisidia under the emperor Diocletian's provincial reorganization. Its ruins include a large rock cutting which may have held the temple of Men Ascanus, the local Phrygian deity.