IΔΡΥΜA ΜΕΙΖΟΝΟΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ Συγγραφή : Καμάρα Αφροδίτη Μετάφραση : Καμάρα Αφροδίτη Για παραπομπή : Καμάρα Αφροδίτη , "Antioch ad Orontem (Antiquity)", Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Κωνσταντινούπολη URL: <http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=7292> Περίληψη : Antioch was one of the most prominent cities of the Hellenistic and Roman East. Since the beginning of the 3rd century it was the capital of the Seleucid kingdom and it maintained its status as a free city even after the Roman conquest. Its strategic position made it the center of Roman administration in the East. The opulent lifestyle of its citizens as well as the high standards of education and artistic production turned Antioch into one of the two major centers of the east, rivaling Alexandria. It often suffered destructions due to earthquakes, the one of 526 being fatal. Today it belongs administratively to the Turkish state and bears the turcisized name Antakya Άλλες Ονομασίες Antigoneia, Antiocheia Daphnei, Antiochia ad Orontem, Antiochia ad Daphnen 1. Topography Antioch, present day Antakya, was built in the middle of a large plain, covering about 1.400 klms in the Amuq valley. The valley was surrounded by mountainous massifs, the Amanos range to the west, the mount Silpius and the Jebel el Aqra to the south and the low range of Kurt Dağ to the northeast. Three rivers flowed along the valley and irrigated the fertile plain: Orontes, coming from the south, from Syria, Afrin, from a northeast direction and Kara Su from the north. In a small distance from the city there was the lake of Antioch, called Amuq Gölü until the 1960s, when the Turkish state had it dried up in order to extend arable land in the area.1 2. Sources Our information on the history and topography of the city is based mainly on literary sources. Archaeological evidence exists, naturally, yet it mainly sheds light on the suburb of Daphne, where the sanctuary of Appolo used to be, as well as on the broader plain of Antioch, and less on the city itself. The latter, after a period of abandonment during the early Byzantine period, was rebuilt and populated without interruption until the present. The most important archaeological publications are those by Stillwell and Waage,2 Braidwood,3 and Djobadze,4 whereas valuable information is provided by the research of Doro Levi5 and Sheila Campbell6 on the mosaics of Late Roman villas and public buildings excavated in Daphne and around. From the literary sources the work which offers the clearest view of the city in the 4th century, yet reflecting even older phases, is the Oration “On Antioch”by Libanius,7 as well as his autobiography.8 An important source is also the “Chronography”by John Malalas,9 whereas for the Late Roman period information is also provided by Zosimos’ “New History”, by the Chronography of Zonaras and by several ecclesiastical sources, such as the homilies of John Chrysostome, the “Homily on Babylas”in particular.10 3. The foundation of the city Shortly after the battle of Ipsus in 301 B.C., Seleucus Nicator started a policy of founding cities in his newly acquired territories in Syria. His main building programme aimed at the creation of a complex of four cities (Tetrapolis), which would secure the control of the main roads for trade as well as for military purposes. It is noteworthy that two of the cities, namely Antioch and Apamea, were built on the banks of the Orontes, whereas the two others, Seleuceia and Laodicea, functioned as the formers’ports on the sea and were designed from the beginning as such. The plan was probably not an inspiration of Seleucus himself, but rather a continuation of the plans of his main rival and predecessor in the area, the defeated at Ipsus Antigonus the One-Eyed. Antigonus, however, had the time to found only small settlements where he had setlled mainly army veterans.11 The small settlement of Antigoneia was transferred by Seleucus12 closer to the spot where the Orontes formed a small island; he had the inhabitants re-settle there and he founded Antioch, which he named after his father.13 This city was destined to be the crown of the Seleucid cities, capital of the Seleucid kingdom and later on administrative seat of the province Syria Prima.14 More than anything else, though, it constituted a craddle of Δημιουργήθηκε στις 28/9/2021 Σελίδα 1/11 IΔΡΥΜA ΜΕΙΖΟΝΟΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ Συγγραφή : Καμάρα Αφροδίτη Μετάφραση : Καμάρα Αφροδίτη Για παραπομπή : Καμάρα Αφροδίτη , "Antioch ad Orontem (Antiquity)", Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Κωνσταντινούπολη URL: <http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=7292> civilization, intellectual and artistic centre which influenced even its conquerors, the Arab Ummayads of Damascus. 4. Agricultural production The city of Antioch controlled an extensive territory, its “chora”. The exact boundaries of this area cannot be defined with absolute certainty. Recent research, however, combining archaeological data from surveys and the usage of GIS and aerial photography15 have led to the conclusion that the Amanos range constituted the natural boundary to the West-Southwest (i.e. with the respective “choras”of the cities Rhosos, Seleuceia and Alexandria ad Issum), the Kurt Dağ range constituted the boundary with the territory of Cyrrus, Meleagron (Ceylanlı, Karamağara) constituted the northernmost end, whereas in the South, where the boundaries are more blurred, as they are situated on the so-called Limestone Massif, it seems that the Orontes river was another natural boundary.16 The site where Antioch was built was perfect, as it combined a location protected by the nearby mountains of Silpius and Amanus, with a good irrigation by the river Orontes and the lake that the river formed close to the city. The result of the abundance of water was the fertility of the land in the broader plain of Antioch. The agricultural production aimed at self-sufficiency as it combined production of grain with that of vines and fruit and vegetables.17 Furthermore, the Orontes, sailable in its larger part in those days, secured the unhindered transportation of products from the Syrian inland to the port of Seleuceia Pieria.18 The fertile plain of Antioch was distributed to the families of the first settlers, most of them veterans of the Seleucid army. Those lots were called “epoikia”or “choria”in some instances. The structure of agricultural production seems to have remained aristocratic with most part of the land being controlled by the city elite. To the east of Antioch, at a distance of about 50 kilometers from the city, rises the Limestone Massif, a mountainous range with low altitude. During the Hellenistic period, mainly local nomads dwelled there. During the Roman period, however, the necessity of procuring more land to distribute to Roman army veterans, as well as the introduction of a new type of more organized agricultural methods led the area to evolve into one of the largest olive-production centers of the empire. Part of the Limestone Massif belonged to the “chora”of Antioch and thus part of the production was transported via the civic centre, forming a new source of prosperity both for landowners and for tradesmen.19 5. Hellenistic Antioch 5.1 The topography of the city According to the foundation myth of the city, the first settlers of Antioch were the inhabitants of Antigoneia, veteran Athenians and few Macedonians, as well as Cretans, whom Cassos, son of Inachos, had appointed in the fortress nearby along with some Cypriots. In the city immigrated, under the instigation of Seleucus, the Argive citizens of Iopolis, a pre-existing settlement on the Mount Silpius, dating from the age of the Trojan war. The Argives held a prominent position in the local society, due to their antiquity.20 Soon in the city streamed local inhabitants as well, mostly of Syrian origin. The city acropolis was situated high on Mount Silpius. It had been given the name Hemathia, supposedly by Alexander the Great, who wanted in this way to honour his place of origin. The Hellenistic city, built according to the Hippodameian system, spread mainly on the eastern bank of the Orontes. The planning seems to have been particularly careful, as the town planner had taken into consideration the weather conditions, as well as the course of the sun; the orientation helped the houses to be cooler in summer and warmer and lighter in winter. Two long and perpendicular to each other colonnades marked the four large neighborhoods of the city. In the initial kernel, a second neighborhood was added under Antiochus I, where the Syrian inhabitants settled.21 On the island to the north of the city, Seleucus Callinicus built another neighborhood, protected by its own wall, where the royal palace lay ever since. Finally, Antiochus IV Epiphanes added one more inhabitable area, which he named Epiphaneia. The suburb of Daphne, where the aristocratic class of Antioch lived during the summer months, seems to have been chosen from early days as a recreation area. There, among the abundant water from springs, an oracle of Apollo had been founded, whereas already Δημιουργήθηκε στις 28/9/2021 Σελίδα 2/11 IΔΡΥΜA ΜΕΙΖΟΝΟΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ Συγγραφή : Καμάρα Αφροδίτη Μετάφραση : Καμάρα Αφροδίτη Για παραπομπή : Καμάρα Αφροδίτη , "Antioch ad Orontem (Antiquity)", Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Κωνσταντινούπολη URL: <http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=7292> since the beginning of the 2nd century B.C. there was a stadium for athletic games. Starting from Daphne, an aqueduct brought water into the city of Antioch. In 167 B.C. Antiochus IV, in order to overshadow the triumph of the Romans who had just defeated the Macedonians at Pydna, organized in Daphne a sumptuous procession that the Greek world had seen no precedent of.22 For the rest of the public buildings of the Hellenistic period we know a few things.