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said to have watched the flight of birds from the summit of Mount Casius. An took a from “The Life and Epistles of St. Paul,” by W. fragment of the flesh of his sacrifice and carried it J. Conybeare and J. S. Howson to a point on the seashore a little to the north of the mouth of the Orontes. There he founded a and Description of Antioch called it , after his own name. this was on rd st In narrating the journeys of St. Paul, it will now be the 23 of April. Again, on the 1 of , he our duty to speak of Antioch, not , his sacrificed on the hill Silpius, and then repeated the point of departure and return. Let us look, more ceremony and watched the auguries at the city of closely than has hitherto been necessary, at its , which his vanquished rival Antigonus character, its history, and its appearance. The had begun and left unfinished. An eagle again position which it occupied near the abrupt angle decided that this was not to be his own formed by the coasts of and Minor, and and carried the flesh to the hill Silpius, which is on in the opening where the Orontes passes between the south of the , about the place where it the ranges of and , has already turns from a northerly to a westerly direction. Five been noticed. And we have mentioned the or six thousand Athenians and Macedonians were numerous colony of which ordered to convey the stones and timber of introduced into his and raise to an equality Antigonia down the river, and Antioch was of civil rights with the . There was founded by Seleucus and called after his father’s everything in the situation and circumstances of name. this city to make it a place of concourse for all This fable, invented perhaps to give a classes and kinds of people. By its harbor of mythological sanction to what was really an act of Seleucia it was in communication with all the sagacious prudence and princely ambition, is well of the Mediterranean, and through the open worth remembering. Seleucus was not slow to country behind the Lebanon, it was conveniently recognize the wisdom of Antigonus in choosing a approached by caravans from and site for his capital which should place it in ready Arabia. It united the inland advantages of Aleppo communication both with the shores of and with the maritime opportunities of . It was with his eastern territories on the Tigris and almost an oriental , in which all the forms of , and he followed the example promptly the civilized live of the found some and completed his work with sumptuous representative. Through the first two centuries of magnificence. Few have ever lived with so the Christian era, it was what great a passion for the building of , and this is became afterwards, “the Gate of the East.” And a feature of his character which ought not to be indeed the glory of the city of Ignatius was only unnoticed in this narrative. Two at least of his gradually eclipsed by that of the city of cities in Asia Minor have a close connection with Chrysostom. That great preacher and commentator the life of St. Paul. These are the Pisidian Antioch himself, who knew them both by familiar (Acts 13:14; 14:21; 2 Tim. 3:11) and the Phrygian residence, always speaks of Antioch with peculiar Laodicea, (Col. 4:13,15,16) one called by the reverence, as the patriarchal city of the Christian name of his father and the other of his mother. He name. 1 is said to have built in all nine Seleucias, sixteen Antiochs, and six Laodiceas. This love of There is something curiously prophetic in the commemorating the members of his family was stories which are told of the first founding of this conspicuous in his works by the Orontes. Besides city. Like on the , Seleucus is Seleucia and Antioch he built in the immediate neighborhood a Laodicea in honor of his mother, 1 In his homilies on St. Matthew he tells the people of and an in honor of his wife. But by far the Antioch that though they boasted of their city’s most famous of these four cities was the Syrian preeminence in having first enjoyed the Christian name, Antioch. they were willing enough to be surpassed in Christian virtue by more homely cities.

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We must allude to its edifices and ornaments only this Eastern city by an and by baths, and so far as they are due to the Greek of Syria by a basilica called Caesarium. In the reign of and the first five Caesars of Rome. If we were to , 2 built in all cities of the allow our description to wander to the of Empire, and Herod of followed the example Justinian or the Crusaders, though these are the to the utmost of his power. Both found times of Antioch’s greatest glory, we should be employment for their munificence at Antioch. A trespassing on a period of history which does not gay suburb rose under the patronage of the one, belong to us. Stabo, in the of Augustus, and the other contributed a and a portico. The describes the city as a Tetrapolis, or union of four reign of was less remarkable for great cities. The two first were erected by Seleucus architectural works, but the by the Orontes Nicator himself in the situation already described, had to thank him for many improvements and between Mount Silpius and the river, on that wide restorations in their city. Even the four years of his space of level ground where a few poor habitations successor left behind them the aqueduct and the still remain by the of the Orontes. The river baths of . has gradually changed its course and appearance as this city has decayed. Once it flowed round an Character of the Inhabitants of Antioch island which, like the island in the Seine, by its The character of the inhabitants is easily inferred thoroughfares and and its own noble from the influences which presided over the city’s buildings, because part of a magnificent whole. growth. Its successive enlargement by the But, in , the is on the island, in Seleucids proves that their numbers rapidly Antioch, it was the New City, built by the second increased from the first. The population swelled Seleucus and the third Antiochus. still further when, instead of the metropolis of the Its chief features were a palace and an like Greek kings of Syria, it became the residence of that of Napoleon. The fourth and last part of the the Roman governors. The mixed multitude Tetrapolis was built by Antiochus Epiphanes received new and important additions in the where Mount Silpius rises abruptly on the south. officials who were connected with the details of On one of its craggy summits he placed, in the provincial administration. Luxurious Romans were fervor of his Romanizing mania, a temple attracted by its beautiful climate. New wants dedicated to Capitolinus, and on another, a continually multiplied the business of its strong citadel which dwindled to the commerce. Its gardens and houses grew and Castle of the First Crusade. At the rugged bases of extended on the north side of the river. Many are the mountain the ground was leveled for a glorious the allusions to Antioch in the history of those street which extended for four across the times as a place of singular pleasure and length of the city, and where sheltered crowds enjoyment. Here and there, an elevating thought is could walk through continuous colonnades from associated with its name. the eastern to the western suburb. The whole was Poets have spent their young days at Antioch, surrounded by a wall which ascending to the great generals have died there, 3 have heights and returning to the river does not deviate visited and admired it. But for the most part its very widely in its course from the wall of the , which can still be traced by the fragments of ruined towers. This wall is assigned 2 This friend of Augustus and Maecenus must be by a Byzantine writer to Tiberius, but it seems carefully distinguished from that grandson of Herod more probable that the only repaired who bore the same name and whose death is one of the what Antiochus Epiphanes had built. subjects of this chapter. For the works of at Antioch, see , Antiquities, xvi. 5,3; Turning now to the period of the Empire, we find Wars i. 21,11. that Antioch had memorials of all the great 3 Romans whose names have been mentioned as yet All readers of will recognize the allusion. It is not possible to write about Antioch without some in this biography. When was defeated by allusion to and his noble-minded wife. , the conqueror’s name was perpetuated in And yet they were the parents of Caligula.

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population was a worthless rabble of Greeks and George,” and when Duke Godfrey pitched his Orientals. The frivolous amusements of the theater camp between the river and the city wall. And were the occupation of their life. Their passion for there is reason to believe that earthquakes, the races, and the ridiculous party quarrels connected constant enemy of the people of Antioch, have so with them, were the patterns of those which altered the very appearance of its site, that such afterwards became the disgrace of . The description would be of little use. oriental element of and imposture was As the Vesuvius of or Pliny would hardly not less active. The Chaldean astrologers found be recognized in the angry neighbor of modern 4 their most credulous disciples in Antioch. Jewish , so it is more than probable that the impostors, 5 sufficiently common throughout the dislocated crags which still rise above the Orontes East, found their best opportunities here. It is are greatly altered in form from the fort-crowned probable that no populations have ever been more heights of Seleucus or Tiberius, Justinian or abandoned than those of oriental Greek cities Tancred. under the , and of these cities Antioch was the greatest and the worst. 6 If we from an article in the Thompson Chain wish to realize the appearance and reality of the Reference Bible. complicated heathenism of the first Christian Antioch, where followers of Christ were first century, we must endeavor to imagine the scene of called Christians, is located some three hundred that suburb, the famous Daphne, with its fountains miles north of Jerusalem, on the west of the and groves of bay trees, its bright buildings, its . In ancient times it was called “The crowds of licentious votaries, its statue of , Queen of the East,” because of the beauty of its where, under the climate of Syria and the wealthy surroundings, the importance of its commerce, patronage of Rome, all that was beautiful in nature and its strategic location on intersecting caravan and in art had created a sanctuary for a perpetual routes between the east, west, north, and south. festival of vice. Princeton University and the National Museum of Thus if any city in the first century was worthy to began excavations at Antioch in 1932, and, be called the Heathen Queen and Metropolis of the during the six succeeding years, unearthed over East, that city was Antioch. She was represented in twenty ruined churches, numerous baths, two a famous allegorical statue as a female figure, cemeteries, a stadium, and many gorgeous floor seated on a rock and crowned, with the river . Some of these mosaics represented Orontes at her feet. With this image which art has scenes of the cult. One large, well-preserved made perpetual we conclude our description. (30 by 40 feet) represented the fable of the There is no excuse for continuing it to the age of , while another, discovered in a sixth- and , when Judea was taken, and century floor of a building near St. Paul’s Gate, the Western Gate, decorated with the spoils, was bore the inscription “Peace be your coming in, you called the “Gate of the Cherubim,” or to the who look on this: joy and blessing be to those who Saracen age when, after many years of Christian stay here.” history and Christian mythology, we find the The most sensational find, however, was a “Gate of St. Paul” placed opposite the “Gate of St. beautiful drinking , carved from a single piece of silver and enclosed by a unique outer chalice exquisitely carved with symbolic grape 4 Chrysostom complains that even Christians, in his vines, among which are twelve seated figures day, were led away by this passion for horoscopes. thought by many to represent Christ and eleven of traces the of heathen Rome to His apostles. The inner cup holds two and a half Antioch. quarts of liquid, and is evidently an ancient relic 5 Compare the cases of Simon Magus (Acts 8), of great sanctity. Some, but not all, regard it as the the Sorcerer (Acts 13), and the sons of Sceva (Acts 19). Holy Grail – the cup used by Christ and His 6 hesitates between Antioch and disciples at the Last Supper. It has been variously as to the rank they occupied in eminence and vice. dated – from the first to the sixth century. Most

Antioch 4

scholars, however, favor a date of from the fourth became influential in theology and ecclesiastic or fifth century. The double cup is now in the politics. Cloisters, New York City, and is famed as The Antioch prospered in the 4th and 5th centuries Chalice of Antioch. from nearby olive plantations, but the 6th century brought a series of disasters from which the city Antioch (from Encyclopedia Britannica) never fully recovered. A fire in 525 was followed Turkish , populous city of ancient by earthquakes in 526 and 528, and the city was Syria, and now a major town of south-central captured temporarily by in 540 and . It lies near the mouth of the Orontes 611. Antioch was absorbed into the Arab River, about 12 miles (19 km) northwest of the in 637. Under the , it shrank to the status of a Syrian border. small town. The Byzantines recaptured the city in 969, and it served as a frontier until Antioch was founded in 300 BC by Seleucus I taken by the Seljuq Turks in 1084. In 1098 it was Nicator, a former general of . captured by the Crusaders, who made it the The new city soon became the western of capital of one of their , and in 1268 the caravan routes over which goods were the city was taken by the Mamluks, who razed it brought from Persia and elsewhere in Asia to the to the ground. Antioch never recovered from this Mediterranean. Antioch's strategic command of last disaster, and it had declined to a small village north-south and east-west across when taken by the Ottoman Turks in 1517. It northwestern Syria greatly contributed to its remained part of the until after growth and prosperity in Hellenistic, Roman, and , when it was transferred to Syria Byzantine times. The suburb of Daphne, five miles under French mandate. France allowed the town to the south, was a favorite pleasure resort and and surrounding area to rejoin Turkey in 1939. residential area for Antioch's upper classes; and the seaport Seleucia , at the mouth of the Remarkably few remains of the ancient city are Orontes River, was the city's harbor. now visible, since most of them lie buried beneath thick alluvial deposits from the Orontes River. Antioch was the centre of the Seleucid kingdom Nevertheless, important archaeological until 64 BC, when it was annexed by Rome and discoveries have been made in the locality. made the capital of their of Syria. It Excavations conducted in 1932-39 in Daphne and became the third largest city of the Roman Empire Antioch uncovered a large number of fine mosaic in size and importance (after Rome and floors from both private houses and public Alexandria) and possessed magnificent temples, buildings. largely from the Roman theatres, aqueducts, and baths. The city was the imperial period, many of the floors represent headquarters of the Roman garrison in Syria, one copies of famous ancient paintings which of whose principal duties was the defense of the otherwise would have been unknown. The empire's eastern border from Persian attacks. mosaics are now exhibited in the local Antioch was also one of the earliest centers of Archaeological Museum. ; it was there that the followers of Christ were first called Christians, and the city The activities of the modern town are based was the headquarters of the St. Paul mainly on the agricultural produce of the adjacent about AD 47-55. area, including the intensively cultivated Amik plain. The chief crops are wheat, , grapes, In the AD Antioch became the seat of rice, olives, vegetables, and fruit. The town has a new Roman office that administered all the soap and olive-oil and cotton ginning on the empire's eastern flank. Because and other processing industries. , shoes, and the of Antioch had the distinction of knives are also manufactured. Pop. (1990) 123,871; having been founded by the Apostles Peter and (1994 est.) 137,200. Paul, its ranked with the of the other apostolic foundations, Jerusalem, Rome, and Alexandria (Constantinople was accepted in this category later). The bishops of Antioch thus