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76-565: It is difficult to ascertain the exact chronology of the events because their main source, Ammianus, was living in Antioch at that time. His information looks second-hand and confused and some is inconsistent with that produced by other sources. According to Ammianus, the following events occurred: In the winter of 367, the Roman garrison on Hadrian's Wall rebelled and allowed Picts from Caledonia to enter Britannia. Simultaneously, Attacotti ,

152-490: A Mission to Augustus . At Antioch Germanicus died in 19 AD, and his body was burnt in the forum. An earthquake that shook Antioch in AD 37 caused the emperor Caligula to send two senators to report on the condition of the city. Another quake followed in the next reign. In 115 AD, during Trajan 's travel there during his war against Parthia, the whole site was convulsed by a huge earthquake . The landscape altered, and

228-544: A Very Important Man , Stephen R. Lawhead 's fantasy novel Taliesin , M. J. Trow 's Britannia series, Jack Whyte's fantasy-historical novel The Skystone , and Mark Chadbourn 's novel Pendragon , written under the pen-name James Wilde. The author Francis Hagan utilises the Great Conspiracy as the backdrop for his trilogy of books in the Sabinus Chronicles ( The Unquiet Shore , The Reaping of

304-433: A chariot pulled by two white horses, as generals celebrating triumphs did, but instead rode on horseback in the toga praetexta of a magistrate . The honoured general also wore a wreath of myrtle (sacred to Venus ) upon his brow, rather than the triumphal wreath of laurel . The Roman Senate did not precede the general, nor did soldiers usually participate in the procession. Perhaps the most famous ovation in history

380-515: A hero and was made senior military advisor to Valentinian to replace Jovinus. A decade later, his son became emperor. The Romans had ended much of the chaos, but raids by all of the people listed above continued. Fictional accounts of the Great Conspiracy were featured in Wallace Breem 's historical novel Eagle in the Snow , Peter Vansittart 's historical novel Three Six Seven: Memoirs of

456-403: A lament for Adonis , the doomed lover of Aphrodite . Thus, Ammianus wrote, the emperor and his soldiers entered the city not to the sound of cheers but to wailing and screaming. After being advised that the bones of third-century martyred bishop Babylas were suppressing the oracle of Apollo at Daphne, he made a public-relations mistake in ordering the removal of the bones from the vicinity of

532-494: A new civilian administration. After discovering that the local areani had collaborated with the invaders, Theodosius removed them from their positions. By the end of the year, the barbarians had been driven back to their homelands; the mutineers had been executed; Hadrian's Wall had been retaken and order had returned to the diocese. Under Civilis' rule the last of the earlier invaders were temporarily driven out in AD 369, possibly using troops under his own personal command, and

608-739: A peak of over 500,000 inhabitants (most generally estimate between 200,000 and 250,000), making the city the third largest in the Roman Empire after Rome and Alexandria and one of the most important cities in the eastern Mediterranean . From the early fourth century, Antioch was the seat of the Count of the Orient , head of the Diocese of the East . The Romans provided the city with walls that encompassed almost 450 hectares (1,100 acres), of which one quarter

684-479: A program of civil restoration begun. Theodosius also overcame and defeated the force of Valentinus, a Pannonian who had been exiled to Britain and joined the invaders. Considerable reorganization was undertaken in Britain, including the creation of a new province, Valentia , probably to better address the state of the far north. The poet Claudian suggests that naval activity took place in northern Britain. It

760-461: A small part which was allotted to the wearied soldiers, he entered the city, which had previously been plunged into the greatest difficulties, but had been restored more quickly than rescue could have been expected, rejoicing and as if celebrating an ovation . An amnesty was promised to deserters, which enabled Theodosius to regarrison abandoned forts. A new Dux Britanniarum was appointed, Dulcitius , with Civilis granted vicarius status to head

836-742: A strong emphasis on trade, which facilitated economic prosperity in Antioch. The city became known for its diverse markets, contributing to the flow of goods and ideas between the Islamic world and the Byzantine Empire. The decline of Arab rule in Antioch began in the late 9th century with increasing pressure from the Byzantine forces. The city changed hands several times during the Byzantine-Arab wars , Before finally, in 969 AD, under

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912-489: A third walled "city", which was finished by Antiochus III the Great . A fourth and last quarter was added by Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175–164 BC); thenceforth Antioch was known as Tetrapolis . From west to east the whole was about 6 kilometres (4 miles) in diameter and a little less from north to south. This area included many large gardens. The new city was populated by a mix of local settlers that Athenians brought from

988-486: A whole shared in both these titles to fame. Antioch became the capital and court-city of the western Seleucid Empire under Antiochus I, its counterpart in the east being Seleucia ; but its paramount importance dates from the battle of Ancyra (240 BC), which shifted the Seleucid centre of gravity from Anatolia, and led indirectly to the rise of Pergamon . The Seleucids reigned from Antioch. We know little of it in

1064-457: A word which would ordinarily mean all human beings of any age, sex, or social status , seemingly indicating a decline in the population since the first century. Chrysostom also says in one of his homilies on the Gospel of Matthew , which were delivered between 386 and 393, that in his own time there were 100,000 Christians in Antioch, a figure which may refer to orthodox Christians who belonged to

1140-604: Is possible that Theodosius mounted punitive expeditions against the barbarians and imposed terms upon them. Certainly, the Notitia Dignitatum later records four units of Attacotti serving Rome on the Continent. The areani were removed from duty and the frontiers refortified with co-operation from border tribes such as the Votadini , which marked the career of men such as Paternus . Theodosius returned to Rome

1216-715: Is somewhat analogous to the manner in which several popes, heads of the Roman Catholic Church remained "Bishop of Rome" even while residing in Avignon , in present-day France, in the fourteenth century. The Maronite Church, which has also moved the seat away to Bkerké , Lebanon, continues the Antiochene liturgical tradition and the use of the Syro-Aramaic language in their liturgies. Emperor Constantine who had decriminalised Christianity in 313 , begun

1292-548: The Suda , it might be named after his son Antiochus . He is reputed to have built sixteen Antiochs. Seleucus founded Antioch on a site chosen through ritual means. An eagle , the bird of Zeus, had been given a piece of sacrificial meat and the city was founded on the site to which the eagle carried the offering. Seleucus did this on the 22nd day of the month of Artemísios in the twelfth year of his reign, equivalent to May 300 BC. Antioch soon rose above Seleucia Pieria to become

1368-576: The Battle of Antioch , after which the city fell to the Sassanians, together with much of Syria and eastern Anatolia. Antioch gave its name to a certain school of Christian thought, distinguished by literal interpretation of the Scriptures and insistence on the human limitations of Jesus . Diodorus of Tarsus and Theodore of Mopsuestia were the leaders of this school. The principal local saint

1444-620: The Circus Maximus in Rome and other circus buildings throughout the empire. Measuring more than 490 metres (1,610 feet) in length and 30 metres (98 feet) of width, the Circus could house up to 80,000 spectators. Zarmanochegas (Zarmarus) a monk of the Sramana tradition of India, according to Strabo and Dio Cassius , met Nicholas of Damascus in Antioch around 13 AD as part of

1520-625: The Great Church as opposed to members of other groups such as Arians and Apollinarians , or to all Christians of any persuasion. When the emperor Julian visited in 362 on a detour to the Sasanian Empire , he had high hopes for Antioch, regarding it as a rival to the imperial capital of Constantinople . Antioch had a mixed pagan and Christian population, which Ammianus Marcellinus implies lived quite harmoniously together. However, Julian's visit began ominously as it coincided with

1596-873: The Habib-i Najjar Mosque , which they believe to contain the tomb of Habib the Carpenter , mentioned in the Surah Yā-Sīn of the Quran . Two routes from the Mediterranean Sea , lying through the Orontes river gorge and the Belen Pass , converge in the plain of the Antioch Lake, now called Lake Amik , and are met there by: A settlement called "Meroe" pre-dated Antioch. A shrine of

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1672-467: The Hellenistic period , apart from Syria, all our information coming from authors of the late Roman time. Among its great Greek buildings we hear only of the theatre, of which substructures still remain on the flank of Silpius, and of the royal palace, probably situated on the island. It enjoyed a reputation for being "a populous city, full of most erudite men and rich in the most liberal studies", but

1748-554: The Scotti from Hibernia and Saxons from Germania landed in what might have been coordinated and pre-arranged waves on the island's mid-western and southeastern borders, respectively. The warbands managed to overwhelm nearly all of the loyal Roman outposts and settlements. The entire western and northern areas of Britannia were overwhelmed; the cities sacked; and the civilian Romano-British murdered, raped, or enslaved. Franks and Saxons also landed in northern Gaul . Nectaridus ,

1824-627: The Treaty of Deabolis Bohemond died, and Tancred remained regent of Antioch until his death during a typhoid epidemic in 1112. After the death of Tancred, the principality passed to Roger of Salerno , who helped rebuild Antioch after an earthquake destroyed its foundations in 1114. With the death of Roger at the Battle of Ager Sanguinis in 1119, the role of regent was assumed by Baldwin II of Jerusalem , lasting until 1126. In 1126 Bohemond II arrived from Apulia to gain regency over Antioch. In 1130 Bohemond

1900-537: The comes maritime tractus (commanding general of the sea coast region), was killed, and a Dux , Fullofaudes , was either besieged or captured. The location of their defeats are often supposed to have been in Britain, but may have been in Gaul. The remaining loyal army units stayed garrisoned inside southeastern cities. The milites areani , the local Roman agents who provided intelligence on barbarian movements, seem to have betrayed their paymasters for bribes, which made

1976-572: The Byzantine Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas , the city was captured after the siege of Antioch (968–969) by the Byzantine general Michael Bourtzes and the stratopedarches Peter . It soon became the seat of a doux , the civil governor of the homonymous theme , but also the seat of the somewhat more important Domestic of the Schools of the Orient , the supreme military commander of the imperial forces on

2052-718: The Emperor to report, but Ammianus does not state this and the known chronology of Valentinian's movements at the time (recorded by edicts in the Codex Theodosianus ) would make it difficult for them to do so before the summer was over. They may only have traveled to areas that barbarians had attacked in Northern Gaul. In the spring of 368, a relief force, commanded by Flavius Theodosius , gathered at Bononia (Boulogne-sur-Mer). It included four units, Batavi , Heruli , Iovii and Victores , as well as his son,

2128-465: The Great ), erected a long stoa on the east, and Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa ( c.  63 –12 BC) encouraged the growth of a new suburb south of this. One of the most famous Roman additions to the city was its hippodrome , the Circus of Antioch . This chariot racing venue was probably built in the reign of Augustus, when the city had more than half a million inhabitants; it was modelled on

2204-539: The Mongol conquests of the 13th century altered the main trade routes from the far east, as they encouraged merchants to take the overland route through Mongol territory to the Black Sea, reducing the prosperity of Antioch. Surrounding the city were a number of Greek, Syrian, Georgian, Armenian, and Latin monasteries. In 1100, Tancred became the regent of Antioch after his uncle and predecessor Bohemond I of Antioch

2280-467: The Persian sack in 538, by Chosroes . In 387 AD, there was a great sedition caused by a new tax levied by order of Theodosius I , and the city was punished by the loss of its metropolitan status. Theodosius placed Antioch under Constantinople's rule when he divided the Roman Empire. Antioch and its port, Seleucia Pieria , were severely damaged by the great earthquake of 526 . Seleucia Pieria, which

2356-559: The Sea and The Vengeful Tide ). In the novels a former Tribune, Sabinus, brings Roman and Barbarian forces together to save Rome from itself. Antioch Antioch on the Orontes ( / ˈ æ n t i . ɒ k / ; Ancient Greek : Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου , romanized :  Antiókheia hē epì Oróntou , pronounced [anti.ó.kʰeː.a] ) was a Hellenistic Greek city founded by Seleucus I Nicator in 300 BC. One of

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2432-460: The Syrian capital. Xenaeus (Ξεναῖος) was the architect who built the walls of Antioch during Seleucus I reign. The original city of Seleucus was laid out in imitation of the grid plan of Alexandria by the architect Xenarius . Libanius describes the first building and arrangement of this city (i. p. 300. 17). The citadel was on Mount Silpius and the city lay mainly on the low ground to

2508-564: The attacks completely unexpected. Deserting soldiers and escaped slaves roamed the countryside and turned to robbery to support themselves. Although the chaos was widespread and initially concerted, the rebels had aims simply of personal enrichment and worked as small bands rather than larger armies. Emperor Valentinian I was campaigning against the Alamanni at the time and so was unable to respond personally. A series of commanders to act in his stead were chosen but swiftly recalled. The first

2584-512: The building of the Domus Aurea or Great Church in 327 which served for the next two centuries as the leading church of Antioch. John Chrysostom writes that when Ignatius of Antioch was bishop in the city, the dêmos, probably meaning the number of free adult men and women without counting children and slaves, numbered 200,000. In a letter written in 363, Libanius says the city contains 150,000 anthrôpoi (plural of anthropos, human )

2660-732: The city into the Seljuk Empire . Yagisiyan was appointed governor. He became increasingly independent within the tumultuous years following Malik-Shah's death in 1092. The Crusaders' Siege of Antioch conquered the city in June 1098 after a siege lasting eight months on their way to Jerusalem. At this time, the bulk of far eastern trade traveled through Egypt, but in the second half of the 12th century Nur ed-Din and later Saladin brought order to Muslim Syria, opening up long-distance trade routes, including to Antioch and on to its new port, St Symeon , which had replaced Seleucia Pieria. However,

2736-719: The city went into a precipitous decline. During the Abbasid period (750–969 AD), Antioch continued to thrive as a hub of commerce and culture. Under the Abbasids , closer relations were developed with Byzantium, but it was not until the Fatimids opened up the Mediterranean for shipping from the end of the fourth/tenth century that the affairs of western Europe and the Near East began to interact once again. The Abbasids placed

2812-558: The city's annual feast of Apollo the only Antiochene present was an old priest clutching a goose, showing the decay of paganism in the town. The Antiochenes in turn hated Julian for worsening the food shortage with the burden of his billeted troops, wrote Ammianus . The soldiers were often to be found gorged on sacrificial meat, making a drunken nuisance of themselves on the streets while Antioch's hungry citizens looked on in disgust. The Christian Antiochenes and Julian's pagan Gallic soldiers also never quite saw eye to eye. Julian's piety

2888-487: The city's coins. Io may have been a small early colony of trading Greeks ( Javan ). John Malalas also mentions an archaic village, Bottia , in the plain by the river. Alexander the Great is said to have camped on the site of Antioch and dedicated an altar to Zeus Bottiaeus; it lay in the northwest of the future city. This account is found only in the writings of Libanius , a fourth-century orator from Antioch, and may be legend intended to enhance Antioch's status. But

2964-665: The dominant population up to the Crusades. As the empire disintegrated rapidly before the Komnenian restoration , Dux of Antioch & Domestic of the Schools of the East Philaretos Brachamios held the city until Suleiman ibn Qutalmish , the emir of Rum , captured it from him in 1084. Two years later, Suleiman was killed fighting against Tutush , the brother of the Seljuk Sultan , who annexed

3040-553: The earliest missionaries. Evangelized by, among others, Peter himself, according to the tradition upon which the Patriarchate of Antioch still rests its claim for primacy, its converts were the first to be called Christians. This is not to be confused with Antioch in Pisidia , to which Barnabas and Paul of Tarsus later travelled. Between 252 and 300 AD, ten assemblies of the church were held at Antioch and it became

3116-544: The eastern frontier. Sometimes both offices were held by the same person, usually military officers such as Nikephoros Ouranos , or Philaretos Brachamios , who managed to retain the integrity of the eastern borderline after the Seljuk conquest of Anatolia. The size of the Melkite community increased during that time due to immigration from Christians from Fatimid Egypt but also other parts of the Near East and Christians remained

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3192-472: The emperor himself was forced to take shelter in the circus for several days. He and his successor restored the city, but the population was reduced to less than 400,000 inhabitants and many sections of the city were abandoned. Commodus (r. 177–192 AD) had Olympic games celebrated at Antioch. In 256 AD, the town was suddenly raided by the Persians under Shapur I , and many of the people were slain in

3268-433: The empire's cities to be more self-managing, as they had been some 200 years before . However, Antioch's city councilmen showed themselves unwilling to shore up Antioch's food shortage with their own resources, so dependent were they on the emperor. Ammianus wrote that the councilmen shirked their duties by bribing unwitting men in the marketplace to do the job for them. Further, Julian was surprised and dismayed when at

3344-408: The external appearance of Antioch was impressive, but the city needed constant restoration owing to the seismic disturbances to which the district has always been subjected. The first great earthquake in recorded history was related by the native chronicler John Malalas . It occurred in 148 BC and did immense damage. Local politics were turbulent. In the many dissensions of the Seleucid house

3420-606: The following year. Antioch's wish prevailed, and it passed with Syria to the Roman Republic in 64 BC, but remained a civitas libera . The Roman emperors favored the city from the first moments, seeing it as a more suitable capital for the eastern part of the empire than Alexandria could be, because of the isolated position of Egypt. To a certain extent they tried to make it an eastern Rome. Julius Caesar visited it in 47 BC, and confirmed its freedom. A great temple to Jupiter Capitolinus rose on Silpius, probably at

3496-461: The general conflict was resolved with little or no danger to the army itself. The Ovation could also be given rather than a triumph when there were extenuating circumstances, such as when Marcus Marcellus was given an ovation in lieu of a triumph as his army remained in Sicily and therefore was unable to cross the pomerium . The general celebrating the ovation did not enter the city on a biga ,

3572-531: The goddess Anat , called by Herodotus the " Persian Artemis ", was located here. This site was included in the eastern suburbs of Antioch. There was a village on the spur of Mount Silpius named Io , or Iopolis . This name was always adduced as evidence by Antiochenes ( e.g. Libanius ) eager to affiliate themselves to the Attic Ionians —an eagerness which is illustrated by the Athenian types used on

3648-461: The insistence of Octavian , whose cause the city had espoused. A forum of Roman type was laid out. Tiberius built two long colonnades on the south towards Silpius. Strabo , writing in the reign of Augustus and the first years of Tiberius, states that Antioch is not much smaller than Seleucia and Alexandria; Alexandria had been said by Diodorus Siculus in the mid-first century BC to have 300,000 free inhabitants, which would mean that Antioch

3724-561: The later Emperor Theodosius I , and probably the later usurper Magnus Maximus , his nephew. Theodosius took advantage of a break in the winter weather to cross the Channel to Richborough , which left the rest of his troops at Bononia to await better weather. That enabled Theodosius to gather vital intelligence. He discovered that the British troops had been overwhelmed, refused to fight, or deserted, and many may not have been paid. Once

3800-790: The most important Greek cities of the Hellenistic period , it served as the capital of the Seleucid Empire and later as regional capital to both the Roman and Byzantine Empire . During the Crusades , Antioch served as the capital of the Principality of Antioch , one of four Crusader states that were founded in the Levant . Its inhabitants were known as Antiochenes . The modern city of Antakya , in Hatay Province of Turkey ,

3876-596: The name "Christian" first emerged in Antioch. The city declined to relative insignificance during the Middle Ages due to warfare, repeated earthquakes, and a change in trade routes . The city still lends its name to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch , one of the most important modern churches of the Levant and the eastern Mediterranean. The city also attracts Muslim pilgrims who visit

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3952-457: The nearby city of Antigonia, Macedonians, and Jews (who were given full status from the beginning). According to ancient tradition, Antioch was settled by 5,500 Athenians and Macedonians, together with an unknown number of native Syrians. This number probably refers to free adult citizens, so that the total number of free Greek settlers including women and children was probably between 17,000 and 25,000. About 6 kilometres (4 miles) west and beyond

4028-425: The nickname axeman , wrote Ammianus. The emperor's high-handed, severe methods and his rigid administration prompted Antiochene lampoons about, among other things, Julian's unfashionably pointed beard . Julian's successor Valens endowed Antioch with a new forum, including a statue of his brother and co-emperor Valentinian I on a central column, and reopened the great church of Constantine, which stood until

4104-484: The north, fringing the river. Two great colonnaded streets intersected in the centre. Shortly afterwards a second quarter was laid out, probably on the east and by Antiochus I Soter , which, from an expression of Strabo , appears to have been the native, as contrasted with the Greek, town. It was enclosed by a wall of its own. In the Orontes, north of the city, lay a large island, and on this Seleucus II Callinicus began

4180-516: The only names of distinction in these pursuits during the Seleucid period that have come down to us are Apollophanes, the Stoic, and one Phoebus, a writer on dreams. The nicknames which they gave to their later kings were Aramaic ; and, except Apollo and Daphne , the great divinities of north Syria seem to have remained essentially native, such as the "Persian Artemis" of Meroe and Atargatis of Hierapolis Bambyce . The epithet "Golden" suggests that

4256-492: The population took sides, and frequently rose in rebellion, for example against Alexander Balas in 147 BC, and Demetrius II Nicator in 129 BC. The latter, enlisting a body of Jews, punished his capital with fire and sword. In the last struggles of the Seleucid house, Antioch turned against its feeble rulers, invited Tigranes the Great to occupy the city in 83 BC, tried to unseat Antiochus XIII Asiaticus in 65 BC, and petitioned Rome against his restoration in

4332-531: The region. The city remained an important urban center, with its multicultural population including Christians, Muslims, and Jews living together, although there were periods of tension and conflict. However, since the Umayyad dynasty was unable to penetrate the Anatolian Plateau , Antioch found itself on the frontline of the conflicts between two hostile empires during the next 350 years, so that

4408-542: The seat of one of the five original patriarchates , along with Constantinople , Jerusalem , Alexandria , and Rome (see Pentarchy ). Today five churches use the title of patriarch of Antioch for their prime bishops: one Oriental Orthodox (the Syriac Orthodox Church ); three Eastern Catholic (the Maronite , Syriac Catholic , and Melkite Greek Catholic Churches ); and one Eastern Orthodox (the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch ). This title has been maintained though most of them have moved their seat to Damascus . This

4484-399: The story is not unlikely in itself. After Alexander's death in 323 BC, his generals, the Diadochi , divided up the territory he had conquered. After the Battle of Ipsos in 301 BC, Seleucus I Nicator won the territory of Syria, and he proceeded to found four "sister cities" in northwestern Syria, one of which was Antioch, a city named in honor of his father Antiochus ; according to

4560-424: The suburb Heraclea lay the paradise of Daphne, a park of woods and waters, in the midst of which rose a great temple to the Pythian Apollo, also founded by Seleucus I and enriched with a cult-statue of the god, as Musagetes, by Bryaxis . A companion sanctuary of Hecate was constructed underground by Diocletian . The beauty and the lax morals of Daphne were celebrated all over the ancient world; and indeed Antioch as

4636-405: The temple. The result was a massive Christian procession. Shortly after that, when the temple was destroyed by fire, Julian suspected the Christians and ordered stricter investigations than usual. He also shut up Constantine's Great Church, before the investigations proved that the fire was the result of an accident. Julian found much else about which to criticize the Antiochene; Julian had wanted

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4712-401: The theatre. The city was burned and some 100,000 inhabitants were killed while the rest were deported to Shapur‘s newly built city of Gundeshapur It was recaptured by the Roman emperor Valerian the following year. Antioch was a chief center of early Christianity during Roman times. The city had a large population of Jewish origin in a quarter called the Kerateion , and so attracted

4788-490: The troops had landed, Theodosius marched with them to Londinium , which he made his base. There, he began to deal with the invaders: There he divided his troops into many parts and attacked the predatory bands of the enemy, which were ranging about and were laden with heavy packs; quickly routing those who were driving along prisoners and cattle, he wrested from them the booty which the wretched tribute-paying people had lost. And when all this had been restored to them, except for

4864-438: The walls; but its glory was past. Another earthquake in 588 destroyed the Domus Aureus of Constantine, whereafter the church of Cassian became the most important church of Antioch. During the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628 , the Emperor Heraclius confronted the invading Persian army of Khosrow II outside Antioch in 613. The Byzantines were defeated by forces under the generals Shahrbaraz and Shahin Vahmanzadegan at

4940-424: Was Simeon Stylites , who lived an extremely ascetic life atop a pillar for 40 years some 65 kilometres (40 miles) east of Antioch . His body was brought to the city and buried in a building erected under the emperor Leo . During the Byzantine era, great bathhouses were built in Byzantine centers such as Constantinople and Antioch. In 637, during the reign of the Byzantine emperor Heraclius , Antioch

5016-447: Was Severus, the emperor's comes domesticorum , who was soon recalled and replaced by Jovinus , the magister equitum . Jovinus then wrote back to Valentinian requesting reinforcements. The Emperor recalled Jovinus, probably to take part in a campaign along the Rhine , which was a higher priority, and then sent out Flavius Theodosius . It has been supposed that Severus and Jovinus travelled to Britain to make their findings and back to

5092-423: Was about this size in Strabo's time. Agrippa and Tiberius enlarged the theatre, and Trajan finished their work. Antoninus Pius paved the great east to west artery with granite. A circus , other colonnades and great numbers of baths were built, and new aqueducts to supply them bore the names of Caesars, the finest being the work of Hadrian . The Roman client, King Herod (most likely the great builder Herod

5168-530: Was already fighting a losing battle against continual silting, never recovered. A second earthquake affected Antioch in 528. Justinian I renamed Antioch Theopolis ("City of God") and restored many of its public buildings, but the destructive work was completed in 540 by the Persian king, Khosrau I , who deported the population to a newly built city in Persian Mesopotamia, Weh Antiok Khosrow . Antioch lost as many as 300,000 people. Justinian I made an effort to revive it, and Procopius describes his repairing of

5244-417: Was conquered by Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah of the Rashidun Caliphate during the Battle of the Iron Bridge , marking the beginning of Islamic influence in the region. The city became known in Arabic as أنطاكية Anṭākiyah . Under the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 AD), Antioch served as a significant military and administrative center. The Umayyads fortified the city, utilizing it as a base for operations in

5320-402: Was distasteful to the Antiochenes, even to those who kept the old religion. Julian's brand of paganism was very much unique to himself, with little support outside the most educated Neoplatonist circles. The irony of Julian's enthusiasm for large scale animal sacrifice could not have escaped the hungry Antiochenes. Julian gained no admiration for his personal involvement in the sacrifices, only

5396-431: Was forced to accede to a peace accord, the Treaty of Devol which stipulated that Bohemond was to hold Antioch for the remainder of his life as the emperor's subject and the Greek patriarch was to be restored to power in the city. However, Tancred refused to honor the Treaty of Deabolis in which Bohemond swore an oath, and it is not until 1156 that it truly became a vassal state of the Byzantine Empire . Six months after

5472-567: Was heavily involved in the spice trade and lay within close reach of the Silk Road and the Royal Road . The city was the capital of the Seleucid Empire from 240 BC until 63 BC, when the Romans took control, making it the capital of the province of Syria and later of Coele Syria . During the late Hellenistic and Roman Principate periods, Antioch's population may have reached

5548-530: Was lured into an ambush by Leo I, Prince of Armenia who allied with the Danishmend Gazi Gümüshtigin , and was killed in the subsequent battle. Ovation The ovation ( Latin : ovatio from ovare : to rejoice) was a lesser form of the Roman triumph . Ovations were granted when war was not declared between enemies on the level of nations or states; when an enemy was considered basely inferior (e.g., slaves, pirates); or when

5624-582: Was mountainous, leaving 300 ha (750 acres) – about one-fifth the area of Rome within the Aurelian Walls . The city was also the main center of Hellenistic Judaism at the end of the Second Temple period . As one of the cities of the pentarchy , Antioch was called "the cradle of Christianity " as a result of its longevity and the pivotal role that it played in the emergence of early Christianity . The Christian New Testament asserts that

5700-617: Was named after the ancient city, which lies in ruins on the Orontes River and did not overlap in habitation with the modern city. Antioch was founded near the end of the fourth century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great 's generals, as one of the tetrapoleis of Seleucis of Syria . Seleucus encouraged Greeks from all over the Mediterranean to settle in the city. The city's location offered geographical, military, and economic benefits to its occupants; Antioch

5776-654: Was taken prisoner for three years (1100–03) by Gazi Gümüshtigin of the Danishmends at the Battle of Melitene . Tancred expanded the territory of Antioch by conquering Byzantine Cilicia , Tarsus , and Adana in 1101. In 1107 Bohemond enraged by an earlier defeat, renamed Tancred as the regent of Antioch so he could sail for Europe with the intent of gaining support for an attack against the Greeks. Bohemond laid siege to Dyrrachium but capitulated in September 1108 and

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