Antioch

In Syria, under the Seleuciils, there appear to have been at least five places which at one time or another enjoyed this title : Hippos on the hills above the E. shore of the Lake of balilee ('A. tj irpis 'Iitttv), Gadara (of. Stephanus, De Urbibus ; Keland, Pal. 774), Gerasa in E. Gilead ('A. 4 'p^' ^v Xpwop^), all of them in the Decapolis, and perhaps also Acco or Ptoleraaia (Head, Mist. Num. 677); but the Antioch in Syria was A. on the Orontes, distinguished as 'A.

i) irpis, or irl, Aatpf-u, and entitled nrp-piiroXis {ib. 056). Under an Eastern people like the Arabs, the natural capital of Syria is Damascus, on the borders of the Arabian desert. But when the Greeks poured into the land after Alexander, it was inevitable that they should establish the centre of their govern- ment nearer the Mediterranean and Asia ilinor. Accordingly, when the Seleucid Empire was founded, Seleucus Nikator (Jos. c. Apion, ii.

4) selected a site 120 stadia from the sea (Strabo, xvi.), where the Orontes, now El-'Asi, and the great roads from the Euphrates and Coele-Syria break the long Syrian range and debouch upon the coast. The projected Euphrates-Levant railway is to pass by the same way. The valley is tolerably wide, and both fair and fertUe. I'he city was built partly on an island in the river, but mostly on the N. bank of the latter, and up the slopes of Mt. Silpius. By the time of Antioclius Epii)lianes (175 B.

C.) it consisted of four quarters (reTpajroXu, Strabo), divided by the long columned street which was a feature of every Greek city in Syria, and by a second which cut this obliquely. Temples and other large public buildings were erected from time to time by the Seleucids and their Roman successors. Daphne was a neighbouring grove sacred to Apollo (Jos. Ant. XVII. li. 1 ; Pliny, HN V. 18 ; 2 Mac 4'-').

Under the Seleucids the city developed a mixed populace, essentially fickle and turbulent, who frequently rose against their rulers. There were Jews in Antioch from the time of its foundation, for Seleucus Nikator gave tliein the rights of citizenship (Jos, Ant. XII. iii. 1). Many others must have fled or been carried captive to A. during the Maccabwan period (ib. Xll. Xlil. wissim).

The Antiochenes expelled Alexander Balas, and oti'ered the crown to Ptolemy Philometor, who, however, persuaded them to receive Demetrius Nikator (ib. xiII. iv. 7 ; but cf. 1 Mac U""-)- They besieged the latter in his palace; but with the help of Jonathan Maccabaeus and 3000 Jews he regained the city, yet soon after was obliged to yield it to Alexander's son Antiochus and his general Tryphon (Ant. XIII. v. 3 ; 1 Mac ll**"-). Under the Seleucids A. remained till B.C.

83, when it was taken by Tigranes of Armenia. When Pompey overthrew tlie latter, he made A. a free city, and it became the seat of the Prefect, and capita,lof the Bom. province of Syria. M. Antonius ordered the citizens to release all the Jews whom they had enslaved, and restore to them tlieir pos- sessions (Ant. XIV. xii. 6). When Ponipoy fell, A. sided with Csesar, and after Actium with Augustus. Both of the latter, as well as Herod the Great (Ant. XVI. V.

3) and Tiberius, embellished the town with theatres, baths, and streets. Tlie harbour of A. was Seleucia. The population was very vigorous. Tliey revolted several times against liome ; and after the disastrous earthquakes of A.D. 37 and subsequent years they quickly restored the town. Art and literature were cultivated so as to draw the praise of Cicero ; but witli the energy and brilliance of this people there was ever mixed a notorious insolence and scurrility.

A large number of Romans settled in A., and the Jewish community speedily grew in numbers and in influence with the rest of the inhabitants (Jos. BJ II. xviii. 5), who protected them in the first Jewish revolt against Rome, but afterwards displayed a bitter bate against them (ib. vil. V. 2). It was when A. was filled with these rich and varied elements of life — Josephus calls her the third city of the Empire, next to Rome and Alex 104 ANTIOCH ANTIOCHIANS andria (BJ ill. ii.

4)— that she entered the history of Christianity. Antiochean Jews and proselyte Greeks must have come under the influence of the apostles' ministry in Jerus. Nicolas ' a proselyte of A.' was one of the seven deacons (Ac6'). Upon the persecution that arose ahout Stephen, the disciples were scattered as far north as A.

(Ac ll'""-), and among them some men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who began to preach to Greeks (many ancient authorities give ' Grecian Jews,' but surely Greeks are meant, — for otherwise the distinction made between the Cypriotes and Cyrenians and the other preachers in 11*° is meaningless). To them at A. the Church at Jerus. sent Barnabas, who, after seeing the situation, went and fetched Paul thither from Tarsus.

For a year they worked to- gether in the church, teaching ; ' and the disciples were called Christians first in A.' The wit of the place was always famous for giving names. Prophets arrived from Jeriis. predicting a famine ; and when this came to pass, the Church of A. proved once more the vigour of the population from which it was drawn, by sending supplies to Jerus. by the hands of Barnabas and Saul (ib. "-s"). These returned to A.

, and after their ministry ' in the church ' they were sent forth by the ^)ort of Seleucia to Cyprus on Paul's first great missionary journey (13') ; and from this to A. they returned, with their report of faith among the Gentiles (H-"'). When Jews came down to teach the necessity of circumcision for the latter, the Church at A. sent Barnabas and Paul to Jerus. to claim for them freedom from the law (15'*') ; and a deputation from Jerus.

returned with the two ambassadors (15^-)- After ministering for a time in A., Paul and Barnabas set forth on their second journey by the Cilician gates (Ramsay) to Lystra(15»«) ; Paul returned (IS*) ; and A. was the starting-point of his third journey (ib.'^), which also was taken into Asia Minor, by the Syrian and Cilician gates, one great line of the advance- ment of Christianity westward. A. was not only the first Gentile Church, but may be called the mother of all the rest.

This pre-eminence she con- tinued to enjoy ; for it was probably her missionary originality, rather than the tradition which maile Peter her bishop for two years (cf. Gal 2"), that gave her Patriarch precedence of those of Rome, Constantinople, Jerus., and Alexandria. A. was the birthplace of Ammianus Marcellinus, John Chrysostom, and Evagrius. As long as she remained part of an empire with its centre in Europe, A. continued the virtual capital of Syria.

When the Arabs came, she, the city of the Levant, yielded to the city of the Desert ; and though with the Crusaders she became once more the pivot of the West in its bearing on Syria, and the centre of the Principality of A. (from Taurus to Nahr-el- Kebir), she fell away again when they left, and cave up to Damascus even her Christian Patriarch. Now Antaki (Turkish), or Antakiyeh (Arab.), she is a meagre town of 6000 inhabitants.

Besides the ruins of Justinian's wall there are no ancient remains of importance. LiTKRATtmB.— (Besides the ardent authorities already cited), Reland, Pahistina, 119 8., where Jerome's error, that A. was Hamath (fomm. on Amos 6), or Riblah {Cmnm. on Ezelt. 47), Is stated and ojiposed ; O. O. Muller, Antxquitatrt Antiuchence (Gottrngen, 18a«) ; Noris, Annm et Epochtx Syromacedonum; Gibbon and MommBen, p<ugim\ Schurer, UJP I, i. 437, II t)ff»«7n; various lives of St. Paul, esp.

Convbeareand Howson's; Lcwin, Fattx Sam, pamiim ; Ramsav, Church in the Rom. Emp. chs. ii.-va., xvi. On A. under the Moslems, see the extracts from Arab, geographers in Guy Le Strange, Pal'itiius umifr the Moileiru, esp. 367-377. On the A. of Uie Crus-oders, Rev, Colnnue Fraru/uet de Syrie aux Uttui et Mmt siMrt ; it. alio Benjanun of Tudela's TraveU. a.d. 1183, and Bertrandere dc la Brocquii^re'B in 1432: and on the modem city, see Chesney. huphrata ExpedUim ; uid.

George Smith, Asiyrian ^•'««*"''- G. A. Smith. ANTIOCH IN PISIDIA CA^nixfia HiffiSfo, mora correctly rendered ' Pisidian Antioch ') is defined by Strabo (pp. 5G9, 557, 577) as a city oi Pnrygia towards or near Pisidia. It was prob- ably one of the sixteen Antiochs founded by Seleucus Nikator (301-280 ; Appian, Syr. 57), and named after his fatlier.

The inhabitants claimed to be colonists from Magnesia on the Mieander ; but traditions claiming Greek origin for Phrygian cities were fashionable and untrustworthy. In 190 B.C. it was declared free by tlie Romans ; an its history is unknown until in 39 B.C. it was mad by Antony part of the kingdom of Amyntas (a we learn from Appian, Civ. v. 75, cf. Strabo, p. 569) ; on whose death in 25 it passed into Rom. hands as part of the province Galatia. At some time earlier than 6 B.C. (CJL iii.

6974) Augustus made it a colonia with Latin rights (Digest, 50. 15. 8, 10) with the name Ciesareia Antiocheia, the administrative centre of the southern half of the province, and the military centre of a series of colonim (Lystra, Parlais, Cremna, Comama, Olbasa) foundeci to defend the province against the unruly and dangerous Pisidi- ans in the fastnesses of the Taurus mountains.

The region or district to wliich Antioch belonged is called Phrygia by Strabo (and also in Ac 16' 18*^, according to the South-Galatian theory, held by some scholars, disputed by others), Pisidian Phrygia by Ptolemy v., 5. 4, Pisidia by Ptolemy v., 4. 11, and by later authorities, showing that gradually that part of Phrygia, which was included in the province Galatia and separated from the great mass of Phrygia (which was part of the province Asia), was merged in Pisidia.

Thus the name Antioch towards Pisidia (Strabo, A.D. 19), or Pisidian Antioch (to distinofuish it from Antioch on the Mieander or Carian Antioch), gave place to the name Antioch of Pisidia (Ptolemy v., 4. 11, and some MSS. of Ac 13"). The in'fluence of the preaching of Paul and Barnabas in Antioch radi- ated overthe whole region connected politically with the city (Ac 13*"). Antioch (as Arundel discovered) is situated about 2 miles E.

from Yalowatch on the skirts of the long ridge called Sultan-Dagh, in a strong situation, about 3600 ft. above sea- level, overlooking a large and fertile plain, which stretches away S.E. to the Limnai (Egerdir Lake), and is drained by the river Anthios. The ruins, which are impressive and of great extent, have never as yet been carefully examined.

An- tioch was a great seat of the worship of Men AskaSnos ; but the large estates and numerous temple-slaves ruled by the priests were confiscated by the Romans. Jewish colonists were alwa3'3 favoured by the Seleucid kings, who found tliem food and trusty supporters ; many thousands of ews were settled in the cities of Phrygia (Jos. Ant. XII. iii. f.; Cicero, pro Flacco, 28.

66-8); and a synagogue at Antioch is mentioned Ac 13'^ The influence ascribed to the ladies of Antioch (Ao 13**) is characteristic of Phrygia and Asia Minor generally, where women enjoyed great considera- tion, and often held office in the cities (see Parij", Quatenu.i/emince res publiais attigerint, 1891 ). LiTKRATiTRE, — Antioch is described bv Anmdel, Piscoveriet in As. Min. i. "JSl f., and by Hamilton, iiexetin-ht'K in As. Min. L 472 f. : see also Ramsay, Church in liom. Einp. pp. 'Z.

S-yrt, St. Paul, pp. 9i»-107 : inadequate articles in Pauly-Wissowa. hncy. clop., and other geographical dictionaries: many inscriptions io Sterrett, Kpirjraphic Jourr\ey in A$. Min. p. 121 fT., H o(/c Ex- pedition in Ag. itin. p. 218ff. ; Ritter, Krdkunde von Anien, xxi. p. 46S, collects all the earlier accounts of travellere. See the article on Galatia. W. RI. RaMSAY.