Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/158

 142 ANTIOCHEIA. vol. iiL pp. 222—232; OreUi, /mot. 146, 3940; Craven's AbrtOBsif vol. i pp. 117 — 122; Hoare's Cltuncal ToWf voL i. p. 339, &c.; Kramer, Der Fucmer See^ p. 54, note.) [E.H.B.] ANTIOCHEIA or -EACArruJxfw: Eth.'AyTto- X^^Sj ^Ayridx^toSj Antiodiensis: Ac^. *Ayrioxuc6sj Antiochenus), the capital of the Gredc Idngs of Syria, situated in the angle where the soatbem coast of Asia SiGnor, nuining eastwards, and the coast of Phoenicia, numing northwards, are hnmght to an abmpt meeting, and in the opening formed bj the river Orontes between the ranges of Monnt Tanroa and Mount Lebanon. Its position is nearlj where the 36th paraUel of latitude intersects the 36th me- ridian of longitude, and it is aboat 20 miles distant from the sea, abont 40 W. of Aleppo, and about 20 S. of Scanderoon. [See Map, p. 115.] It is now a subordinate town in the pachalik of Alq^po^ juid its modem name is still Antaideh. It was an^ dentlj distinguished as Antioch bj the Orontes ('A. M *0p6vrp)f because it was situated on the left bank of that river, where its course turns ab- ruptly to the west, after running northwards between the ranges of Lebanon and Antilebanon [Obontes] ; and also Antioch by Daphne ('A. M Ad^yp, Strab. zvi.pp.749 — 751 ; Plut. LucuU.21 ; iiwpbs Ad^y^y, Hierocl. p. 711 ; A. Epidaphnes, Plin. v. 18. s. 21), because of the celebrated grove of Daphne whidi was consecrated to Apollo in the immediate neigh- bourhood. [Daphne.] The physicid characteristics of this situation may be briefly described. To the souths and rather to the west, the cone of Mount Casius (Jebd-elrAhrah ; see Col. Chesney, in tiie Jovmal oftiie Roy. Geog, Sac. voL viii. p. 228) rises symmetrically from the sea to the elevation of more than 5000 feet [Ca- sius.] To the north, the heights of Mount Ama- Nus are connected with the range of Taunts; and the Beilan pass [Amanides Ptlab] opens a com- munication with Cilicia and the rest of Asia Minor. In the interval is the valley (avAtiry, Malala, p. 136), or rather the 4>lain oi Antioch (rh rSbv ^Ayrtoxwv ir^Sioc, Strab. L c), which is a level space about 5 miles in breaddi between the mountuns, and about 10 miles in length. Through this plain the river Orontes sweeps from a northerly to a westerly course, receiving, at the bend, a tributary from a lake which was about a mile distant from the an- cient city (6u1. Tyr. iv. 10), and emptying itself into the bay of Antioch near the base <^ Mount Ca- sius. " The windings (from the city to the mouth) give a distance of about 41 miles, whilst the journey by land is only 16^ miles." (Chesney, /. e. p. 230.) Where the river passes by the city, its breadth is said l^ the traveller Niefouhr to be 125 feet; but great changes have taken place in its bed. An important part of ancient Antiocli stood upon an island; but whether the channel which insulated that section of the city was artificial, or changes have been produced by earthquakes or more gradual causes, there is now no island of appreciable magni- tude, nor does there appear to have been any in the time of the Crusades. The distance between the bend of the river and the mountain on the south is from one to two miles; and the dty stood partly on the level, and partly where the ground rises in ab- rupt and precipitous forms, towards Mount Casius. The heights with which we are concerned are the two summits of Mount Silpus (Mai. passim; and Suid. s. V. ^Ii6.), the easternmost of which fell in a more gradual slope to the plain, so as to admit of the i ANTIOCHEIA. cnltivatioQ of viaeyardB, whOe the other was Ugker and more abrupt (See the Plan.) Between them was a deep ravine, down which a nuschievous tcneat ran in winter (Phyrminus or Pannenioa, rov ^itstot rov Avyo^rov ^vpfdvoVf MaL p. 346; Ilapficvlov X^ifJui^Vf pp. 233, 339; cf. Procop ds AtHf. ii. 10). Along the crags on these heights broktii masses of ancient walla are still conspicuoas, while the modem habitarions are on the levd near the river. The appeanmce of the ground has donbUeas been much altexed by earthquakes, which have been in all ages the scourge of Antioch. Tel avery good notion may be obtained, from the desc^^)ii(liIs of modem travellera, of the aspect of the ancient dty. The advantages of its position are very evident By its harbour dT Sblbugeia, it was in communicatioQ with all the trade of the Mediterranean ; and, throogfa the open coontiy behind Lebanon, it was couve- niently approached by the caravans from Mesopo- tamia and Arabia. To these advuitages of mere position must be added the fitdlities afforded by its river, which brought down timber and vegetable produce and fish fi^m the lake (Liban. AwtiMk y^ 360, 361), and was navigable below the city to the mouth, and is believed to be capable of being made navigable again. (-Aoy. Gtog. Soc, vol viii. p. 230; cf. Strab. I c; Pans. viii. 29. § 3.) Tbe fertility of the neighbourhood is evident now in its unassisted vegetation. The Orontes has been com- pared to the Wye. It does not, like many Eastern rivers, vaij between a winter-torrent and a dry watercourse; and its deep and rapid waters are de- scribed as winding round the bases of high and preciptous cMs, or by richly cultivated banks, where the vine and the fig-tree, the myrtle, the bay, the ilex, and the arbutus are mingled with dwvf oak and sycamore. For descriptions of the sceneir, with views, the reader may consult Camels Syria (i. 5, 19, 77, ii. 28.). We can well understand the charming residence whidi the Seleudd princes and the wealthy Romans found in " beautiful Antioch " ('A. ii KoKiif Athen. i. p. 20; Orientis apex pulcher, Amm. Marc. xxiL 9), with its climate tempered with the west wind (Liban. p. 346 ; cf. Herodian. vi. 6), and where the salubrious waters were so abundant, that not only the public baths, but, as in modofu Damascus, almost every house, had its fountain. Antioch, however, with all these advantages of situation, is not, like Damascus, one of the oldest cities of the world. It is a mere imagination to identify it (as is done by Jerome and some Jewish commentators) with the Riblah of the Old Testa- ment Antiodi, like Alexandreia, is a monument of the Macedonian age, and was the most famous of sixteen Asiatic cities built by Seleucus Kicator, and called after the name of his father or (as some say) o[ his son Antiochus. The situation was evidently well choeen, for communicating both with lus posses- sions on the Mediterranean and those in Mesopotamia, with which Antioch was connected by a road leading to Zeugma (m tiie Euphrates. This was not the first city founded by a Macedonian prince near this place. Antigonus, in b. c. 307, founded Antigonia, a short distance fhrther up the river, for the purpose of commanding both Egypt and Babylonia. (Diod. zx. p. 758.) But after the battle of Ipsus, b. c. 301, the dty of Antigonus was left unfinished, and An- tioch was founded by his successful rivaL The sanction of auguries was sought for the establish- ment of the new metropolis. Like Romulus on the Palatine, Seleucus is said to have watched the flight