Editing Antioch (section)

== Roman period ==
===Roman rule before Constantine===
[[File:Ancient Roman road of Tall Aqibrin.jpg|thumb|250px|Ancient [[Roman road]] located in [[Syria]] which connected Antioch and [[Chalcis, Syria|Chalcis]].]]
[[File:Argenteus-Constantius I-antioch RIC 033a.jpg|thumb|250px|This [[argenteus]] was struck in the Antioch mint, under [[Constantius Chlorus]].]]
[[File:Domitian Tetradrachm 1.jpg|alt=Domitian Tetradrachm from Antioch Mint|thumb|250x250px|Rare Domitian Tetradrachm struck in the Antioch Mint. Only 23 known examples. Note the realist portrait, typical of the Antioch Mint.]]
[[File:Amazonomachy Antioch Louvre Ma3457.jpg|thumb|A Greek rider seizes a mounted [[Amazons|Amazonian warrior]] (armed with a double-headed axe) by her [[Phrygian cap]]; [[Roman mosaic]] emblema (marble and limestone), 2nd half of the 4th century AD; from Daphne, a suburb of [[Antioch-on-the-Orontes]] (now [[Antakya]] in [[Turkey]])]]
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&nbsp;BC, and confirmed its freedom. A great temple to [[Jupiter Capitolinus]] rose on Silpius, probably at the insistence of [[Augustus|Octavian]], whose cause the city had espoused. A [[Forum (Roman)|forum]] of Roman type was laid out. [[Tiberius]] built two long [[colonnade]]s on the south towards Silpius.{{sfn|Rockwell|1911|p=131}}

[[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 was about this size in Strabo's time.<ref name="AncientAntiochPop"/>

[[Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa|Agrippa]] and Tiberius enlarged the theatre, and [[Trajan]] finished their work. [[Antoninus Pius]] paved the great east to west artery with granite. [[Circus of Antioch|A circus]], other colonnades and great numbers of baths were built, and new [[aqueduct (Roman)|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 the Great]]), erected a long ''[[stoa]]'' on the east, and [[Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa]] ({{circa|63}}–12&nbsp;BC) encouraged the growth of a new suburb south of this.{{sfn|Rockwell|1911|p=131}}<!---whatever Herod needs linking (my strong guess is [[Herod the Great]], what other Herod had this power?, also the Agrippa time period is right)--->

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 the [[Circus Maximus]] in [[Rome]] and other [[circus (building)|circus buildings]] throughout the empire. Measuring more than {{convert|490|m|abbr=off}} in length and {{convert|30|m|abbr=off}} of width,<ref name="Humphrey1986">{{cite book|first=John|last=Humphrey|title=Roman Circuses: Arenas for Charioteers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=couetXBQO9AC&pg=PA446|access-date=25 August 2012|year=1986|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-04921-5|pages=446–}}</ref> the Circus could house up to 80,000 spectators.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}} The most important building though was the '''Imperial Palace'''.<ref name="Antiochepedia" /> It housed the roman emperor on occasion and may have originally been the seleucid palace. According to [[Libanius]], at his time the palace won in any comparison of its size and was unsurpassed in beauty.<ref name="Antiochepedia">{{cite web |title=Antiochepedia |url=https://libaniusredux.blogspot.com/2008/03/imperial-palace.html |website=Antiochepedia|date=18 March 2008 }}</ref>

[[Zarmanochegas]] (Zarmarus) a monk of the [[Sramana]] tradition of India, according to [[Strabo]] and [[Dio Cassius]], met [[Nicholas of Damascus]] in Antioch around 13&nbsp;AD as part of a Mission to [[Augustus]].<ref>Strabo, 15.7.73 [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0099.tlg001.perseus-eng2:15.1.73].</ref><ref>[[Dio Cassius]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/54*.html#9 liv, 9].</ref> At Antioch [[Germanicus]] died in 19&nbsp;AD, and his body was burnt in the forum.{{sfn|Rockwell|1911|p=131}}

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.{{sfn|Rockwell|1911|p=131}}

[[Titus]] visited Antioch in the spring of 71 AD, where he encountered a crowd demanding the expulsion of Jews from the city.<ref name=":1">{{Citation |last=Smallwood |first=E. Mary |title=The Diaspora A.D. 66–70 and After |date=1976 |work=The Jews under Roman Rule from Pompey to Diocletian |pages=363–364 |url=https://brill.com/display/book/9789004502048/B9789004502048_s022.xml |access-date=2025-01-04 |publisher=Brill |language=en |doi=10.1163/9789004502048_022 |isbn=978-90-04-50204-8}}</ref> He refused, explaining that their country [[First Jewish–Roman War|had been destroyed]], and no other place would accept them.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Andrade |first=Nathanael J. |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/syrian-identity-in-the-grecoroman-world/8B66EF5D1CDAF92B8E453B2281E7D88A |title=Syrian Identity in the Greco-Roman World |date=2013 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-01205-9 |series=Greek Culture in the Roman World |location=Cambridge |pages=115 |doi=10.1017/cbo9780511997808}}</ref> The crowd then sought to revoke the Jews' political privileges by asking Titus to remove the bronze tablets inscribed with their rights, but Titus declined once more.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />

In 115 AD, during [[Trajan]]'s travel there during his war against Parthia, the whole site was [[115 Antioch earthquake|convulsed by a huge earthquake]]. The landscape altered, and the emperor himself was forced to take shelter in the circus for several days.{{sfn|Rockwell|1911|p=131}} 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.{{sfn|Rockwell|1911|p=131}}

[[File:The Antioch Chalice, first half of 6th century, Metropolitan Museum of Art.jpg|thumb|250px|The [[Antioch chalice|Antioch Chalice]], first half of 6th century, [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]].]]
In 256 AD, the town was suddenly raided by the [[Sasanian Empire|Persians]] under [[Shapur I]], and many of the people were slain in 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]].{{sfn|Rockwell|1911|p=131}} It was recaptured by the Roman emperor [[Valerian (emperor)|Valerian]] the following year.

=== Christianity ===
[[Early centers of Christianity#Antioch|Antioch was a chief center of early Christianity]] during Roman times,<ref name="edwards">{{cite encyclopedia|last1=Edwards |first1=Robert W. |title=Antioch (Seleukia Pieria) |encyclopedia=The Eerdmans Encyclopedia of Early Christian Art and Archaeology |editor-first=Paul Corby |editor-last=Finney |date=2017 |publisher=William B. Eerdmans Publishing| location=Grand Rapids, Michigan |isbn=978-0-8028-3811-7| pages=73–74}}</ref> and converts there were the first people to be called Christians.<ref>{{bibleverse||Acts|11:26|KJV}}</ref> The city had a large population of Jewish origin in a quarter called the [[Kerateion]], and so attracted the earliest missionaries.<ref>Acts 11:19</ref> Among these was [[Saint Peter|Peter]] himself, according to the tradition upon which the [[Patriarch of Antioch|Patriarchate of Antioch]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pelikan |first1=Jarislov |title=The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine, Vol. 2: The Spirit of Eastern Christendom (600–1700) |date=1974 |publisher=U of Chicago P |location=Chicago |page=162 |isbn=9780226653730 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lr3ebI4iiwcC&dq=primacy+antioch+peter&pg=PA162 |access-date=15 Dec 2022}}</ref> still rests its claim for primacy.<ref>{{bibleverse||Acts|11|KJV}}</ref> This is not to be confused with [[Antioch, Pisidia|Antioch in Pisidia]], to which [[Barnabas]] and [[Paul of Tarsus]] later travelled.<ref>{{bibleverse||Acts|13:14–50|KJV}}</ref>

Between 252 and 300 AD, [[Synods of Antioch|ten assemblies]] of the church were held at Antioch and it became the seat of one of the five original [[patriarchate]]s,{{sfn|Rockwell|1911|p=131}} 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 Churches|Oriental Orthodox]] (the [[Syriac Orthodox Church]]); three [[Eastern Catholic Churches|Eastern Catholic]] (the [[Maronite Church|Maronite]], [[Syriac Catholic Church|Syriac Catholic]], and [[Melkite Greek Catholic Church]]es); and one [[Eastern Orthodoxy|Eastern Orthodox]] (the [[Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch]]). This title has been maintained though most of them have moved their seat to [[Damascus]]. This 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.{{Citation needed|date=January 2023}}

[[Emperor Constantine]] who had [[Edict of Milan|decriminalised Christianity in 313]], begun the building of the [[Domus Aurea (Antioch)|Domus Aurea or Great Church]] in 327 which served for the next two centuries as the leading church of Antioch.<ref name="Kelly">{{cite book|last=Kelly|first=J. N. D.|title=Golden Mouth: The Story of John Chrysostom – Ascetic, Preacher, Bishop |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t2TNPY3qjlIC&pg=PA2 |year=1998|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=978-0-8014-8573-2|pages=2–3}}</ref>

[[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.<ref name="AncientAntiochPop"/> In a letter written in 363, [[Libanius]] says the city contains 150,000 ''anthrôpoi'' (plural of anthropos, [[human]]) 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.<ref name="AncientAntiochPop"/><ref>A.H.M. Jones, The Later Roman Empire, Vol. II 1984 pp. 1040 & 1409 {{ISBN|0-8018-3354-X}}</ref> 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 the [[Great Church]] as opposed to members of other groups such as [[Arians]] and [[Apollinarians]], or to all Christians of any persuasion.<ref name="AncientAntiochPop"/>

=== Age of Julian and Valens ===
[[File:JulianusII-antioch(360-363)-CNG.jpg|thumb|250px|A bronze coin from Antioch depicting the [[Julian the Apostate|emperor Julian]]. Note the pointed beard.]]
When the [[Julian the Apostate|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 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 of Antioch|Babylas]] were suppressing the oracle of Apollo at Daphne,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://ccel.org/fathers2/NPNF1-09/npnf1-09-20.htm |title=St John Chrysostom's homily on Saint Babylas |access-date=2012-01-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080706194336/http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/NPNF1-09/npnf1-09-20.htm |archive-date=2008-07-06 |url-status=dead }}</ref> he made a public-relations mistake in ordering the removal of the bones from the vicinity of 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.<ref>Ammianus Marcellinus, ''Res Gestae'', 22.12.8{{snd}}22.13.3</ref><ref>[[Socrates of Constantinople]], ''Historia ecclesiastica'', 3.18</ref>

Julian found much else to criticize about the Antiochenes; he had wanted the empire's cities to be more self-managing, as they had been some [[Antonines|200&nbsp;years before]], but Antioch's [[Decurion (administrative)|city councilmen]] showed themselves unwilling to shore up a local 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 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.

Ammianus writes that the Antiochenes hated Julian in turn for worsening the food shortage with the burden of his [[billet]]ed troops. His enthusiasm for large scale [[animal sacrifice]] meant that 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 [[Gauls|Gallic]] soldiers also never quite saw eye to eye. Even to those who kept the old religion, Julian's brand of paganism was distasteful, being very much unique to himself, with little support outside the most educated [[Neo Platonism|Neoplatonist]] circles. Julian gained no admiration for his personal involvement in the sacrifices, only the nickname ''axeman'', wrote Ammianus.

The emperor's high-handed, severe methods and his rigid administration prompted Antiochene [[parody|lampoon]]s about, among other things, Julian's unfashionably [[goatee|pointed beard]].<ref>''Ridebatur enim ut Cercops...barbam prae se ferens hircinam.'' [[Ammianus Marcellinus|Ammianus]] XXII 14.</ref>

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 the Persian sack in 538, by [[Khosrau I|Chosroes]].{{sfn|Rockwell|1911|p=131}}

=== Theodosius and after ===
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.{{sfn|Rockwell|1911|p=131}} Theodosius placed Antioch under Constantinople's rule when he divided the Roman Empire.

[[John Malalas]], a chronicler writing in the 6th century, describes a theater in the city's suburb of Daphne that was built on the ruins of a synagogue. The theater had an inscription stating it was constructed "from the spoils of [[Judaea (Roman province)|Judaea]]".<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Levine |first=Lee I |title=The Ancient Synagogue: The First Thousand Years |date=2005 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-10628-2 |edition=2nd |location=New Haven |pages=126}}</ref> He also mentions a gate of [[cherub]]s in the city, which Titus constructed using the spoils of the [[Second Temple]].<ref name=":3" />
[[File:Antioch Alexandria and Seleucia.png|thumb|left|The Peutinger Map showing Antioch, Alexandria and Seleucia in the 4th century.]]
Antioch and its port, [[Seleucia Pieria]], were severely damaged by the [[526 Antioch earthquake|great earthquake of 526]]. Seleucia Pieria, which was already fighting a losing battle against continual silting, never recovered.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.livius.org/se-sg/seleucia/seleucia_pieria.html |title=Seleucia in Pieria, Ancient Warfare Magazine |access-date=2020-03-26 |archive-date=2013-10-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131030042804/http://www.livius.org/se-sg/seleucia/seleucia_pieria.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> A [[528 Antioch earthquake|second earthquake]] affected Antioch in 528.<ref name="ngdc1">{{cite web |title=Significant Earthquake Information |date=1972 |url=https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/hazel/view/hazards/earthquake/event-more-info/134 |publisher=National Geophysical Data Center / World Data Service (NGDC/WDS): NCEI/WDS Global Significant Earthquake Database. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information|doi=10.7289/V5TD9V7K |access-date=13 August 2024 |author1=National Geophysical Data Center }}</ref> [[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 the walls; but its glory was past.{{sfn|Rockwell|1911|p=131}} Another earthquake in 588 destroyed the Domus Aureus of Constantine, whereafter the [[church of Cassian]] became the most important church of Antioch.<ref name="Kennedy">{{cite book|last=Kennedy|first=Hugh N.|title=The Byzantine and Early Islamic Near East|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XdFqgSBTYeYC&pg=PA185|volume=860|year=2006|publisher=Ashgate|isbn=978-0-7546-5909-9|pages=185–191|series=Variorum Collected Studies}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Kennedy |first1=Hugh N. |title=The Byzantine and Early Islamic Near East |date=2006 |publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. |isbn=978-0-7546-5909-9 |page=188 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XdFqgSBTYeYC |access-date=8 February 2024 |language=en}}</ref>

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 the [[Battle of Antioch (613)|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 [[School of Antioch|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 was [[Simeon Stylites]], who lived an extremely [[ascetic]] life atop a pillar for 40&nbsp;years some {{convert|65|km|0|abbr=off}} [[Church of Saint Simeon Stylites|east of Antioch]]. His body was brought to the city and buried in a building erected under the emperor [[Leo II (emperor)|Leo]].{{sfn|Rockwell|1911|p=131}} During the Byzantine era, great [[Bath House|bathhouses]] were built in [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine centers]] such as [[Constantinople]] and Antioch.<ref>{{citation | editor-first = Alexander | editor-last = Kazhdan |editor-link=Alexander Kazhdan | title = Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 1991 | isbn = 978-0-19-504652-6}}</ref>