Antioch, know as Antioch on the Orontes or Antioch of Syria, is a city in Southeast Asia Minor which is now part of Modern
Turkey. It had been refounded and named by one of the Alexander the Great's generals, Seleucus Nicator I, who conquered this
area after the Battle of Ipsus in 301 B.C. He named the city for his father, Antiochus.
The capture of the land around Antioch had been one of the steps in Alexander's grand strategy of uniting Europe and
Asia Minor into one Hellenic civilization under one ruler. As Antioch lay on the Orontes (Asi) River and on the road between
Asia Minor and the lands to the south, Seleucus Nicator I was in a excellent position from which he could further that Hellenization
which Alexander had envisioned. Thus Antioch was made capital of the kingdom of Syria.
After Pompey, the great Roman general, defeated Antiochus XIII, king of Syria, Syria became a Roman province in 64 B.C.
For the Romans, Antioch served as the capital of the province of Syria. Antioch was approximately 1 mile by 2 miles in size
and was laid out as a typical Hellenistic city. Julius Caesar visited the city in 47 B.C and added much to the city. He built
an aqueduct from Mount Silpius, a theater in the center of town, an amphitheater by the southern gate, and a theater in the
side of Mount Silpius.
In the first century, Antioch had a population of half a million, which made it the third largest city in the Roman world,
surpassed only by Rome and Alexandria.
Antioch, now called Antakya, was known as "The Queen of the East." She was a cultivated, cosmopolitan center for ideas
and trades. The city survived many conquerors: Persians, Arabs, Crusaders and Turks, and was returned to Turkey in 1939.
