About St. Paul Antioch on the Orontes
Antioch on the Orontes
Antioch on Orontes (Antakya), once
called the 'Queen of the East' and known as the third largest city
of the Roman empire, played a pivotal role in the spread of
Christianity from Palestine to the diaspora.
On the main trade routes from the east to the Mediterranean and from
Syria to Anatolia this prosperous city was founded by Seleucus I
Nicator about 300 BCE. Seleucus I's father Antiochus was one of the
generals of Alexander the Great and inherited the largest portion of
Alexander's lands after the latter's death. His kingdom's frontiers
extended from the Hellespont to India. 'Orontes' was attached to
city's name to distinguish it from the other fifteen more Antioch
which this king is said to have founded, naming all of them after
his father.
Among its foundation stories the one which does justice to the
character of the later Antiochenes, who seem in course time to have
cultivated a great number of harmless vanities, is probably the one
constructed by the people of the city of the present day. According
to this, a king who suffered from insomnia came to the slope of Mt.
Silpius in his search to find a place which would help him to fall
asleep. Here, to the surprise of his family and retinue he descended
from his horse, lay on the grass, put his head on a piece of stone
and started snoring. After waking up he decided that this was the
right spot for his new city.
Limited excavation and fairly extensive ancient sources provide the
evidence for our knowledge of the ancient city. It was laid out
between the Orontes (Asi) river and Mt Silpius (Habib Neccar Dagl)
and surrounded by a wall. It was founded on the grid plan, which was
the fashion of the period and possessed all the indispensable
institutions of a polis.
With the decline of the Seleucid power the city became a prey for
Tigranes I of Armenia (95-64 BCE) for a short period and then in 64
BCE was taken over by Rome, to be made the capital of the province
of Syria which would be established a few years later. Among its
monuments Antioch's fame came from the great colonnaded street which
ran from east to west along the walls of the earlier city. By the
time it was completed, in the reign of Tiberius (14-37 CEI the 10
meter-wide marble-paved street, with pavements totaling the same
width, was flanked by roofed double-storeyed colonnades, making it
possible to walk for 4 km under porticoes. It was known as one of
the earliest of such kind of main streets.
The city was founded in the major earthquake zone and there was
regular rebuilding under both its Hellenistic and Roman rulers.
During an earthquake in 115 CE, the emperor Trajan, who was then
staying in the city, saved his life by jumping out of a window of
his palace. Though almost nothing is left of this once great city,
the stunning mosaics brought to light from the excavations in
Antioch, its suburbs, Daphne (Defnel and Seleucia Pieria give at
least some idea of the prosperity and high living standard of
ancient Antioch.
By St. Paul's time the city was already spreading towards the level
plain to the south of the Orontes river which Strabo claims to have
been navigable until it reached the Mediterranean. Pausanias,
however, states that the river 'does not flow throughout its whole
course to the sea on level ground, but tumbles over a precipitous
ledge of rock. Wishing, then, that ships should sail up the river
from the sea to the city of Antioch, the Roman emperor [thought to
be Vespasian] had a navigable canal dug with much labor and at great
expense, and into this canal he diverted the river'. The information
about the work of Vespasian shows the importance that the Romans
afforded to the Orontes as a communication route from the
Mediterranean to the city and Syria.
Agricultural produce was bountiful in the warm climate and its
position on trade routes, notably the silk route, helped to make
this an extremely wealthy city, attracting traders and artists from
many countries. The inhabitants of city according to Tacitus
'enjoyed having dealings with the soldiers they knew, and many of
the provincials were linked with them by marriage and family ties'.
The Roman soldiers who were based at the camps near Antioch were
known to have been reluctant to leave the region. The wealth and
luxury of the city were famed and the sybaritic, self indulgent
lifestyle of its inhabitants was immortalized by the first-century
Roman satirist Juvenal, commenting on the effect of oriental
excesses on Roman life:
'...For years now Syrian Orontes has poured its sewerage into our
native Tiber
Its lingo and manners, its flutes, its outlandish harps
With their transverse strings, its native tambourines,
And the whores who hang out round the race-course'.
Visiting the city some three hundred years later the Byzantine
emperor Julian the Apostate (361-631 could not help himself from
dwelling on, among many other vanities, on the greed, effeminacy or
laziness of the Antiochenes.
The earliest inhabitants of the city were the Macedonian veterans in
the Seleucid army, immigrants from Greece and Jews. In the first
century CE the city's population was more than 200,000 of which
perhaps more than one fifth were Jews. In general, the Jews of
Antioch were wealthy and since Seleucid times had enjoyed almost all
the rights of full citizenship to the chagrin of non-Jewish
citizens; in contrast to the Jews of Palestine, they were not riven
by factions. Most were Greek-speaking and used the Septuagint, the
Greek translation of the Old Testament. Judaism's monotheism and its
ethical teachings for the conduct of life, together with the fact
that Greek was spoken in the synagogues, 'regularly attracted large
numbers of Greeks to their worship, and they had, to some degree,
made them a part of their community'. To this cosmopolitan and
tolerant city, with its Greek and oriental cults and philosophies,
came Hellenistic Jewish Christians, fleeing the persecutions of
Jerusalem that had been responsible for the death of St Stephen in
about 34.
Within a few years, perhaps by about 40, following the popular
practice of the time to refer to the partisans of a famous person as
'Herodians' or 'Pompeians' (supporters or clients of Pompey), the
term Christians, a Greek word with a Latin adjectival ending, first
came into use (Acts 11 :26), originating in the city to describe the
Greek speaking Gentile followers of Christ, as distinct from the
Jews. The new term comprised all the known terms used until then to
refer to the believers of the new faith: brethren, witnesses, those
of the way, saints etc. The coinage of the word also shows that at
the beginning Christianity was regarded as a sort of semi-political
movement.
It was at about this time, about 40/43 that St. Paul came to Antioch
to assist St. Barnabas . For many years, this multi-cultural city
was the main base and focal point of their missionary activity
amongst the Gentiles. It is a measure of the success of their
mission, that during the severe famine (4547), the Antiochene
community sent aid to the believers in Jerusalem. St. Peter too was
associated with Antioch, having been there at the time of St. Paul
and St. Barnabas ; according to one tradition, he is regarded as the
founder of the church of Antioch and even its first bishop. A cave
on the slope of Mt. Staurin, the eastern extension of Mt. Silpius,
is traditionally regarded as a meeting place of the early
Christians. The grotto was given a facade, probably in the eleventh
century after the crusader conquest, since which time it has been
the church of St. Peter.
There is nothing left to be seen from St. Paul's time in Antioch. If
there was one sight that the Apostle could not have missed during
his frequent stays in the city, this must have been the giant relief
situated next to the grotto of St. Peter. Ancient literature relates
that in the reign of Antiochus I (280-261BCE) to protect Antioch
from a plague a 'philosopher and wonder-worker' named Laiios
commanded the carving of a great mask with some special words on it
for the salvation of the city. The talisman was called by the people
of Antioch 'Charanion'. On its right shoulder a smaller figure was
carved.
Journeys of St. Paul
About St. Paul
Traveling in St. Pauls Time
City of St. Paul
Antioch on the Orontes
Seleucia Pieria
First Journey
Ministry in Antioch - Orontes
Second Journey
Third Journey
Arrest and Imprisonment
Journey to Rome
Story of Paul and Thecla
St. Paul's Letters