About St. Paul Seleucia Pieria
Seleucia Pieria: Port of Antioch on the Orontes
Seleucia (in) Pieria (Cevlik) was
founded partly on a rocky promontory projecting from Mt Coryphaeus
and partly on the small plain below, some 10 km away from the point
where the Orontes river pours into the Mediterranean at the foot of
Mt Casius (Keldag).
In the archives of Ugarit and to the Hittites this mountain was
known as Mt Hazzi. According to legend, while Seleucus 1(321-281
BCE) was sacrificing on this mountain an eagle snatched part of the
sacrificial offering and carried it to the place where the new town
would be built. It was named after the nearby Mt Pieria (Musa Dagl).
Seleucia Pieria was chosen as a capital before the foundation of
Antioch and was one of the nine cities which the king had named
after his dynasty.
The king, however, seeing that a coastal city was open to attacks
from the sea, and lacking a strong navy, preferred to move the new
capital of his kingdom to Antioch from where the inland trade routes
also could be controlled. His worries would later be confirmed by
the occupation of the port by Ptolemies of Egypt between 241-219
BCE, which is mentioned in the First Book of Maccabees: 'Plotting
evil against Alexander, King Ptolemy took possession of the cities
along the seacoast as far as Seleucia-by-theSea' (1 Mc 11 :8).
The port of Seleucia was created by enlarging a natural basin formed
by a stream. Later, under Vespasian and then Titus, and finally
completed in the following century, an artificial watercourse was
constructed to divert this stream from the harbor to prevent it from
being silted up. This is a canal of some 1400 m long, the final 130
m of which was tunneled through the rock to a height and width of 6
m.
The cutting of so-called tunnel of Titus was the greatest project
that Rome ever undertook in the provinces. Inscriptions which have
survived on its walls, and which give the names of Vespasian (69-79)
and Titus (79-81), originally must have also included Domitian
(81-96).
Other inscriptions record that the work was done in sections and by
the participation of particular Roman legions stationed in eastern
Anatolia. Some inscriptions also show that further work was done by
soldiers of the legions under Antoninus Pius in about 149. This was
the port from which St. Paul and St. Barnabas sailed to Cyprus on
St. Paul's First Journey.
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