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Antioch

Type Object Region Syria Time c. 1–500

An ancient metropolis on the Orontes River in northern Syria that became one of the most important Hellenistic cities of the Near East after the Sele…

Timeline

  1. c. 1–200Antioch · SyriaAntioch was the capital of the Roman province of Syria, with a population exceeding several hundred thousand; known for its broad streets, aqueducts, the suburban spa villa at Daphne, and its Roman theater, it was a center of eastern trade and administration, counted alongside Alexandria and Rome as one of the Empire's three great cities.
  2. c. 40–300Church of Antioch · LevantAccording to the Acts of the Apostles, Peter and Paul preached here; Antioch was the first place where followers were called Christians, forming a great patriarchate alongside Rome and Alexandria, with theologians such as Saint Ignatius and Lucian active here.
  3. 260–500Antioch · LevantMajor disasters such as the sack by Shapur I in the third century and the great earthquake of 526 devastated the city, but emperors including Justinian repeatedly funded its reconstruction; in the fifth century Antioch remained a major Byzantine military and ecclesiastical center in Syria until the Arab conquest in the seventh century.

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