THE IMPERIAL CITY OF ANTIOCH

Seleucus I Nicator founded the city of Antioch on the banks of the river Orontes in 300 bc as part of his plan to Hellenize the region. The city came under Roman influence when Syria became a Roman province in 64 bc and continued to flourish throughout the imperial period. Despite some disruption in the 260s ad, when the city came under the control of the Palmyra, Antioch continued to be one of the largest and most important cities in the Roman empire after Rome and Alexandria. In the fourth century Antioch was a thriving city that confounds simplistic notions of civic decline in this period. Throughout most of this century Antioch was the metropolis of the province of Syria, the base for emperors engaged in Persian campaigns and home to an imperial palace and the other buildings necessary for an imperial base. At the same time it continued to be a wealthy and politically active city, an important trading point and a centre for education and culture. In many ways Antioch was thus a typical Graeco-Roman city, if a particularly important one that was close to the centres of imperial power. We also need to remember, however, that Antioch was also a famously Christian city. It was supposedly at Antioch that the Christians were first given the name ‘Christian’ and where they were first seen as a group distinct from Judaism.