Antakya

 

(ăn'tēŏk') or Antakya (äntäk'yä) , city (1990 pop. 124,443), capital of Hatay prov., S Turkey, on the Orontes (Asi) River, near the Mediterranean Sea, at the foot of Mt. Silpius. Antioch is the trade center for a region where grains, cotton, grapes, olives, and vegetables are grown. The city's manufactures include processed foods, textiles, and leather goods. There is an archaeological museum.

Modern Antioch occupies only a fraction of the area of the ancient city, most of which is buried under alluvial deposits. Important archaeological finds in the area include the Great Chalice of Antioch (see chalice), said by some to be the Holy Grail, and, at Daphne, an ancient suburban resort, splendid Roman mosaics (1st–6th cent. A.D.), mostly copies of lost paintings and held to represent the height of mosaic art.

History

The city was founded c.300 B.C. by Seleucus I, king of Syria, and named for his father Antiochus, a Macedonian general. Situated at the crossing of north-south and east-west trade routes, the city soon became a rich commercial center. Antioch was occupied by Pompey in 64 B.C. and quickly became an important Roman military, commercial, and cultural center. The Romans built great temples, a forum, a theater, baths, aqueducts, and other public buildings. The two main streets, at right angles to each other, were lined with marble colonnades and adorned with temples, palaces, and statues.

Antioch was an early center of Christianity; Peter and Paul preached there. It was in Antioch that the followers of Jesus were first called Christians after they severed themselves from the synagogue about 20 years after Jesus' death. Antioch is one of the three original patriarchates (see patriarch). Aurelian, who recovered the city from Shapur I of Persia, erected (3d cent.) more magnificent buildings and churches. The city played a significant role in the theological controversies of the early Christian church (see Christianity). St. John Chrysostom estimated its population (4th cent.) at 200,000, excluding children and slaves.

In 526 the city suffered a severe earthquake. It was again captured by Persia in 540 and taken by the Arabs in 637. Nicephorus II reconquered it (969) for the Byzantine Empire, but in 1085 it fell, through treason, to the Seljuk Turks. The army of the First Crusade (see Crusades) captured Antioch in 1098 after a half-year siege. Bohemond I was made prince of Antioch. His principality, which extended from Iskenderun (Alexandretta) southward beyond Latakia, was one of the most powerful of the Crusaders' states. In 1268 the Mamluks captured and sacked the city; it was further damaged by Timur in 1401.

In 1516 Antioch, by then much reduced in importance, was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire. The city was held (1832–40) by Muhammad Ali of Egypt, and in 1872 it was badly damaged by an earthquake. After World War I, Antioch was held as part of French Syria under a League of Nations mandate. In 1939 it was restored to Turkey.

It has been suggested that Antioch be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

Antakya
The Orontes River flowing through Antakya
Location in Turkey
Overview
Region	Mediterranean Region, Turkey
Province	Hatay Province
Population	144,910 2000
Elevation	67 m
Postal code	31
Area code	(0)326
Licence plate code	31

Antakya (Arabic: انطاكية, Greek: Ἀντιόχεια Antiókheia or Αντιόχεια Antiócheia) is the seat of the Hatay Province in southern Turkey, near the border with Syria. In ancient times the city was known as Antioch and has historical significance for Christianity, being the place where the followers of Jesus Christ were called Christians for the very first time. The city and its massive walls also played an important role during the Crusades.

Geography

Antakya is located on the banks of the Orontes River (Turkish: Asi Nehri), approximately 22 km inland from the Mediterranean coast. It enjoys a Mediterranean climate with hot and dry summers, and mild and wet winters; however due to its higher altitude, Antakya has slightly cooler temperatures than the coast. The city is in a valley surrounded by mountains, the Nur Mountains to the north and Mount Keldağ (Jebel Akra to the south, with the 440 m high Mount Habib Neccar (ancient Silpius) forming its eastern limits. The mountains are a source of a green marble. Antakya is at the northern edge of the Dead Sea Rift and vulnerable to earthquakes.

The plain of Amik to the north-east of the city is fertile soil watered by the Orontes, the Karasu River and the Afrin River, the lake in the plain was drained in 1980 by a French company. At the same time channels were built to widen the Orontes River and let it pass neatly through the city centre. The Orontes is joined in Antakya by the Hacı Kürüş stream to the north-east of the city near the church of St Peter, and the Hamşen which runs down from Habib-i Neccar to the south-west, under Memekli Bridge near the army barracks. Flora includes the bay trees and myrtle.

The city of Antakya today

Mount Habib Neccar and the city walls which climb the hillsides symbolise Antakya, making the city a formidable fortress built on a series of hills running north-east to south-west. Antakya was originally centred on the eastern bank of the river but since the 19th century the city has expanded with new neighbourhoods built on the plains across the river to the south-west, and there are four bridges across the river linking the old and new cities. However like so much of Turkey the buildings of the last two decades are all concrete blocks of stupendous ugliness and Antakya has lost much of its classic beauty. The narrow streets of the old city to get clogged with traffic.

Although the port of Iskenderun has become the largest city in Hatay, Antakya is a provincial capital still of considerable importance as the centre of a large district, growing in wealth and productiveness with the draining of Lake Amik. The town is a lively shopping and business centre with many restaurants, cinemas and other amenities, centred on a large park opposite the governor's building and the central avenue Kurtuluş Caddesı. The tea gardens, cafes and restaurants in the neighbourhood of Harbiye are one of the city's most popular spots, particularly for the variety of meze in the restaurants. The Orontes River is rather smelly when water is low in summer. Although the people are generally modern in outlook (the girls are mostly in modern clothes, without headscarves) there is little in the way of wild night life. In the summer heat people will stay outside until late in the night walking with their families and friends and munching on snacks.

Being so near the Syrian border Antakya is a cosmopolitan city unlike most places in rural Turkey today, and Antakya has not experienced the 1980s and 1990s mass immigration of people from eastern Anatolia that has radically swelled the populations of other Mediterranean cities such as Adana and Mersin. As a result both Turkish and Arabic are still widely spoken in Antakya although you do not see Arabic written very much. A mixed community of faiths and demoninations co-exist peacefully here; although almost all the inhabitants are Muslim a substantial proportion adhere to the minority Alevi and the Arab minority Nusayri traditions, in 'Harbiye' there is a place to honour the Nusayri saint Hızır. There are a number of tombs of Muslim saints, both Sunni and Alevi, throughout the city. There are also still small active Christian communities in the city, the largest church being St Peter and St Paul on Hurriyet Caddesi. With its long history of spiritual and religious movements Antakya is still a place of pilgrimage for Christians and Muslims and furthermore still carries a reputation in Turkey as a centre of spells, fortune telling, miracles and spirits.

Local crafts include a soap scented with oil of bay tree.

Cuisine

The cuisine of Antakya is renowned, popular dishes include the typical Turkish kebab, served in Antakya with spices and onions in flat unleavened bread, or with yoghurt as ali nazik kebab. Hot spicy food is a feature of this part of Turkey, along with Turkish coffee and local specialities including:

Sweets

• Künefe - a hot cheese pastry sweet. Antakya is Turkey's künefe capital, with the pastry shops in the centre all proclaiming themselves king Turkish: kral. The secret is in the light yellow cheese that they use.
• Müşebbek - rings of deep fried pastry

Savories

• Pomegranate syrup, used as a salad dressing
• Semirsek a thin bread with hot pepper, minced meat or spinach filling
• Içli köfte and oruk - varieties of the Arabic kibbeh, deep-fried balls of bulgur stuffed with minced meat
• Spicy chicken, a speciality of Harbiye
• Za'atar spiced thyme, spread on flat bread
• fresh chick peas, munched as a snack

Meze

• Hummus - the chick-pea dip
• pureed fava beans
• Surke - the spicy sun-dried cheese
• Çökelek - dried curds served in spicy olive oil
• Eels from the Orontes, spiced and fried in olive oil.

History

It has been suggested that Antioch be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

Antiquity

See Antioch for the long, rich history of this area in the ancient and classical periods, dating back to the Calcolithic era of 5000 BC (as revealed by excavations of the mound of Tell-Açana among others). Subsequent rulers of the area include Alexander the Great, who after defeating the Persians in 333 BC followed the Orontes south into Syria. The city of Antioch was founded in 300 BC, after the death of Alexander, by the Seleucid King Antiochus Soter, and went on to play an important part in the history as one of the largest cities in the Roman Empire and Byzantium, a key location of the early years of Christianity, the Antiochian Orthodox Church, the rise of Islam and The Crusades. Muslims believe that it will be found by Mahdi near the end of times in the city of Antakya.

The Ottoman city of Antakya

In 1822 (and again in 1872), Antakya was hit by an earthquake so when Ottoman general Ibrahim Pasha established his headquarters in the city in 1835, it had only some 5000 inhabitants. It was hoped that the city might develop thanks to the Euphrates valley railway, which was supposed to link it to the port of Suedia (now Samandağı). But such plans were doomed to come to naught. Instead, the city was struck by repeated outbreaks of cholera. Later the city did nevertheless develop and rapidly resumed much of its old importance when a railway was built along the lower Orontes valley.

The Republic of Hatay and modern Turkey

See Hatay Province for the history of the region during the demise of the Ottoman Empire, the short-lived Republic of Hatay (in 1938), and the areas incorporation into the Republic of Turkey in 1939.

Places of interest

With its remarkable history there is much for visitors to see in Antakya, although much has doubtless been lost in the rapid and ugly growth of the city in recent decades.

• Antakya Archaeological Museum has the second largest collection of Roman mosaics in the world, found when excavating Roman villas on the hillside at Harbiye. (Entry is 5 lira for foreigners, 2 lira for Turkish citizens).
• the rock-carved Church of St Peter, with its network of refuges and tunnels carved out of the rock, a site of Christian pilgrimage. There are also tombs cut into the rock face at various places along the Orontes valley.
• The seedy Gündüz cinema in the city centre was once used as parliament building of the Republic of Hatay.
• the waterfall and restaurants at Harbiye.
• The Ottoman Habib-i Neccar Camii is the oldest mosque in Antakya.
• The labyrinth of narrow streets in the old market area
• The views of the city from the hillsides above

Despite all this and plenty of hotel accommodation Antakya still doesn't attract the tourist trade that it deserves and with a little investment could achieve. With its rich architectural heritage, Antakya is a member of the Norwich-based European Association of Historic Towns and Regions [1]. Sadly the Roman bridge (thought to date from the era of Diocletian was destroyed in 1972 during the widening and channelling of the Orontes.

Gallery

Copperplate print by Abraham Ortelius, Antwerpen, late 16th century	Project Gutenberg's Young Folks' History of Rome, by Charlotte Mary Yonge, 1880	Part of a Roman mozaic with a theater scene. From Antakya Museum (source: [1]).

External links

• Antakyalıların internetteki adresi antakyaforum.com
• Governorship of Hatay
• Catholic Church of Antioch
• Antakya Trade and Industry Chamber
  • Antakya Guide and Photo Album
  • more photos
  • and more photos
  • and more photos
  • and more
• archaeology in Antioch
• map of ancient Antioch
• Antakya Museum
• info on Antioch

• Maps and aerial photos for 36°′″N 36°′″E / 36.1967, 36.1627Coordinates: 36°′″N 36°′″E / 36.1967, 36.1627
  • Maps from MapQuest, Multimap and Yahoo! Maps
  • Satellite images and maps from Google Maps and Live Search
  • Other mapping from GlobalGuide and WikiMapia

Twin towns

Aalen, Germany (since 1995).

Antakya in Hatay Province (in the Mediterranean region) of Turkey
Urban districts	Antakya
Rural districts	Altınözü - Antakya - Belen - Dörtyol - Erzin - Hassa - İskenderun - Kırıkhan - Kumlu - Reyhanlı - Samandağ - Yayladağı
Regions	Provinces
Aegean	Afyonkarahisar - Aydın - Denizli - İzmir - Kütahya - Manisa - Muğla - Uşak
Black Sea	Amasya - Artvin - Bartın - Bayburt - Bolu - Çorum - Düzce - Giresun - Gümüşhane - Karabük - Kastamonu - Ordu - Rize - Samsun - Sinop - Tokat - Trabzon - Zonguldak
Central Anatolia	Aksaray - Ankara - Çankırı - Eskişehir - Karaman - Kayseri - Kırıkkale - Kırşehir - Konya - Nevşehir - Niğde - Sivas - Yozgat
East Anatolia	Ağrı - Ardahan -Bingöl - Bitlis - Elazığ - Erzincan - Erzurum - Hakkâri - Iğdır - Kars - Malatya - Muş - Siirt - Tunceli - Van
Marmara	Balıkesir - Bilecik - Bursa - Çanakkale - Edirne - Istanbul - Kırklareli - Kocaeli - Sakarya - Tekirdağ - Yalova
Mediterranean	Adana - Antalya- Burdur - Hatay - Isparta - Kahramanmaraş - Mersin - Osmaniye
Southeastern Anatolia	Adıyaman - Batman - Diyarbakır - Gaziantep - Kilis - Mardin - Şanlıurfa - Şırnak

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

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Coordinates: 36°12′N, 36°09′E

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