This is a complete history of Antioch, one of the most significant major cities of the eastern Mediterranean and a crossroads for the Silk Road, from its foundation by the Seleucids, through Roman rule, the rise of Christianity, Islamic and Byzantine conquests, to the Crusades and beyond. Antioch has typically been treated as a city whose classical glory faded permanently amid a series of natural disasters and foreign invasions in the sixth and seventh centuries CE. Such studies have obstructed the view of Antioch’s fascinating urban transformations from classical to medieval to modern city and the processes behind these transformations. Through its comprehensive blend of textual sources and new archaeological data reanalyzed from Princeton’s 1930s excavations and recent discoveries, this book offers unprecedented insights into the complete history of Antioch, recreating the lives of the people who lived in it and focusing on the factors that affected them during the evolution of its remarkable cityscape. While Antioch’s built environment is central, the book also utilizes landscape archaeological work to consider the city in relation to its hinterland, and numismatic evidence to explore its economics. The outmoded portrait of Antioch as a sadly perished classical city par excellence gives way to one in which it shines as brightly in its medieval Islamic, Byzantine, and Crusader incarnations. Antioch: A History offers a new portal to researching this long-lasting city and is also suitable for a wide variety of teaching needs, both undergraduate and graduate, in the fields of classics, history, urban studies, archaeology, Silk Road studies, and Near Eastern/Middle Eastern studies. Just as importantly, its clarity makes it attractive for, and accessible to, a general readership outside the framework of formal instruction.
Author(s): Andrea U. De Giorgi; A. Asa Eger
Series: Cities of the Ancient World
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2021
Language: English
Pages: xxii+588
Antioch: A History
Contents
List of figures
List of tables
List of abbreviations
Introduction
Contributions
New research
Longer life and afterlife
Wider vistas
Themes
A resilient city
A conquered city
A cosmopolitan city
A celebrated city
A few more words
Notes
1 The eagle of Zeus arrives (303 BCE–64 BCE)
1Introduction
Topography
The early landscape
From the Seleucids to Antioch
Antioch’s establishment in the textual record
The foundation’s physical appearance
New expansions
Political structure and economy
Epiphaneia
The last days of the Seleucids
The materiality of Hellenistic Antioch
Conclusions
Notes
2 Orientis apex pulcher: the Roman “Beautiful Crown of the East” in the making (64 BCE–192 CE)
Introduction
The days of Pompey and Roman administration in Antioch
Libertas: Antioch under Julius Caesar
Imperial Antioch
Antioch under the Julio-Claudian Dynasty
Antioch and the Flavians
Earthquakes, Trajan, and Antioch in the second century CE
Antioch under Hadrian
Antioch and the Antonines
The archaeology of Early Imperial Antioch
Conclusions
Notes
3 From capital to crisis: Antioch in the Late Roman Empire (193–458)
Introduction
A universal empire: the Severans and the third century
The early fourth century and the Tetrarchic capital
The days of Constantine
Constantius II and the advent of Libanius
Pagan capital?
After Julian
The city’s economy
Antioch eclipsed
Developments in Daphne
End of an era
Conclusions
Notes
4 Theoupolis, the city of God (458–638)
Introduction
The end of the fifth century
A divided community
Dark days in Antioch
A new Antioch?
The troubles continue
Buildings
Conclusions
Notes
5 Anṭākiya, mother of cities (638–969)
Introduction
Debating decline or transformation
The Early Islamic conquest and frontier engagements
Administration and local revolts in Antioch
Urban landscape
The churches in early Islamic Antioch
The Christian community of Early Islamic Antioch
The Islamic community
Residential, commercial, and industrial spaces
Green spaces
Conclusions
Notes
6 The Byzantine duchy of Antioch (969–1085)
Introduction
The reconquest
The medieval Byzantine city
Sources
Administration
A new castle
The Fāṭimid invasions
The Churches of St. Peter and the Theotokos
Local rebellions and imperial involvement
Religious communities and other churches
Mirdāsid invasions
An Armenian rebellion
Monasteries and Scholars
Other buildings
Houses and industry
Shifts in the town
Ruralization continued
Conclusion
Notes
7 The Saljūqs: an interlude (1084–1098)
Introduction
The Saljūq conquest and 14 years of rule
Earthquakes
Buildings
Numismatics and archaeology
Conclusion
Notes
8 The Crusader principality of Antioch (1098–1268)
Introduction
The siege of Antioch
Crusader archaeology
After the conquest: the first 20 years (1099–1124)
Topography
Ruling over a diverse city
Earthquakes and other disasters
Norman consolidation of the city
The prosperity of the countryside
Crusaders, Byzantines, and Zangids (1125–1162)
Topography
The Crusaders begin to lose control
The Crusaders’ mint
Crusaders and Ayyūbids (1163–1192)
Topography, communities, and the economy
The principality weakens
Crusaders and Armenians (1193–1268)
Topography
The War of Antiochene Succession
An international trading city
Conclusion
Notes
9 A Mamlūk entrepot (1268–1516)
Introduction
Rise of the Mamlūks
The destruction of Antioch
Antioch under the Mamlūks
Archaeology of the Mamlūk period
Conclusion
Notes
10 Ottoman Antakya (1516–1918)
Introduction
Antioch under the Ottomans
Ottoman foundation chronicles
Orientalism and the city
Earthquakes
State of the classical and medieval structures
The city’s walls and towers
City gates
Churches and palaces
The Island
Cisterns and aqueducts
The Ottoman city
Public buildings
The economy and natural resources
Streets, neighborhoods, and houses
Ottoman reform and defeat
Conclusions
Notes
11 A frontier town once more (1920–2020)
Introduction
Antakya in 1932
The league of nations, the Sanjak, and the end of independence
The chronicles of the archaeologists
Conclusions
Notes
Appendix 1: Mapping the walls of Antioch
Notes
Appendix 2: Evliya Çelebi’s Seyahatnamesi
Notes
Bibliography
Index of people
Index of places
Varia index
