History of Antioch

Prehistory

It has been a tradition to claim that the city dates back to the 3rd century BC and that it was founded by the Seleucid Dynasty, one of the Hellenistic kingdoms. But the history of the city cannot be separated from the history of the Lake District and of Pisidia. Researches done in the area have shown habitation since the Paleolithic age.

During the excavations and surveys made by D.M. Robinson and the University of Michigan around Yalvaç in 1924 it was shown that finds from surrounding mounds date back to the 3rd millennium BC.

In Antioch itself, no finds have been found from the Proto-Hittite, Hittite, Phrygian or Lydian civilisations, but we learn from Hittite records that the region was named “Arzawa” and that independent communities lived in the region. These people did not come under the yoke of the Hittites, but fought beside them against the Egyptians in the Battle of Kadesh.

Over the ages, people were able to live independently in the Pisidian region because of its strategical position. Even the Persians, who conquered Anatolia in the 6th century BC, and attempted to rule the area by dividing it into satrapies, were unable to cope with constant uprisings and turmoil.

The approach of some researchers who would like to connect the cult of Men Askaenos with the cult of the Phrygian Mother Goddess Cybele is also controversial. The worship of Cybele, traces of which can be seen in Antioch, is not a result of Phrygian influence: the idea of a Mother Goddess dates back to the Neolithic age as is shown by idols and figurines exhibited in Yalvaç Museum.

Hellenistic age

 After the death of Alexander the Great, Seleucus I Nicator, founder of the Seleucid Dynasty, took control of Pisidia. Captured places were Hellenised and, in order to protect the population, fortified cities were founded at strategically important places, usually on an acropolis. Seleucus I Nicator had nearly 60 cities founded, and gave to 16 of them the name of his father Antiochos. Colonists were brought from Magnesia on the Maeander to found Pisidian Antioch (the Land of Antiochus).

Meanwhile, fights for the sharing of Anatolia continued and were complicated by the Galatians coming in from Europe. The self-interested Hellenistic dynasties could not expel the Galatians from the interior, but Antiochus I Seleucos fought against them in 270 BC in the Taurus Mountains and defeated them by the help of elephants, which the Galatians had never seen before. The historian Lucian reported the comment of Antiochos: ”It’s a great shame that we owe our liberation to 16 elephants”. Anyway, Antiochos celebrated his victory when he returned to Syria and was given the title of ”Soter” (Saviour).

The most reasonable approach is that Antioch was founded by Antiochus I Soter as a military base to control the Galatian attacks because it was on the border of the regions of Pisidia and Phrygia. The foundation of Antioch indicates a date of the last quarter of the 3rd century BC, but archeological finds at the Sanctuary of Men Askaenos in the northeast date back to the 4th century. This indicates that there had been earlier classical cultures in the area.

Roman period

Although Anatolia was dominated by the Roman Empire as the province of Asia, Pisidia was given to the Kingdom of Cappadocia, which was an ally of Rome. During the following years, the authority gap which could not be filled by these kingdoms remote from central government, led to the rise of powerful pirate kingdoms, especially in Cilicia and Pisidia. The Romans were disturbed by these kingdoms and fought against them. Cilicia, Pampylia, Phrygia and Pisida were freed from pirates and Roman rule was restored in 102 BC.

The geographical and strategical position of the region made it difficult to control the area and maintain constant peace. The Homonadesians, settled in the Taurus Mountains between Attalaia and Iconion, caused problems for Rome. Marcus Antonius who had to control the roads connecting Pisidia to Pamphylia, charged his allied king Amyntas, King of Pisidia, to fight against Homonadesians, but Amyntas was killed during the struggle.

Then Rome started to colonize using military legions as a solution to the failure of the locally appointed governors. The Province of Galatia was established in 25 BC and Antioch became a part of it. To support the struggle against the Homonadesians logistically, the construction of a road called the Via Sebaste, the centre of which was Antioch, was started by the governor of the Province of Galatia, Cornutus Arrutius Aquila. The Via Sebaste was separated into two and directed to the southwest and southeast to surround the Homonadesians. Secondary connecting roads were built between these two roads. Rome thanks to the Via Sebaste and P.Sulpicius Quirinius wiped the Homonadesians out from history in 3 BC.

During the reign of Augustus, eight colonies were established in Pisidia, but only Antioch was honoured with the title of Caesareia and given the right of the “Ius Italicum”, maybe because of its strategic position. The city became an important Roman colony which rose to the position of a capital city with the name of “Colonia Caesareia”.

Hellenisation became Latinisation during the Roman period and it was applied in Antioch best. The city was divided into seven quarters called “vici” all of which were founded on seven hills like in Rome. The formal language was Latin till the end of the 3rd century A.D. The fertilitiy of the land and the peace brought by Augustus (Pax Romana: Roman Peace) made it easier for the veterans as colonists in the area to have good relations and integration with the natives.

One of the three surviving copies of “Res Gestae Divi Augusti”, the famous inscription recording the noble deeds of the Emperor Augustus was found in front of the Augusteum in Antioch. The original was carved on bronze tablets and exhibited in front of the Mausoleum of Augustus in Rome, but unfortunately has not survived. The Antioch copy on stone was written in Latin which is a sign of the importance of the city as a military and cultural base of Rome in Asia. (One of the copies, in Greek and Latin, is in Ankara, the other, in Greek, in Apollonia -Uluborlu).

Early Christian-Byzantine period

 Antioch was a capital city for many different cultures because of the economic, military and religious activities of the region. This is the reason why Paul of Tarsus gave his first sermon to the Gentiles (Acts 13:13–52}, and visited the city once on each of his missionary journeys, helping to make Antioch a center of Christianity in Anatolia.

The Emperor Constantine’s liberalization of Christianity in 311 and the passing of new laws supporting it, caused people to adopt themselves to the new religion. Antioch played an important role as a metropolitan city at meetings of the church councils. It became the capital city of the Christian Pisidian Province, founded in the 4th century and welcomed the mayor of state and archbishop.

In the 6th century two reasons that had helped Antioch to become a colony and gain importance — the fight for sharing Anatolia and the civil wars — had both ceased. It was still an important centre of Christianity, but like many other colonies it remained off the main trade route, and it started to lose its importance.

The Eastern Roman Empire directed its economic, political and military power to the southeast because the warriors of a new religion from the Arab Peninsula were invading the furthest borders of the Empire. The Arab raids from the sea and land weakened the empire, the capital city Constantinople was surrounded by Arabs several times. Anatolian cities were damaged by these raids, especially after the time of the crusaders, and they started to be deserted. In the 8th century the raids increased. The fiercest of all against Antioch was conducted by Abbas, the Caliph's son, in 718 during the reign of Caliph Velid. Antioch never recovered and hundreds years of glamour vanished.

In Antioch, which was visited by crusaders as well, a new people appeared in the 11th century: the Seljuk Turks, who captured the area and founded the Anatolian Seljuk Empire (Sultanate) in Central Anatolia. Until the 12th century Antioch was a base where soldiers stopped for a rest, constantly changing hands. On 11 September 1176, the armies of the Eastern Roman Empire and the Seljuk Sultanate met at Myriokephalon (thousand heads), whose exact location is not know; but it is widely accepted that it is somewhere near Yalvaç. The Great Sultan Kılıçarslan won the battle against Manuel Commenos. After the battle the treaty signed in Antioch between Kılıçarslan and Manuel led to the introduction of the Turkish culture which survives to the present day.

The Turks preferred to settle down in the valley instead of on the acropolis because they now controlled the whole of Central Anatolia. They did not need defence walls and the valley was very suitable for agriculture. The names of most captured cities were not changed by the Turks, but since the name of Antioch had already been forgotten and there were no Christians in the region anymore, the city was named "Yalvac" which means “Prophet”, which reminds us of Saint Paul.