Antioch

Antioch: ancient ruinsAncient street in the ruins of Antioch, Turkey.

Antioch, ancient city in Phrygia, near the Pisidian border, close to modern Yalvaç, in west-central Turkey. Founded by Seleucus I Nicator (c. 358–281 bce), it was made a free city in 189 bce by the Romans, who took direct control about 25 bce; soon thereafter the emperor Augustus made it a colony with the name Caesarea Antiochia. It became the centre of civil and military administration in southern Galatia, and in the time of the emperor Claudius I (reigned 41–54 ce), St. Paul made it one of the centres of his mission in that province. Antioch was finally assigned to Pisidia under the emperor Diocletian’s provincial reorganization. Its ruins include a large rock cutting which may have held the temple of Men Ascaënus, the local Phrygian deity.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.