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National Geographic : 1920 Aug
Contents
ANTIOCH THE GLORIOUS tain, built by Antiochus III, and the most beautiful portion to the east, built by Antiochus Epiphanes. During the Seleu cid era the city covered a space four miles long by two miles wide. In addi tion, there were populous suburbs, such as Heraclea and Daphne. The general plan adopted in building was one much admired at that time. There was one long main street, in gen eral parallel with the river. All other streets were either parallel with this main street or at right angles to it. This "checker-board" plan was typical of Greek cities. Bridges spanned the river both to the island and to the northern bank. The points of the mountain were crowned with temples, shrines, and a citadel. The whole city was surrounded by a great wall which is said to have been seventy to eighty feet high, to have been protected by 360 towers, and to have been so broad that a team of four horses could drive abreast on the top of it. It is thought by some that this plan of Antioch, especially the great colonnaded street, was copied in the planning of other cities, such as Palmyra and Jerash. Indeed, Miller in his "Antiquities of Antioch" contends that Antioch was an original product of Greek art, that other cities were patterned after it, and that later decorations of Antioch were merely copies or restorations of the earlier Greek beauties by the less original Roman con querors. A STREET OF MAGNIFICENT SPLENDOR The most magnificent splendor of Antioch was its great street. This ran straight through the city from east to west. At each end there was an im pressive gate. The eastern gate was later known as the "Gate of St. Paul." It was still standing forty years ago, almost complete; but now even the foundations have been removed for buildings in the modern city. The western, or Daphnean Gate, was called the "Gate of the Cheru bim," for over this gate Titus placed the golden cherubim he had taken from the temple in Jerusalem. These two gates were about four miles apart. Between them was a grand boulevard. Drawn by A. II . Bumstead A MAP OF THE EASTERN SHORES OF THE MEDITERRANEAN Legendary history tells us that the flight of an eagle indicated to Seleucus Nicator the site for Antioch, which became the brilliant capital of the Seleucid Empire. It enjoys an un rivaled situation on the south bank of the Orontes River, with a spur from Mount Casius at its back and fertile plains spreading north ward beyond the river in the direction of Alexandretta. One who has visited the ruins of Jerash, east of the Jordan, or Palmyra, or the beautiful white marble street of Ephesus, can form some conception of what this glory of Antioch must have been. On each side of the street was a double row of columns. The outside aisle in each case was roofed over, furnishing a shady
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