Antioch was founded by Seleucus, one of Alexander the Great’s generals, naming it after his father Antiochus. It was a prominent city in the region. By Roman times, it was the third largest city in the empire (after Rome and Alexandria). However, Antioch is best known today for being the first place where believers were called Christians (Acts 11:26). We began our day (Sunday) by gathering in a side room of the hotel for some time of worship.
We walked from our hotel a little ways down the street to the Hatay Archaeological Museum. They’re best known for their collection of ancient local mosaics. Unfortunately, they’re building a new museum and much of the collection has been moved there. Nevertheless, we enjoyed what we could see.
Boarding the bus, we drove to the Mediterranean coast to ancient Antioch’s port Seleucia Pieria. When the apostles Barnabas and Paul were commissioned by the believers in Antioch, they went there to sail to Cyprus (Acts 13:4). While there are few ruins to see, there is an impressive channel/tunnel that was carved near the end of the first century to prevent flooding in the city. It was fun to hike through it. Some of us went farther than most of the group, finding an inscription of dedication of the tunnel and then took another way back, appreciating the countryside and hoping we were going the right way.
After a relaxing lunch overlooking the sea, we drove up a mountain to visit Saint Simon’s Monastery. Unfortunately, it was closed. We did, however, enjoy the views of the landscape and (more so) the massive wind turbines around us.
