Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1872-04-15
A -FATED CITY.


is reported to be destroyed. Of all the
great cities of the earth there has, per-
haps, never been one that has suffered a
greater variety Of terrible visitations
than this fated city. For two thousand
years and more it has been the victim Of |
earthquake, fire, sword and famine An
tioch was built by Seleucus Nicator
three hundred years before Christ and
named in memory of his father, Antio-
chus. Fifteen other cities, also built by
the founder of the Syrian monarchy, re-
ceived the same name, but this one, on
the banks of the Orontes, was the most |
magnificent and beautiful Of them all
It became very populous and wealthy,
and its inhabitants were highly intellect
ual but also NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. and
frivolous, refined and witty, but icen-
tious and superstitious. Antioch was
the Paris of the time. Pliny called it |
the "Queen of the East" and for several
centuries it deserved the name. In the
time of Chrysostom, native of Antioch,
in the fourth century, it contained pop
ulation of 100000, onc-half of whom
were Christians, belonging to the church
founded there soon after the martyrdom
of Stephen.
But the hard fortune of Antioch had
begun long before The Jews, under
| Jonathan, one of the Maccabees, made
war against Syria about a century and "a
half before the Christian era, and 100,-
900 of the people Of Antioch persisted
In A. D. lis, while the Roman Emper-
or Trajan was on visit to this Asiatic
city, it was shaken by the first of the
terrible series of earthquakes, and almost
totally ruined. The Emperor himself
was injured among thousands of others
but he exerted his influence and himself
contributed literally to its restoration,
and it was rebuilt in its ancient splen-
dor Only forty years afterward it was
destroyed by fire, but was second time
rebuilt by Antonious Pins. Having suf-
fered considerably in the wars between
the declining power of the Roman en-
pire and that Of Persia, it fell victim
to three successive famines in the fourth
century The first of these happened in
the year 33l, and was so terrible that
bushel of wheat was sold for four hun
bred pieces of silver. The second was
in the reign of Julian,-but few years
later, the third was in the reign of
Theodosius, who sat on the throne of the
eastern provinces from A. D. 364 to 395.
The last-named emperor waged war
against Antioch, and punished it severe
ly for having resisted his extraordinary
demands for tribute. Then came anoth-
er series of earthquakes In A. D. 45S,
t again in 526, and in 597, the city was
. almost shaken to pieces. The second of
: these earthquakes, that of A. d. 526,
was the most disastrous of which history
3 has preserved any record. Thousands
upon thousands of strangers had focked
t to Antioch to be present at the feast Of
the Ascension. The whole city was sud-
, denly shaken. the buildings were thrown
n down, and it is estimated that quarter
t of a million of people were killed in the
f general ruin.
e Notwithstanding these terrible calam
e tiles Antioch retained its position as al
!. important city until it was taken by The
n Saracens in 630, having been previously
e captured by the Persians in $40. The
q hard fate of Antioch still pursued it af
Y ter these two sieges. The Eastern En-
i pire recovered it in 966, and lost it again
e in 1856. The Crusaders took it il
d 1898, and held it until 1868, when Bi
" baro. Sultan of Egypt, captured the cit,
It and extinguished its last pretension t
W be regarded as a powerful city 1t ha
i steadily declined in Importance and pop
# ulation; the movement being occasional
IS ly fastened by shocks of earthquake
n like that of 1922, until it had reaches
IS the miserable figure of 5000 inhabitants
it The buildings have been of late low an
n mean, and built of slight materials; tn
" industries of the place were unimpol
tant the ancient churches have all dis
, appeared and none have taken thei
4 places. If there has been no exaggers
4 tion of the last great calamity, one quar-
{ ter of all the people of Antioch hay
o persisted, and what there was of the cit
oi is mass of ruins 1t will be yer
7 strange if this awful catastrophe doe
e. not bring to a close the long catalogue
misfortunes, and place Antioch wit
" Babylon and Ninevah among the extint
10 o,4ioc of + N xrorll po.foa, A <l,.aa,ta q n