The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1872-06-14
Sketch Of the CITY Of Antioch.


ed by an earthquake, was IN ancient
tines one Of the most famous IN Sy-
ria, and at one period was even
more wealthy and splendid and pop
uious than either of its great rivals,
Aleppo and Damascus. It is siJua-
ted on the river ASH, (the ancient
Orentes, sbyut twenty miles from its
mouth, and thirty-four miles west of
Aleppo. It was founded about 800
D. q. by Seleucus Nicator, and nam
ed by him in honor of his father,
Antiochus, fifteen other cities, none
Of which have, however, so success
fully survived the attacks of time, en-
jOyiug at about the same period q
like distinction. Situated directly
in the track of the caravans from
Mesopotamia and Persia, in a beau
tiful valley at the foot of the noun
lains, which rise at this point from
a narrow fringe of low lying shore,
with abundance Of water and sin
gularly fertile soil, the city soon be-
came wonderfully prosperous, and
the wares of Bagdad and MOsul, IF
Cashmere and Benarea, halted in its
caravansar. .es on their way to the ba-
zaars Of Bazantium and the markets
of Rome. One cause of its wealth
and greatness was 10 doubt the en-
eroy and industry Of the colony of
Greeks, of Anteuian ancestry, by
whom he was peopled, and who had
been removed from the neighbOring
city of Antigonium by Seleucus. 1t
was several generations the favOrite
residence OF the Selucid Princess
and became the capitol of Syria.
Splendid palaces and baths, and am
phitheatres and temples were built
by the munihcence of its rulers until
it was as celebrated all over the
Eastern world for the grandeur Of its
architecture as for the wealth and
luxury and devotion to the pleasure
Of it's inhabitants. No doubt it fair
" earned the compliment of being
termed Antioch the Beautiful and
The "Queen of the East" At the
height of its splendor it numbered
100000 inhabitants, and was the
scene Of almost uninterrupted spec
tacles and fetes. It's suburbs were
especially noted for their beauty. A
ring of verdure surrounded its walls
of reddish stone, and at It's gates
were the sacred fountains and groves
of Daphne and a world famous Tenn
glc Of Apollo. 1t fell into the hands
of The Rlmans in G5 B O., and was
planted with Latin colony, whose
members enjoy the especial priyi
leges Of Roman citizens. Soon after
the death of Christ the Gospel was
preached by the Apostles, and a
fourishing Christian Church was
founded Indeed, it w0s at Antioch
that the followers of Jesus first as
sumed the name of Christians.
About 1I5 4. D. it suffered terri
bly, from an earthquake, but was re-
stored by the Emperor Trojan. In
I55 A. D. it was destroyed by fire
but was again rebuilt. AS the Chris
tian religion spread over the Roman
empire It's inhabitants gradually be-
came exclusively Christian, and in
the second, thid and fourth centu-
ries it was the principal seat of the
true faith in the East, ten councils
being held within its walls between
the years Z52 and $50. When the
Latin power = aned it suffered great
ly from the attacks of great famines,
one of which, in 331, was so severe
that wheat rose to the price of 400
pieces of silver a bushel. Between
the four h and seventh centuries the
city 0as three times destroyed by
earthduakeF. In the sixth century
it was made the seat of a patriarch
ate, which included in its prOvinc-
the Syrian, MesopOtamian and CIcIle
ian churches It was taken by the
Saracens in 635, together with the
rest of Syria, and from that time has
steadily declined in Importance. In
975 it was again annexed to the
Western Roman empire, and having
BEEN re AIKEN by the Moslem in 1854,
was in 1898 captured by the Crusa-
ders aud made the seat of a little
Christian kingdom, under Bohe-
mond, the son of Robert Guiscard.
It remained in Christian hands Tor
nearly two centuries, and was then
taken, after terrible losses, by Biba-
70, Sultan of Egypt. Since then its
history has been one of constantly
waning prosperity. The Christian
religion almost died out, and, though
1t had fourteen mosques, 1t did not
possess a single Christian church
until an American missionary was
sent there few years ago to found
new church. In this he met with
signal success, and the missionary
journals occasionally contain very
interesting accounts of this revival
Of the Influence of the Cross.
In 1922 it wa= again destroyed by
terrible earthquake. In appear
ance Antakieh is at the present a
miserable little Arab city of about
sew II thousand inhabitants, built of
square mud houses, with slOping
! and fiat roofs by the way an unu-
sual feature for an Eastern city
and with narrow little streets, mol
some with stagnant pools of water
and alive with troops Of hungry
NANCY ours. Strange as 1t may
! seem, the American civil war some
what improved for a time the pros
poets of this ruined city. Stimula-
ted by the high price Of cotton, the
indoIsut ow-.e,s # the soil IN the
neighborhood, which is very well
fitted for such culture, became indus
trious cotton raisers, and there was
even a cotton mill founded by an
English company. The latter enter
prise, however, did not pay, and was
abandoned about couple of years
ago; and since cotton has gone down
] the Landa6 r1nr,1.iei ora har. sr,I.s-:d u