page_title: Antakya
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Antakya / History
caption_attribution_description: English: This "person", along with some friends, formed part of a utensil that would keep a vessel well above a fire. From the middle and late Bronze Age, 2000-1200 BC.
context_page_description: Antakya is the capital of Hatay Province, the southernmost province of Turkey. The city is located in a well-watered and fertile valley on the Orontes River, about 20 kilometers from the Levantine Sea.
  Today's city stands partly on the site of the ancient Antioch, which was founded in the 4th century BC by the Seleucid. Antioch later became one of the Roman Empire's largest cities, and was made the capital of the provinces of Syria and Coele-Syria. It was also an influential early center of Christianity, and gained much ecclesiastical importance in the Byzantine Empire. Captured by the caliph Umar in the 7th century, the medieval Antakiyah was conquered or re-conquered several times: by the Byzantine in 969, the Seljuk in 1084, the Crusaders in 1098, the Mamluk in 1268, and eventually the Ottoman in 1517, who would integrate it to the Aleppo Eyalet then to the Aleppo Vilayet. The city joined the Hatay State under the French Mandate before joining the Turkish Republic.
  Most of the population, which was approximately 216,960 as of 2012, speaks Turkish as their native language, while a minority are native Arabic speakers.
caption: An artifact from the middle and late Bronze Age, 2000-1200 BC in Hatay Archaeology Museum
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