Antakya (ɑnˈtɑkjɑ; Local Turkish: Anteke), modern form of Antioch (Ἀντιόχεια; Andiok; Antiochia), 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 from the Levantine Sea.
Today's city stands partly on the site of the ancient Antiochia (Ἀντιόχεια, Antiókheia, also known as "Antioch on the Orontes"), which was founded in the fourth century BC by the Seleucid Empire. 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; the New Testament asserts that the name "Christian" first emerged in Antioch. The city gained much ecclesiastical importance in the Byzantine Empire. Captured by Umar ibn al-Khattab in the seventh century, the medieval Antakiyah (أنطاكية, ʾAnṭākiya) was conquered or re-conquered several times: by the Byzantines in 969, the Seljuks in 1084, the Crusaders in 1098, the Mamluks in 1268, and eventually the Ottomans 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.
On 6 February 2023, the city was heavily damaged by two powerful earthquakes with their epicentre in Kahramanmaraş. Some of the historical sites, including the Church of St Paul, have been destroyed.
Antioch
Humans have occupied the area of Antioch since the Calcolithic era (6th millennium BC), as revealed by archaeological excavations of the mound of Tell-Açana, among others.
The Macedonian King Alexander the Great, after defeating the Persians in the Battle of Issus in 333 BC, followed the Orontes south into Syria and occupied the area. The city of Antioch was founded in 300 BC, after the death of Alexander, by the Hellenistic Seleucid King Seleucus I Nicator. It played an important role as one of the largest cities in the Hellenistic Seleucid Kingdom, in the Roman Empire, and in the Byzantine Empire.