BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGIST

Published By
The American Schools of Oriental Research
(Jerusalem and Baghdad)
409 Prospect St., New Haven 11, Conn.

Vol. XI December, 1948 No. 4

Fig. 1. View of Antioch-on-the-Orontes, looking towards the northeast. In the foreground is

the floor of the cruciform church of Kaoussie, a suburb of Antioch. (From Antioch-
on-the-Orontes, vol. II, Princeton, 1938, p. 6.)

ANTIOCH-ON-THE-ORONTES
By
Bruce M. Metzger
Princeton Theological Seminary
70 THE BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGIST Vol. XI,
The Biblical Archaeologist is published quarterly (February, May, September, December)
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With the exception of Jerusalem, Antioch in Syria played a larger

part in the life and fortunes of the early Church than any other single
city of the Graeco-Roman Empire. Indeed, as the home of the first
Gentile Christian Church and as the base of operations from which the
Apostle Paul went out on each of his three missionary journeys, this city
could claim in a more real sense even than Jerusalem to be the mother of
the Churches of Asia Minor and Europe. Not only was Antioch the birth-
place of foreign missions (Acts 13:2), it was memorable in at least two
other respects. Here the disciples of Jesus were first given the name
"Christians" (Acts 11:26), and it was among the Antiochians that the
question first emerged regarding the necessity for Gentile converts to
submit to the Jewish rite of circumcision (Acts 15).
In addition to Paul's presence in this city on various occasions, Peter
also had a small share in the development of the Church here. The
confused legends as to the seven years' episcopate of Peter in Antioch
are hardly worthy of consideration. The one Biblical reference (Gal.
2:11-15) to his being here suggests that his views regarding social inter-
course between Jewish and Gentile Christians were not altogether in
harmony with those of the local Church. The tradition that Luke was
a native of Antioch is not older than the third century, but if one admits
the Lucan authorship of the Acts of the Apostles it is largely substan-
tiated by that narrative. Indeed, a "Western" variant in Acts 11:28
which prefixes "And when we were assembled together" to the words,
"there stood up one of them named Agabus . . . ," explicitly involves
the Antiochene residence of the author (see verse 27). Certain modern
scholars also bring several other New Testament authors into connection
with this city or its environs, such as the unknown compiler of the
Gospel-source known as "0," the author of the first Gospel, and even
the author of the Fourth Gospel (so Goguel and Bultmann).
Subsequent to the apostolic age, Antioch was famous as the bishopric
of Ignatius, the first Antiochene martyr of whom we have any record.
For some unrecorded reason-perhaps the populace, seeking scapegoats
for the calamitous earthauake of A.D. 115. settled on the Christians-
Ignatius was condemned by the Roman authorities at Antioch and sent
to Rome. There he was torn to pieces by beasts in the Flavian Colosseum.
but his bones were brought back to his home city. His seven (genuine)
1948, 4) TIlE BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGIST 71
letters were collected soon after his martyrdom and are one of the most
valuable monuments of the sub-apostolic age. Later in the century,
Theophilus, who was bishop of Antioch from 170-178 and a prolific
writer, took a leading part in opposing the Gnostics. Besides Serapion,
Babylas, Meletius and other prominent Antiochian Christians, the most
notable theologian at the turn of the third century was Lucian, who
met his death in the persecution of Maximinus in 312.
Lucian's chief service to Biblical scholarship was a critical edition
of the Septuagint, compiled from a number of Greek manuscripts that

Fig. 2. Seleucus I. Nicator (B. C. 312-280), possessed with a mania for building cities and
calling them after himself or his relatives, founded no fewer than thirty-seven. (From
Victor Schultze, Altehristliche Staedte und Landschaften, III, Antiochela [Guetersloh,
19301, p. 5.)

Masoretic
represented a Hebrew text which differed slightly from the
text. He was also the founder of the first theological school at Antioch,
which, in opposition to Alexandrian allegorizing, insisted upon the his-
torico-grammatical exegesis of the Scriptures. Two outstanding products
of this school were Theodore, the greatest thinker trained by Lucian,
and John Chrysostom, the greatest orator of the Church at Antioch.
Without enlarging upon other influential Antiochian Christians-such
as Nestorius, Theodoret, and a host of others-what has been outlined
will be sufficient to indicate the importance of Antioch-on-the-Orontes
in the life and growth of the early Church. Whatever information,
therefore, can be had from archaeology and history regarding the
72 THE BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGIST Vol. XI,
cultural and religious life of the people of this city will be of the
utmost value in assessing the nature and strength of the cross-currents
which were bound to iniluence the thought and life of all its residents.
It is the purpose of the present article to describe and interpret
some of the archaeological and historical data from Antioch and its
vicinity which bear upon the presence there of pagan, Jewish, and
Christian elements during the early years of the present era. First,
however, it will be necessary to indicate something regarding the found-
ing, growth, and description of ancient Antioch.
HISTORYOF ANTIOCH
Antioch was founded about 300 B. C. by Seleucus I. Nicator (see
Fig. 2) who named it either after his father or his son, both of whom
bore the name Antiochus. It was situated about three hundred miles
north of Jerusalem where the chain of Lebanon, running northward,
and the chain of Taurus, running southward, are brought to an abrupt
meeting. Here the Orontes breaks through the mountains, and Antioch
was placed at a bend of the river, about twenty miles from the Mediter-
ranean on the west. In the immediate neighborhood was Daphne, the
celebrated sanctuary of Apollo (see II Maccabees 4:33), whence the
city was sometimes called "Antioch-by-Daphne" to distinguish it from
the fifteen other Asiatic cities built by Seleucus and named Antioch.
Advantageously located for trade, being easily approached by caravans
from the East and through its seaport, Seleucia, having maritime com-
munications with the West, it grew under successive Seleucid kings
until it became a city of great extent and of remarkable beauty. People
would refer to it as "Antioch the Great," "the Queen of the East," and
"the Beautiful." One feature which seems to have been characteristic
of the great Syrian cities-a vast street with colonnades, intersecting the
whole from end to end-was added by Antiochus Epiphanes. Among
ancient cities Antioch was distinctive in being the only one known to
us to possess a regular system of street lighting.
During the early centuries of the Christian era the city had grown
until it was the third largest city in the Roman Empire, being surpassed
only by Rome and Alexandria. Estimates of its population are based
largely upon a statement made by Chrysostom in his Homily on St.
Ignatius, 4: "It is a hard task to govern only a hundred, or even fifty,
men; but to take in hand so great a city, and a citizenry (demos) reach-
ing the number of 200,000-of how great a virtue and wisdom do you
consider that a demonstration?" If, as several scholars (e.g. Renan,
1. This is known from an incidental remark made by Jerome in his Dialogue against the
Luciferians, 1, regarding the lighting of the street-lamps of Antioch.
2. See William F. Steinspring, The Description of Antioch in Codex Vaticanus Arabicus 286
(unpublished dissertation, Yale University, 1932), pp. 2-3 of the Commentary.
3. For more detailed information, the reader may consult E. S. Bouchier's Short History of
Antioch (Oxford, 1921).
4. Theodore Mommsen. The Provinces of the Roman Empire from Caesar to Diocletian, Eng.
tr., 2nd ed., vol. ii (1909) p. 128. See also Gibbon's zestful and glowing description of
Daphne in his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chap. xxiv.
1948, 4) THE BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGIST 73
Neubauer) have maintained, the word demos excludes slaves, women,
and infants, the estimated population at the end of the fourth century
was close to half a million. There is a question, furthermore, whether
the population of the suburbs is to be understood as included in Chrysos-
tom's figure. Some writers, taking into consideration the extensive
suburbs, have estimated the total population of "greater" Antioch as
high as 800,000 persons.2
The remaining history of Antioch can be surveyed in a few words."
In 540 the city was converted into a heap of ruins by the Persians under
King Chosroes Nushirvan. It was restored by the Emperor Justinian

Fig. 3. Marble Tyche, or Fortune, of Antioch, sculptured by Eutychides, a pupil of Lysippus;

now in the Vatican. (From Enciclolwdia Italiana, vol. III, p. 510).

but never quite recovered from -the last blow. In the first half of the
seventh century it was taken by the Saracens and remained in Moslem
possession for upwards of three hundred years, when it was recovered
by the Greek Emperor Nicephorus Phocas. In 1098 it was captured by the
Crusaders. They established the principality of Antioch, which lasted
until 1268, when it was taken by the Mameluke Sultan of Egypt. In
1516 it passed into the hands of the Turks. The modern Antioch or
Antakiyeh is a poor place of some 35,000 inhabitants.
The character of the people of Antioch was notorious in the ancient
world. According to Mommsen, "In no city of antiquity was the enjoy-
ment of life so much the main thing, and its duties so incidental, as
in 'Antioch-upon-Daphne,' as the city was significantly called."' The
74 THE BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGIST Vol. XI,
beautiful park or pleasure-garden of Daphne became the hotbed of
every kind of vice and depravity. Hence Daphnici mores became
proverbial of dissolute practices, and Juvenal struck off one of his
sharpest jibes against his own decadent imperial city when he said
that the Orontes had flowed into the Tiber (Sat. iii,62), flooding Rome
with the superstition and immorality of the East.
Another characteristic fault of the citizens of Antioch appears to
have been their aptitude for ridicule and scurrilous wit, and the in-
vention of nicknames. It is related that when the Emperor Julian the
Apostate visited the city, he angered them by injudicious interference
with their market, and they avenged themselves by shouting abuse
after him in the streets. Unlike the style of most men of his day Julian
wore a long beard in emulation of his revered philosophers, and the
crowds made this the special object of their ridicule. They termed him
"the Goat" and advised him to "cut it off and weave it into ropes." They
also nicknamed him "the Butcher" because he was continually sacrific-
ing oxen at the altars of his deities. In retaliation Julian stigmatized
Antioch as containing more buffoons than citizens. Another serious-
minded visitor of Antioch, Apollonius of Tyana, was treated in much
the same way." It is not surprising, therefore, that most expositors have
understood the reference to the origin of the name "Christians" in Acts
11:26 as another exhibition of the same kind of derisive name-calling
by the frivolous Antiochians."

EXCAVATIONSAT ANTIOCH-ON-THE-ORONTES
In 1931 the Syrian government granted permission to Princeton
University and the Musees Nationaux de France to excavate at Antioch
over a period of six years. So far three volumes have been published
containing reports of the campaigns of excavations.' In addition to
several shorter studies of aspects of these excavations, two large volumes
have recently appeared on the hundreds of mosaic pavements discovered
at Antioch.' Obviously it is impossible in the space available here even
to mention all of the important finds which were unearthed during the
several seasons of campaigns. The selection which lhas been made is
in accord with what was mentioned earlier about pagan. Jewish. and

5. For other ancient testimonies regarding the character of the Antiochians, see Wetstein on
Acts 11:26.
6. Eric Peterson, however, has recently contested this usual view of the origin of the name
"Christian" as a mocking epithet: he maintains that it was an official designation of
the disciples of Jesus, given by the Roman authoritieq at Antioch: see his essay on
"Christianus" in Miscellanea Giovanni M3ercati. vol. I (1946). pp. 355-372.
7. Antioch-on-the-Orontes. I, The Excavations of 1932, edited by G. WV. Elderkin (Princeton,
1934); IT. The Excavations 1933-1936. edited by Richard Stillwell (Princeton, 1938): III, The
Excavations, 1937-1939, edited by Richard Stillwell (Princeton, 1941). The publishers have
announced that in December of this year there will appear vol. IV, Part I, Ceramics and
Islamic Coins, edited by Fred O. Waage (Princeton, 1948).
8. Doro Levi. Antioch Mosaic Pavements, 2 vols. (Princeton. 1947). The earlier slender volume
by C. R. Morey, The Mosaics of Antioch (New York, 1938), is still the most popular treat-
ment of these mosaics.
1948, 4) THE BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGIST 75
Christian currents in Antioch, and has been confined to several topics
likely to be of interest to the readers of this journal.
THE TYCHEOF THE CITY
Dating from the very time of the foundation of Antioch by Nicator
is the famous statue of "'the Fortune" (Tyche) of Antioch. This symbol
of the future grandeur of the city on the Orontes was devised by the
Sicyonian sculptor Eutychides, a pupil of Lysippus (so Pausanius, vi.2.7).
The memory of it is preserved on coins, in silver ornaments, and in a
small marble statuette now in the Vatican (see Fig. 3). The goddess,
a graceful, gentle figure, rests negligently on a rock, while the river,
a vigorous youth, seems to swim out from under her feet. The artistic

Fig. 4. The Charonion. an apotropaic relief carved in a limestone cliff overlooking Antioch.
For an indication of size, note the figure of a man standing on the unfinished left
shoulder. (From Schultze, op. cit., p. 21).

type was copied for lesser cities in the East, and one of the reliefs
found at Dura on the Euphrates pictures the "Tyche" of Dura, modeled
precisely after the figure of Antioch, with the Euphrates instead of the
Orontes serving as the attendant river god.

THE CHARONION

Every resident of Antioch could not help seeing a colossal bust,

called the Charonion, about sixteen feet in height, carved in the living
limestone cliff northeast of the city (see Fig. 4). According to a late
tradition reported by Malalas (Chronographia, p. 205), during the reign
76 THE BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGIST Vol. XI,
of Antiochus Epiphanes (175-163 B. C.) a destructive plague broke out
and a seer, Leisus by name, ordered a projecting cliff visible to the
entire city to be carved with a face of Charon, the ferryman over the
River Styx. Perhaps the plague came to an end before the workmen
could finish the bust; at any rate, the left shoulder was never chiseled
out. The head is covered with a folded veil which at its lower end on
the right shoulder curves out in a way that, as G. W. Elderkin suggests,
reminds one of the caps of Persians and Amazons in Greek vase-painting.
According to the same author, the veiled bust may have been intended
to represent the Syrian goddess of Hierapolis. The Dea Syria had Hittite
associations,'" and the Hittite tradition of carving in living rock the
figure of their nature goddess seems to have survived in the Charonion
at Antioch.
MOSAICOF THE PHOENIX
One of the best preserved of the mosaics is the so-called Mosaic
of the Phoenix, dating from the beginning of the fifth century (see
Fig. 5)." Of enormous size-over forty by thirty-three feet-the impres-
sion which the regular floral pattern within a border of pairs of rams
makes upon the observer is that of a carefully wrought tapestry. Some-
thing of its immensity can be appreciated when one realizes that in
its original state the pattern contained more than 7500 roses. In the center
of the mosaic there stands a phoenix on the top of a mountain of rocks,
the over-all height being six and a half feet. About the head of the
bird is a mauve gray halo, and streaming out through the halo are five
rays of light, one proceeding vertically. The phoenix is represented in
profile, rearing its body and head up as though it were about to take
off in flight. The neck is long, but not excessively so, bent in a double
curve more energetic than graceful. The brilliant eye, encircled with
black, at the center of the halo, attracts the spectator's attention. The
predominate colors of the rocks are green, bister, and maroon; the
colors of the bird, green with brown and gray in the shadows, yellow
and even white in the highlights. The plan and execution of the phoenix,
small in size compared with the immense tapestry of flowers, produces
an impression of astonishing beauty and majesty well calculated to
remind one of a glorious resurrection-for to the ancients this bird was
the customary symbol of the persistence of life after death.

According to a widespread myth, this fabulous bird of great beauty,

after living five or six hundred years in the Arabian wilderness, the only
one of its kind, would build for itself a funeral pile of spices and aromatic

9. Antioch-on-the-Orontes, vol. T, p. 84.

10. So Garstang, The Hittite Empire. p. 306.
11. Jean Lassus, La Mosaique du phenix, provenant des fouilles d' Antioche (extrait des Monu-
ments et Memoires publies par I'Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, tome XXXVI),
(Paris, 1938).
12. See Milton, Samson Agonistes, lines 1699-1707.
1948, 4) THE BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGIST 77
gums where it would immolate itself. But from its own ashes it would
again emerge in the freshness of youth."-' Many are the ancient authors
who refer to this marvelous bird. Hesiod, Herodotus, Manilius, Pliny,
Tacitus, Ovid, Aelian, and Celsus may be mentioned among pagan
Graeco-Roman authors. According to a dramatic poem on the Exodus
written by one Ezekiel, probably an Alexandrian Jew of the third or
second century B. C., a wonderful bird (the phoenix) appeared to the
Israelite host at Elim. Many Church Fathers, beginning with Clement
of Rome (I Epistle, chap. 25), regarded the narrative of the phoenix

Fig. 5. Part of a mosaic pavement of the phoenix, from a house in Antioch, now in the
Louvre, where the length and breadth of the floral pattern have been reduced in size.
while the border and central figure remain the same. (From Jean Lassus, La Mosaique
du phenix, provenant des fouillee d' Antioche [Paris. 1938, Presses Universitaires de
Francel, plate V, facing p. 42.)

as a proof of the resurrection of the Christian, some even regarding it

as a type of the resurrection of Christ. Several of the Fathers, indeed,
found Scriptural authentication for the myth by the circumstance that
the Greek word for "palm tree" in the Septuagint rendering of Psalm
92:12 is identical with the name of the bird ("the righteous shall flourish
like the phoenix").
Returning to the elaborate mosaic of the phoenix, one wonders what
78 THE BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGIST Vol. XI,

significance it conveyed to the owner of the house in which it was

found. Unfortunately there is no evidence to indicate whether he was
a pagan, Jew, or Christian, or whether he was religiously or secularly
minded. If the last mentioned were the case, he probably would have
explained to an admirer of his pavement that the bird was symbolic
of the recurrence of the years and the eternity of the empire."1 This
explanation is in accord with the fact that the representation of the
phoenix on coins and medals of the Roman emperors denoted eternity
or renovation.
HOUSEOF THE MYSTERIES
OF ISIS
One of the most popular of the half dozen mystery religions of
antiquity was that of Isis and Osiris. Native to Egypt, the cult in some-
what modified form with chief emphasis upon the great goddess spread
far beyond the Nile into almost every part of the Graeco-Roman world.
Hymns of praise to Isis, the beneficent Queen of Heaven, indicate the
deep reverence felt by the devotees of her who granted happiness and
security in this life and the next. One of the most detailed accounts
of preparation for initiation into the Isiac cult is preserved in the final
book of Apuleius' rollicking tales of lusty adventure (Metamorphoses,
book xi). Though Apuleius is careful not to reveal any of the inner
secrets which the initiates were pledged never to disclose, his description
of various preparatory stages leading up to the climax of the mystical
rites provides one with enough information to suggest the interpretation
of a fragmentary mosaic discovered at Antioch (see Fig. 6). Unfortun-
ately the central panel was damaged by the superposition of a pipe
line, cutting obliquely across the mosaic pavement. What remains of
the representation shows a man in the center with Hermes to the right
and a female divinity to the left. The central figure is naked except
for a red cloth on his left shoulder. Hermes is extending a rod which
almost touches the man's neck. The god holds the caduceus in his left
hand, its top being visible near his shoulder. The female figure on the
left wears a white sleeveless tunic over which there is a dark violet
mantel. Her hair is covered with a grayish white veil which is sur-
mounted by a wreath of leaves. Her bare right arm is extended toward
the central figure. Her left arm supports above her head a metalic torch,
with a twofold top and central knob.
What is the significance of this fragmentary mosaic? Kurt Weitz-
mann'" regards it as a scene from a Euripidean play, perhaps the lost

13. It is noteworthy that the mosaics found at Antioch contain many personifications, as, for
example of Service. Life, Salvation, Enjoyment, Power, Magnanimity, etc. See Glqnvillo
Downey, "Personifications of Abstract Ideas in the Antioch Mosaics," Transactions and
Proceedings of the American Philological Association. vol. LXIX (1938), pp. 349-363. and
"Representations of Abstract Ideas in the Antioch Mosaics," Journal of the History of
Ideas, vol. I (1940), pp. 112-113.
14. Antioch-on-the-Orontes, vol. III, p. 246, note 59.
15. "Mors Voluntaria, Mystery Cults on Mosaics from Antioch." Berytuis, vol. VII (1942).
pp. 19-55; also Antioch Mosaic Pavements, vol. I, pp. 163-164.
1948, 4) THE BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGIST 79
Protesilaus. According to Lucian's twenty-third Dialogue of the Dead,
in this play the hero, with the permission of the gods of the lower world,
is released to the upper world for a short time under the guidance of
Hermes in order to visit his wife Laodamia. The figure at the left of
the mosaic is therefore Persephone, probably giving permission for the
hero's release under the surveillance of Hermes psychopompos. Hermes
has just touched him with his wand to restore him again to life as a
youth in heroic nakedness.

Fig. 6. Fragmentary mosaic from Antioch probably to be interpreted as a representation of

an initiation into the cult of Isis. (From Doro Levi, "Mors Voluntaria, Mystery Cults
on Mosaics from Antioch," lerytus, vol. VII [19421, plate 1.)

Quite a different interpretation of the same scene, however, has

been suggested by Doro Levi,"' who sees in the mosaic a representation
of the Mors Voluntaria, the "Voluntary Death," the climax and very
essence of the initiation in the mysteries of Isis. According to this inter-
pretation the figure at the left, bearing a torch, is Isis herself. The
central figure is a mortal about to undertake the symbolic trip to the
underworld, being guided by Hermes psychopompos. The ritualistic
nakedness of the initiate, his sober hesitation and restraint, are in accord
with many artistic and literary references. He seems to turri his glance
back to find a support in the goddess, who encourages him with the
gesture of her outstretched hand. The symbolic content of the ritual
 80 THE BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGIST Vol. XI,
death and the following resurrection to divine glory by the initiated
are fairly clear from Apuleius' guarded description of the initiation.
His account regarding the climax of the initiation is as follows: "I ap-
proached near unto Hades, even to the gates of Proserpine; and after
that I was ravished throughout all the elements, I returned to my proper
place: about midnight I saw the sun brightly shine, I saw likewise the
gods celestial and the gods infernal, before whom I presented myself
and worshiped them" (Met. xi, 23, Adlington's translation).

According to this interpretation the mosaic in all probability bears

witness to the faith of its owner. Perhaps it served to recall to him the
time when he himself had undergone a similar rite of initiation. The
presence of the sacred scene in his house would consequently be a per-
petual prayer for the constant protection of the powerful goddess.

THE "NAVIGIUM ISIDIS"

In the same house with the mosaic which may represent the Mors
Voluntaria there was found a mosaic pavement, much mutilated, which
has also been interpreted in terms of the Isiac cult. The broad outer
border depicts a lively hunting scene, which in turn is surrounded by
a narrower band of birds and flowers. The central part of the mosaic
shows a curved bay of the sea where two boats, with sterns opposed,
are represented against the background of the sea (see Fig. 7.). One
boat is apparently ready to sail, with a figure going aboard from the
strand. In view of the probable interpretation of the other mosaic in
this house referring to the Isiac cult, this fragmentary pavement suggests
to Levi the depiction of another solemn festival belonging to the same
cult.' This was the Navigiun Isidis, a festival marking the opening day
of navigation after the winter season, celebrated on the fifth of March
all along the Mediterranean shores. From several literary references as
well as from hundreds of Roman coins" it can be learned that there
was an elaborate and gay procession in which the statue of the goddess
in her most splendid attire was carried from her temple to the seaside.
Here a new ship, richly adorned and bearing the name Isis, was pushed
into the sea, while the priest performed certain rites and uttered propi-
tious vows.
According to Levi's interpretation, therefore, a pious devotee of
Isis had depicted on the navements of his house at Antioch some of the
most representative of the ceremonies and festivities of his religion.

16. Doro Levi, "Mors Voluntaria," op. cit., pp. 32-34, and Antioch Mosiac Pavements, vol. I,
pp. 164-165.
17. These were collected by A. Alfoeldi, A Festival of Isis in Rome under the Christian Emperors
of the Fourth Century (Dissertationes Pannonicae, 2nd series, fasc. 7), (EkTdapest, 1937),
especially pp. 46 ff.
18. See especially Carl H. Kraeling, "The Jewish Community at Antioch," Journal of Biblical
Literature, vol. LI (1932), pp. 130-160.
1948, 4) THE BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGIST 81

THE JEWISH COMMUNITYAT ANTIOCH

Although the numbers of Jews at Antioch did not compare with

those at Alexandria and Rome, from Josephus, the Talmuds, and the
chronographer Malalas fragments of information can be pieced together
which indicate that they played a quite significant role in the history
of this city.'" From the first, Seleucus gave Jewish settlers the right to
follow their own laws, and the colony, augmented by settlers, prisoners,
and fugitives, steadily increased during the Seleucid dynasty. By the
first century of the Christian era there were no fewer than three Jewish
settlements in and about Antioch, one west of the city near Daphne,

Fig. 7. Much mutilated pavement in the "House of the Mysteries of Isis" depicting a scene
which Levi interprets as the "Navigium Isidis." (From Levi, "Mors Voluntaria,"
op. cit., plate I.)

one in the city proper, and one east of the city in the plain of Antioch.
Altogether they comprised an estimated one-seventh of the total popula-
tion of greater Antioch. In addition to growth in numbers at this period,
the Jewish communities increased in wealth and in prestige among non-
Jews. Evidence of the former is to be found in the costly votive offerings
sent by the Jews of Antioch to the temple at Jerusalem (Josephus, War
of the Jews, vii, 45). The rise in prestige can be gauged also from the
testimony of Josephus (ibid.) that "a multitude of Greeks" came to be
identified with the Jewish faith as "God-fearers" or proselytes. The
name of at least one of these is known to us today, Nicolas, who later
82 THE BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGIST Vol. XI,

played a part in the Christian Church at Jerusalem as one of the first

'deacons" (Acts 6:5).
The period of Jewish prestige and prosperity, however, came to
an end toward the middle of the first Christian century. Malalas records
a pogrom at Antioch during Caligula's reign in which many Jews were
slain. Though the Jewish community fell in the estimation of the
pagan population, the synagogue continued to exert a strong influence-
not to say attraction-on many Christians."• According to Chrysostom
(Adv. Jud. Orat. i and viii) Christians, especially women, would visit
synagogues on the Sabbath or festival days and would also observe
Jewish fast days. They often took disputes to Jewish judges, finding
that justice was more likely to be meted out here than elsewhere. Many
would visit the mysterious underground Jewish shrine at Daphne, where
nocturnal visions were supposed to be obtainable. It is significant that the
first canon of the Synod of Antioch in A. D. 341 makes special provisions
for the complete separation of the Easter festival from the Passover
(with which it had hitherto been identified). In spite of all the prom-
inence once enjoyed by the large Jewish community in Antioch, next
to nothing has so far been found by the Princeton excavators which can
be identified with certainty as Jewish. Besides a marble fragment bearing
part of a seven-branched candlestick, " there are only a few inscriptions
containing Semitic sounding names. One of these deserves mention here
because it begins with what is probably a phrase borrowed from the
Jewish Scriptures.

MOSAIC CONTAINING A BIBLICAL PHRASE

A mosaic floor of the sixth century in a building north of Antioch's

St. Paul's Gate is particularly interesting as containing what is probably
the only Biblical allusion among all the inscriptions so far edited. The
Greek inscription reads, "Peace be your coming in, you who gaze (on
this); joy and blessing be to those who stay here. The mosaic floor of
the triclinium was made in the time of Megas and loannes and Anthousa,
stathmouchoi, in the month of Garpiaios, in the fifth indiction." The
first phrase of the inscription is paralleled by a passage of the Septuagint
(I Kings 16:4), though the context there is entirely dissimilar. The word
which is transliterated "stathmouchoi" is translated "inn-keepers" by the
first editor of the inscription.2 Its use, however, in an inscription from

19. See Samuel Krauss, "Antioch," in the Jewish Encyclopedla, vol. I, p. 632, and Kraeling,
op. cit., pp. 156-157.
20. See Glanville Downey in Antioch-on-the-Orontes, vol. IT. pp. 150-151.
21. Glanville Downey in Antioch-on-the-Orontes, vol. III, pp. 83-84.
22. Dura-Europos, IX Report (1935-36), part 1, (1944), p. 236.
23. For a convenient summary see Leclercq, "Antioche (archeologie)," in Cabrol, Dictionnaire
d'archeologie chretienne et du liturgie, tome I, partie 2, cols. 2372-2391, and, more recently,
Walther Eltester, "Die Kirchen Antiochias im IV Jahrhundert," Zeitschrift fuer die neutes-
tamentliche Wissenschaft, vol. XXXVI (1937), pp. 251- 286.
24. See Howard Crosby Butler, Early Churches in Syria, Fourth to Seventh Centuries (Princeton,
1929), pp. 192-193.
1948, 4) THE BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGIST 83
Dura" makes it uncertain whether it means anything more than simply
"landlord." The first editor of the inscription suggests that the mosaic
might be the pavement of an inn.

CHURCHESIN ANTIOCH
Through literary, epigraphic, and general archaeological remains the
identity of a score of Christian churches in Antioch and its suburbs has
been determined." One of the most famous of these was the great Con-
stantian edifice. Octagonal in shape, it may have served as a prototype
of several other similarly designed sanctuaries in this region. Contempor-
ary authors (e.g. Eusebius, Vita Constantini, III, 50), refer to this fourth
century church as Ecclesia Magna, Apostolica, and Dominum Aureum,
because of its gilded dome. It was badly injured by the great earthquake
of 526 and rebuilt later with a wooden dome."

Fig. 8. Mosaic of the north ambulatory of the martyrion at Seleucia Pieria, the seaport of
Antioch. (From Antioch-on-the-Orontes, vol. III, p. 43)

At Kaoussie, one of the suburbs of Antioch, the remains of a fourth

century church in the shape of a cross was discovered (Fig. 1). From
an inscription the original structure can be dated in A. D. 387, in the
time of Bishop Flavianos. The mosaic pavements of the cruciform floor
converge upon a burial shrine in the central square. It is almost certain
that this was the final resting place of the bones of St. Babylas, the bishop
84 THE BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGIST Vol. XI,
of Antioch who was slain in the persecution under Decius in 250.2• This
famous ecclesiastic is credited with having to refused to admit Philip
the Arabian into the Church (after the latter had won the imperial title
by instigating the revolt of troops in which the Emperor Gordian III lost
his life) during a Mesopotamian expedition against the Persians. The
expression, final resting place, was used above quite designedly, because
after his martyrdom the body of St. Babylas, being buried at first in the
city, was later interred at Daphne. Here, however, the presence of his
remains so inhibited the responses of the oracle in Apollo's temple that
the Emperor Julian the Apostate, at that time attempting to galvanize
paganism into new life at Antioch and elsewhere, had the martyr's bones
moved back to the city. A score of years later they were finally laid to
rest in a martyrion or burial shrine outside the city walls and across the
river at Kaoussie, where the Princeton excavators uncovered his resting
place in 1935.
THE MARTYRIONAT SELEUCIA
The field of activity of the expedition of the Committee for the
Excavation of Antioch and its Vicinity was enlarged during the three
years, 1937 through 1939, by the inclusion of the site of Seleucia Pieria,
the seaport of Antioch five miles north of the mouth of the Orontes. One
of the most interesting of the buildings excavated here was a martyrion
or memorial church."' This building passed through three periods of
construction, the earliest of which belongs to the late fifth century. This
first building was almost totally destroyed, probably by the great earth-
quake in the year 526. The floor plan of the earliest edifice had an inner
quatrefoil formed by colonnaded, semicircular exedrae between the angles
of a square. Around the quatrefoil was an ambulatory with an animal
mosaic. The parts which remain contain a giraffe, peacock, zebra, deer,
duck, horse, flamingo, goose, two goats, elephant, lion, sheep, ox, parrot,
serpent, two gazelles, hyena, stag, lioness. cubs, eagle, as well as various
kinds of trees and foliage (see Fig. 8). It is a paradise of natural wild
life in which all creatures are at peace: the lioness moves slowly away
from the ibexes, the hyena and the lamb walk together, and no hunter
intrudes.
Adjoining the east ambulatory was a large chancel with an eastern
apse, the over all length being 175 feet. During the second period of the
church the east room on the north side was used as a baptistry, for which
a small semicircular pool (or piscina) was built in the apsidal end of the
room. Unfortunately no evidence for the identification of the church has
been found. There can be no doubt, however, that it was one of the

25. See Glanville Downey. "The Shrines of St. Pabylas at Antioch and Daphne," Antioch-on-
the-Orontes, vol. II, pp. 45-48.
26. W. A. Campbell, "The Martyrion at Seleucia Pieria," Antioch-on-the-Orontes, vol. III,
pp. 35-54.
27. For an admirable descrintion of the portraits of the Evangelists in this manuscript, see
A. M. Friend, Jr., in Art Studies, (1929) pp. 4-9.
1948, 4) THE BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGIST 85
important churches in Seleucia as is attested by its prominent location
near the main colonnaded street, and by its size. One of the most likely
guesses as to its identity is that on further study it may prove to be the
shrine of Saint Thekla built by the Emperor Zeno (A. D. 479-491).

Fig. 9. Folio 4, verso, of the Rabbula Gospels, a Syriac manuscript dated A.D. 586, now in
the Laurentian Library, Florence. (From Carl Nordenfalk, Die Spaetantiken Kanonta-
feln, Tafelband [Goeteborg, 19381, plate 132.)

THE RABBULA GOSPELS

The most important early illustrated manuscript of the Gospels in
a language other than Greek is the famous Syriac codex in the Laurentian
Library, Florence, written in A. D. 586 by a monk named Rabbula at
the monastery of Zagba in northern Mesopotamia." The text of the
Gospels which it contains is the Peshitta Syriac, resting probably on the
Byzantine Greek text, which, according to Westcott and Hort, originated
in Antioch in the early part of the fourth century. The reason notice
is taken here of this manuscript is that its illustrations are excellent
examples of the type of art which the Church at Antioch developed.
Besides full page pictures there are numerous smaller paintings decorat-
ing the canon tables. These tables, it may be explained, were designed
to assist the reader in locating parallel passages in the Gospels. Eusebius,
86 THE BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGIST Vol. XI,

Bishop of Caesarea, divided each of the Gospels into sections which

he numbered consecutively, and then arranged the numbers in ten lists.
The first list or canon contained those passages which are found in all
four Gospels; the second, third, and fourth, those common to combi-
nations of three Gospels; the fifth to the ninth comprised the passages
common to every combination of two Gospels (except that of Mark and
John); and the tenth those passages peculiar to each Gospel. In subse-
quent years, instead of presenting bare lists of numbers, scribes would
frequently arrange them between columns of gold and red and other
colors, surmounted by a highly decorated arch. In the Rabbula Gospels
the canon tables are also accompanied by scenes from the Old Testament
and from the life of Christ. On the page selected as a sample (see
Fig. 9), presenting parallel passages in the four Gospels, the two scenes
at the top are identified by the Syriac script (reading from right to left)
as King David and Solomon, the former depicted with his harp and the
latter seated upon his throne. The other three scenes are the birth of
Jesus showing the infant lying bound in swaddling clothes, the slaughter
of the innocents (the artist was compelled to represent King Herod on
one side of the page, giving orders to his soldiers on the other, who have
seized a child), and the baptism of Jesus by John (in addition to the
descending dove, observe the customary representation of the deity by
a hand reaching down from heaven).

THE CHALICEOF ANTIOCH

No article on Antioch would be complete without at least a passing
reference to the famous Chalice of Antioch. Since two contributions on
this subject have appeared in past years in The Biblical Archaeologist,""
a few sentences comprising a kind of appendix will be sufficient here.
In 1910 the chalice was found by Arab workmen while digging a well
at Antioch. The initial announcement to the public was startling enough;
Gustavus A. Eisen wrote a "Preliminary Report on the Great Chalice
of Antioch containing the Earliest Portraits of Christ and the Apostles.""2
The chalice consists of a plain inner cup of silver, about inches high,
with an original widest diameter of about 6 inches. The 7,/ outer gilded
silver holder is fashioned so as to display twelve highly individualized
figures divided into two groups, in each of which five apostles are placed
about a central figure of Christ (see Fig. 10). Eisen dated the manu-
facture of the holder within the last third of the first century and
suggested that the artificer was someone who had seen Jesus and his
followers. In answer to the question why such an elegant holder was
used to contain such a plain inner cup, the guess was hazarded that

28. H. Harvard Arnason, "The History of the Chalice of Antioch," BA, vol. TV (1941).
pp. 49-64; vol. V (1942), pp. 10-16; Floyd V. Filson, "Who Are the Figures on The Chalice
of Antioch?" ibid. vol. V (1942), pp. 1-10.
29. American Journal of Archaeology, vol. XX (1916), pp. 426-437.
1948, 4) THE BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGIST 87
the inner cup was none other than the Holy Grail, the vessel from which
Christ drank at the Last Supper. A large literature on the subject soon
sprang up. Other scholars, including some of the best authorities on
early Christian art, denied that the chalice belongs to the first century,
assigning dates to it which range from the second to the sixth centuries.
Obviously its maker, therefore, could not have been acquainted with
the personal appearance of Jesus and his apostles. A few scholars have
even maintained that the chalice is a modern forgery. It seems likely,
however, that this is an early, though by no means first century, piece
of Christian art.

Fig. 10. The Chalice of Antioch. The central figure represents Christ. (Copyright, Fahim
Kouchakji. From B. A. IV. 4, Fig. 1).

CONCLUSION

Antioch, like Vienna in Europe, was the melting pot of Eastern and
Western cultures. Archaeological remains corroborate literary evidence
that here met and mingled the Greek and Roman traditions on the one
hand, and the traditions of Semitic Arabia, Palestine, and Mesopotamia
on the other. There was in addition the varying influence of Persia,
both considered by itself and as a transmitter of the religious, phil-
osophic, and artistic ideas of the extreme Orient. It is a melancholy
fact, however, that this commingling of Oriental and Occidental elements
resulted in the perpetuation of the worst features of both traditions.
That such a city should have been destined to play so large a share in
the growth of the Christian Church was perhaps inevitable due to its
88 THE BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGIST
location and cosmopolitan nature. At the same time its prominent role
may also be regarded as another instance of the inscrutable ways of
divine providence.

MISCELLANEA
Those who seek more detailed and more technical information re-
garding the Jerusalem Scrolls, one of the most important manuscript
discoveries ever made (see the September number of the B. A.), are
referred to the Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research
(the October and subsequent issues). As soon as more information is
available so that survey articles may be written, the B. A. will again
turn to the subject. I understand that Dr. Sukenik has published in
Hebrew a survey of that portion of the discovery which is in the posses-
sion of Hebrew University, Jerusalem. It is hoped that our May number
may review such information as is there available.
Meanwhile, the February number of the B. A. will present its read-
ers with an unusual treat. During the War excavations of extraordinary
interest and importance were carried on beneath the nave of the Church
of St. Peter in Rome. Very little has been published about these excava-
tions, but we are happy to announce that the February issue will con-
tain the first comprehensive account of them thus far to appear in
English. The author will be Father Roger T. O'Callaghan, S. J., of the
Pontifical Bible Institute in Rome, an extremely able young scholar to
whom the Editor owes a debt of gratitude for kindness shown him
during a visit to Rome this past summer.
In the May number of the B. A. the Editor presented brief reviews
of two important books on the theology of ancient polytheism, written
by members of the staff of the Oriental Institute of the University of
Chicago. These were Frankfort, Frankfort, Wilson, Jacobsen, and Irwin,
The Intellectual Adventure of Ancient Man, and Frankfort,;Kingship
and the Gods. Our readers may be interested in still another volume
from the same point of view, published by Professor Frankfort on June
1st of this year: Ancient Egyptian Religion, An Interpretation (New
York, Columbia University Press, 172 pp., $3.00). The importance of
the material surveyed in these volumes as the background for the under-
standing of the faith of Israel cannot be overestimated. It is a great
loss to America that at the conclusion of this academic year Professor
Frankfort leaves us for an important position in the University of
London.
G. E. W.