Antioch

(an'te-ok,) (vulg. Antakia,) a city, and the anc. C. of Syria in its N. part, pasha lic and 57 miles W. of Aleppo, on the Orontes, abt. 20 m. above its mouth. A. was embellished and named by Seleucus Nicator, B. c. 301; and it maintained its importance till taken by the Saracens in 638. It was the C. of a Christian principality from 1098 to 1269, since which time it has progre ively declined. Pop. 18,000. [s. 36]