History
Antiquity
Antioch
Antioch has been occupied by humans since the Calcolithic era (6th millennium BC), as revealed by archeological excavations of the mound of Tell-Açana, among others.
Subsequent rulers of the area include Alexander the Great who, after defeating the Persians in 333 BC, followed the Orontes south into Syria. The city of Antioch was founded in 300 BC, after the death of Alexander, by the Seleucid King Seleucus I Nicator. It had an important role as one of the largest cities in the Roman Empire and Byzantium, and was a key location of the early years of Christianity, the Antiochian Orthodox Church, the rise of Islam and the Crusades.
Crusader era
Principality of Antioch
The Crusaders' Siege of Antioch conquered the city and caused significant damage during the First Crusade. Although the city had a large Christian population, it was betrayed by Islamic allies of Bohemund, prince of Taranto. Following the defeat of the Turkish garrison, he became its overlord. It remained the capital of the Latin Principality of Antioch for nearly two centuries.
In 1268 it fell to the Egyptian Mamluk Sultan Baibars after another siege. Baibars proceeded to massacre the Christian population. In addition to suffering the ravages of war, the city lost its commercial importance because trade routes to the Far East moved north following the thirteenth-century Mongol conquests. Antioch never recovered as a major city, with much of its former role falling to the port city of Alexandretta (Iskenderun). An account of both cities as they were in 1675 appears in the diary of the English naval chaplain Henry Teonge.