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Greek city of Laodikeia in SYRIA: SELEUKIS AND PIERIA
Silver Tetradrachm 25mm (14.8 grams) Struck circa 100-47 B.C.
Reference: Sear 5874; B.M.C. 20.247,6
Turreted and veiled bust of Tyche right; bead and reel border.
Zeus enthroned left, holding Nike and scepter; ΛΑΟΔΙΚΕΩΝ / ΤΗΣ ΙΕΡΑΣ ΚΑΙ behind,
AYTONOMOY before; Λ in field to left, monogram beneath seat, ΣE in exergue; all
within laurel-wreath.
Named in honor of Laodike, mother of Seleukos I, the important coastal city
of Laodikeia replaced an earlier settlement, called Ramitha. It possessed the
finest harbor in Syria and its prosperity was increased by the fertility of the
surrounding countryside.
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Latakia or Latakiyah (and often locally transliterated as
Latakkia) (Arabic:
اللَاذِقِيَّة Al-Ladhiqiyah)
is the principal port city of
Syria, as well as
the capital of the
Latakia Governorate. In addition to serving as a port, the city is a
manufacturing center for surrounding agricultural towns and villages. Its
population in 2002 was 402,000 and consisted of
Sunnis,
Alawites and
Greek Orthodox Christians.[1]
Though the site has been inhabited since the second millennium BCE, the
modern-day city was first founded in the 4th century BCE under the rule of the
Seleucid empire. Latakia was subsequently ruled by the
Romans, then the
Ummayads and
Abbasids in the 8th–10th centuries. Under their rule, the
Byzantines frequently attacked the city, periodically capturing it before
losing it again to the Arabs, particularly the
Fatimids. Afterward, Latakia was ruled by the
Seljuk Turks,
Crusaders,
Ayyubids,
Mamluks, and
Ottomans. Following
World War
I, Latakia was assigned to the
French mandate of Syria, in which it served as the capital of the autonomous
territory of the
Alawites. This autonomous territory became the
State of Alawites in 1922, proclaiming its independence a number of times
until reintegrating into Syria in 1944.
Etymology
Like many Seleucid cities, Latakia was named after a member of the ruling
dynasty.[2]
First named "Laodicea" (Greek:
Λαοδικεία, also transliterated "Laodikeia"
or "Laodiceia", by
Seleucus I Nicator in honor of his mother
Laodice, the original name survives in its
Arabic form as "al-Ladhiqiyyah" (Arabic:
اللاذقية), from which the
French "Lattaquié" and
English "Latakia" or "Lattakia" derive.[2][3]
To the Ottomans, it was known as
Turkish: Lazkiye and its Latin
name is
Latin: Laodicea ad Mare).
History
Ancient
settlement and founding
The location of Latakia, the
Ras Ziyarah peninsula, has a long history of occupation. The
Phoenician
city of
Ramitha was located here, known to the Greeks as Leukê Aktê 'white coast'.
Ramitha dates at least to the second millennium BCE and was a part of the
kingdom of Ugarit
a few miles further north. As Ugarit declined at the end of the second
millennium BCE, the better natural harbor facilities at Ramitha increased its
importance.[3]
The settlement became part of the
Assyrian Empire, later falling to the
Persians, who incorporated it into their
fifth satrapy,
Abar-Nahara, beyond the river. It was taken by
Alexander the Great in 333 BCE following his victory at
Battle of Issus over the Persian army led by
Darius III, beginning the era of
Hellenism in Syria.[4]
After the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE, Northern Syria fell under
the control of
Seleucus I Nicator. He founded the city of Laodicea on the site, one of five
cities named after his mother
Laodice. Laodicea became a main center of
Greek culture and one of the new satrapal headquarters. It was the main
harbor for
Apamea, linked with a road across the Nusayri mountains. Laodicaea became a
major port, second only to
Seleucia Pieria.[3]
It formed a
tetrapolis, with
Antioch,
Seleucia Pieria and Apamea linking the four main cities of Seleucid Syria into a
union known as the
Syrian tetrapolis.[4]
The city was described in
Strabo's
Geographica:[5]
It is a city most beautifully built, has a good harbour, and has
territory which, besides its other good crops, abounds in wine. Now this
city furnishes the most of the wine to the Alexandreians, since the
whole of the mountain that lies above the city and is possessed by it is
covered with vines almost as far as the summits. And while the summits
are at a considerable distance from Laodicea, sloping up gently and
gradually from it, they tower above Apameia, extending up to a
perpendicular height.
Roman
rule
In 64 BCE, the
Roman legate
Pompey formally abolished the
Seleucid Empire, and created the new
Roman province of
Syria. During the struggle for power between
Augustus Caesar and
Marcus Antonius, the latter managed to win temporary support from Laodicea
during his brief governorship of Syria through the remission of certain taxes
and the promise of autonomy. Following the defeat of Marcus Antonius, the Romans
modified Laodicea's name, changing it to Laodicea-ad-Mare and the city
flourished again as an
entrepôt
for East-West trade, second only to
Antioch. This
commerce was systemized with the construction of the
Via Maris,
a coastal road that ran south from Antioch to
Damascus
and Beirut via
Laodicea.[4]
In the first century BCE,
Herod the Great, king of
Judaea, furnished
the city with an
aqueduct,
the remains of which stand to the east of the town. Initially the Romans
deployed four
legions in Syria, one of which, the
Legio VI Ferrata, was likely based in Laodicea.[6]
In AD 193, the city was sacked by the governor of Syria,
Pescennius Niger in his revolt against the new emperor
Septimius Severus. In 194, Septimius Severus reorganized Syria into five new
provinces. One of these
Coele-Syria,
including all of northern Syria, briefly had its capital in Laodicea before
reverting to Antioch. Septimius Severus considered Antioch to be more degenerate
than Laodicea, and sought to punish Antioch for having supported the aspirations
of his rival Pescennius Niger.[6]
Septimius Severus endowed Laodicea with four
colonnaded
streets which divided the city into a series of rectangles. Roman Laodicea,
based on the foundations of the Seleucid grid, was laid out along a vertical
axis stretching for 1.5-2 kilometers from north to south, linking the center of
the town with the northern road to Antioch, and forming the
cardus maximus (main commercial street). The east-west axis consisted of
three main streets: the first linked the port to the citadel, the second linked
the port to the Apamea road, and the third linked the port to a monumental
four-way arch, or tetrapyle, which was erected at the point of intersection with
the north-south colonnaded avenue.[6]
Septimius also built baths, a theatre, a
hippodrome,
numerous sanctuaries and other public buildings in the city. Rome regarded
Laodicea as a key strategic seaport in the prized province of Syria.[7]
Throughout the third and fourth centuries Laodicea remained dependent on
Antioch. In 272, the city was seized by
Zenobia, the
queen of the
Palmyrene Empire, following her abortive attempt to take Antioch from
Emperor
Aurelian. After the revolt of Antioch in 378, Laodicea returned to imperial
favor and enjoyed prosperity under the
Byzantine Empire, established in
Constantinople following the split of the
Roman
Empire late in the fourth century. In 494, the town was damaged by the first
of a long series of earthquakes. In 528, Emperor
Justinian
I created the new province of
Theodorias out of the coastal belt around Laodicea, which was rebuilt and
fortified against the increasing Persian threat.[7]
In 555, another
earthquake devastated Latakia.[8]
A sizable
Jewish population lived in Laodicea during the first century.[9]
The heretic
Apollinarius was
bishop of
Laodicea in the 4th century. The city minted coins from an early date. |
