Seleucia in Pieria
Seleucia in Pieria is an ancient city located on the northern Syrian coast, now within modern-day Hatay in southeastern Turkey. Founded around 300 BC by Seleucus I Nicator, it was established on a site known as Hydatos Potamoi, which translates to "watery rivers," due to its strategic positioning near surrounding watercourses. Initially intended to be Seleucus's capital, the city later became a vital port for the nearby city of Antioch. Throughout its history, Seleucia experienced periods of autonomy, being involved in regional alliances and facing various conquests, including those by Ptolemy III and later by Pompey the Great, who granted it additional freedoms.
The city is noteworthy for its significant structures, including a sanctuary dedicated to Zeus on Mount Casius, which attracted visitors during annual festivals. Archaeological remains include a large Doric temple, ramparts, and Roman villas adorned with intricate mosaics. Seleucia's harbor was vital for naval operations in the Roman province of Syria, and the city underwent renovations to maintain its port facilities over time. Despite suffering from raider attacks and natural disasters such as earthquakes, Seleucia's rich historical and cultural legacy continues to be of interest, particularly its religious sites and urban planning from the Hellenistic and Roman periods.
Subject Terms
Seleucia in Pieria
Seleukeia (between Keboussie and Magharadjek)
A city on the northern section of the Syrian coast (now in the Hatay, southeastern Turkey), on and below an outlying spur of Mount Amanus (Gavur Daǧları) which overlooks a bay at the mouth of the river Orontes (Nahr el-Asi). The settlement was founded c 300 BC on a site known as Hydatos Potamoi—`watery rivers,’ from two surrounding watercourses that protected the fortress—by Seleucus I Nicator, who probably brought its colonists (eventually comprising 6,000 adult citizens) from the old Greek settlement at Posidium (Ras-el-Bassit). Seleucus also gave the surrounding territory the name of Pieria, after a region of his native Macedonia.
The new foundation, consisting of an acropolis and an upper and lower town, was at first intended to become Seleucus' capital, but this was soon transferred to Antioch beside the Orontes (Antakya), for which the inner and outer harbors of Seleucia thereafter provided a port. Captured by Ptolemy III Euergetes c 245, Seleucia was recovered for the Seleucids by Antiochus III the Great in 219.
A decree of 186 shows that the city enjoyed formal autonomy; and c 149 it briefly became a member—and the mint—of a League of Four Brother Peoples, in which its partners were Antioch, Apamea (Qalaat el-Mudik and Laodicea on the Sea (Latakia). Seleucia's inauguration of a new civic era in 109/8 reflects the confirmation of its autonomous status by the Seleucids. Subsequently its resistance to Tigranes I of Armenia (who ejected Seleucid rivals, 83–69) earned a further pronouncement of freedom at the hands of Pompey the Great. Retaining this status in the Roman province of Syria, the port of Seleucia became the base of an imperial fleet, the classis Syriaca. It was renovated for this purpose by Vespasian (AD 69–79)—whose canal, running partly underground, can still be seen—and again by Constantine I the Great (306–37), at a time when the harbors were suffering from serious silting (they are now completely blocked up). Raiders from Isauria in southern Asia Minor plundered the city in 403, and it was seriously damaged by an earthquake in 526.
Seleucia was famous for a sanctuary of Zeus on Mount Casius at the end of the bay, the scene of annual festivals visited by Hadrian (117–38) and Julian the Apostate (361–63). The sacred stone and shrine of the cult—surmounted by an eagle or enclosed in a temple—are depicted on local coinage; and this also honors Zeus as Keraunios, god of the thunderbolt (keraunos), which is displayed on a stool or on the roof of a shrine. Other coins show a temple of the city goddess or Tyche (Fortuna, Ashtoreth, Astarte). One large Doric temple dating from Hellenistic times, of which the foundations still survive, can be seen to have dominated the site. The surrounding ramparts, including bastions and gates, have also been investigated. Roman villas, containing fine polychrome mosaics that have not been removed to museums, were disposed in tiers along the slopes of the upper town. The foundations of a cruciform Christian Martyr's Shrine (Martyrion) on the later fifth century AD—restored in the sixth—are also visible. (This Seleucia should be distinguished from Seleucia by the Belus [Sqelebiya], beside the east bank of the Orontes.)