Probably the empire’s third largest city, Antioch held a strategic position as the “mother city” and most powerful city in the massive province of Syria. Scholars lack consensus regarding its population. Many estimate 500,000 or even 600,000; others estimate as low as 100,000 or 150,000. The disparity in estimates today mirrors that in antiquity. Strabo writing in the first century BCE, indicates a population of 300,000; in the first century CE (perhaps due to increased urbanization), Pliny’s estimate is double that of Strabo; in the fourth century CE, however, Chrysostom cites only 200,000.
Antioch was a “free” city, mostly permitted self-governance, and “was a typical Hellenistic Roman metropolis.” The city was divided in four parts and was laid out along a traditional Hellenistic and Roman gridiron plan. It had a theater, an amphitheater, and a circus. Colonnades, wide walkways, and many shops lined its marble-paved Main Street, which ran for roughly two miles.
Besides the usual smattering of pagan religion, Antioch was known for the nearby cult center of Daphne. But Josephus claims a very large Jewish population there; rough estimates generally range from 20,000 to 40,000. Its ties to the east and the proximity of Judea, then governed as part of Syria, most other Diaspora cities. Jews and Christians continued in active contact in Antioch at least into the fourth century.
Josephus saw it as a mark of good Jewish-gentile relations there that, during the Judea-Roman war, Antioch spared its Jewish residents from the anti-Jewish slaughter that convulsed much of the region. Anti-Judaism did persist there, but apparently many Greeks also converted to Judaism there.
Antioch’s synagogues welcomed proselytes and God-fearers; various cultural factors also made Jewish and Christian ideals more appealing to Greek-speakers there. Early Christian tradition names Evodius as the city’s first bishop; his successor, Ignatius, was martyred in about 107. Until Alexandria equaled Antioch and Constantinople surpassed it, only the bishop of Rome was more prominent than the bishop of Antioch.
This content is by Craig Keener, but edited and posted by Defenders Media.
For more on the book of Galatians, please check out Galatians: A Commentary.
