City
Antiochia
Antakya
Listen to the story
A splendid large city picture, with its name in red above it, marks Antiochia, a drawing matched only by those of Rome and Constantinople. It is read as a pairing of the city's own personification with the martyr shrine of Saint Babylas, which stood in the sacred grove of Daphne near the temple of Apollo. The half-hidden arch behind it is probably the Iron Gate, a towering wall across a gorge that served as aqueduct bridge, city gate and dam. One modern facsimile painted the arch blue, like water, but the original shows no colour. The city, founded by Seleucus Nicator in honour of his father, is Antakya in Turkey.