LANDS AND PLACES
Antiochus I (281–261 BC), the second ruler of the Seleucid empire who succeeded Seleucus after his assassination by Ptolemy Ceraunus on 281 BC, had some 16 cities named after him. Only two of them appear in Scripture: Antioch of the Orontes or Antioch of Syria and Antioch of Pisidia. Refugees fleeing the persecution that resulted in the stoning of Stephen fled to Antioch of Syria, located near the Orontes river in northern Syria. There they came into contact with Greeks who joined the new faith. The city became a center for Christianity among non-Jewish believers—a movement led principally by Paul (Acts 11:19-30; 13:1-3; 14:26-15:3; 15:22-40; 18:22-23).
While not as significant, Antioch of Pisidia was famous for the spread of Christianity throughout Anatolia (modern Turkey), the central area of the Roman Province of Asia (Acts 13:14-51; 14:19, 21-23). Some have argued that the city is incorrectly named Antioch of Pisidia because it is actually located in Phrygia. However, the first-century geographer Strabo, while placing it in Phrygia on the south side of a ridge facing Pisidia, called it Antioch“near or toward” Pisidia. Furthermore, the use of the term Pisidia was possibly an intentional geographical reference to distinguish the city from other nearby sites with similar names.
The site is located seven hills about a mile northeast of the modern Turkish city of Yalvaç. Although its settlement seems to have begun during Hellenistic times by colonists from Magnesia on the Meander River, it was during the time of Augustus that city development accelerated. Because of its strategic geographical location near the road between Ephesus and Cilician Gates, Augustus sought to use it as a military center. Subsequently, the site witnessed several impressive construction projects during the Julio-Claudian dynasty, the Severan period, and the Flavian period as well. These developments eventuated in the firm establishment of the Roman imperial cult in the city as evidenced by the impressive Temple of Augustus built by Tiberius in AD 25 and a Res Gestae Latin inscription. The latter was a summary of Augustus’ activities inscribed initially on bronze tablets set up before his mausoleum in Rome. Copies were then mounted on temple walls in Asia Minor. This one was most likely attached to the gate buildings of a street.
Among the most important structures of the site are a triple arch gate with a pool and a water channel flowing into the gate; a Greco-Roman theater with an estimated capacity of 12,000 people built over a previously constructed cardo-maximus (main street) that linked the theater with the Temple of Augustus; a bath complex; a nymphaeum (public fountain); and a castellum (water storage tank) filled by an aqueduct and a siphon (an architectural feature or conduit connecting an open water channel into one or more pipes). In addition, the city had numerous shops, a large basilica, and a Tiberia Platea (a colonnaded street) leading to a triple arch gate.
Housing the Temple of Augustus and equally important to highlight the importance of religious activity on the site was the existence of the Temple or Sanctuary of Men. Men was the name of the Anatolian moon god, similar to Sin in Mesopotamia. It seems that colonizers from Magnesia built the temple in a style that reflected Hellenistic influences. An inscription dated to 209 BC and decoration motifs unmistakably link the temple to the worship of Men. Additionally, a smaller Hellenistic temple stood northeast of the Sanctuary of Men.
However, the most important building of the Sanctuary of Men and the entire city was the Temple of Augustus. Visible from all directions, it occupied the highest area of the city. Besides the city’s temples, a synagogue and an edifice known as the Great Church are also important architectural remains from the site. A second smaller Byzantine church structure was also located south of the Sanctuary of Men. While tradition claims that the Great Church was built over the synagogue where Paul preached (Acts 13:14-51), it seems more plausible to assume that the existing synagogue structure housed the event. Nevertheless, the presence of the various religious/cultic structures illuminates the different religious elements coexisting in the city: the Imperial Roman Cult, Judaism, and the newly emerging faith of Christianity.
McRay, Archaeology and the New Testament.
Wilson, Biblical Turkey: A guide to the Jewish and Christian sites of Asia Minor.