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SELEUCIA

(Gk. Seleúkia, Seleúkeia)

The name of at least 10 cities, four of them in northern Syria, founded by Seleucus I Nicator in the 4th century b.c. and named after himself.

Seleucia Pieria on the northern coast of Syria was built on the southern slope of Mt. Pierius, ca. 8 km. (5 mi.) N of the mouth of the Orontes River. It functioned as a seaport for Antioch on the Orontes (modern Samandaǧ, Turkey), 26 km. (16 mi.) to the east. It gradually increased in importance as a commercial city and frontier fortress until the Roman period. However, all the land routes connecting Asia Minor to Syria and Mesopotamia ran through Antioch, and Seleucia eventually became largely an outlet for Antioch to the western part of the empire via the Mediterranean. The city changed hands several times, falling to Ptolemy III of Egypt during the Third Syrian War (246-241) and to the Seleucid Antiochus III in 219. After 146 Seleucia briefly marked the northern terminus of Ptolemy VII’s dominion along the Mediterranean coast (1 Macc. 11:8), but in 138 it reverted to the Seleucids. It became a free city under Pompey (60 b.c.). When Paul and Barnabas set out to the west on their first missionary journey, they sailed along with John Mark from Seleucia to Cyprus (Acts 13:4).

Today the port has silted up, as have many ports on the Turkish coast, and has been replaced in importance by the port of Iskenderun (or Alexandretta) several miles to the north.

John McRay

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

SELEUCIA

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)