No 2

(Antioch)

“And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch” (Acts 11 :26b). The city of Antioch is located some 300 miles north of Jerusalem on the west bank of the Orontes River. In ancient times it was called “The Queen of the East” because of the beauty of its surroundings, the importance of its commerce and its strategic location for the caravans. It was from this city that the apostle Paul launched three of his missionary voyages. The city was founded in 300 BC by Seleucus, the Greek ruler of that area. It was the capital of Syria from the 900’s to the 1000’s and in 1939, it became a part of modern-day Turkey. It is now called Antakya and has a population of 123,900. The area was excavated in 1932 and during the six years that followed twenty churches, several baths, two cemeteries and a stadium were unearthed. Also, several beautiful artifacts were found and the most sensational of all was a cup that was carved out of a solid piece of silver. It has an engraving of a grape vine in the middle of which twelve people are seated who were thought by many to be Jesus and His eleven disciples at the Last Supper. Some, but not all, consider it to be the Holy Grail, the cup that was used by Jesus at the Last Supper. It has been variously dated from the first to the sixth century but most scholars prefer a date between the fourth and fifth century. Many important discoveries were made in that whole area that we will be looking at in coming studies.