LAODICEIA
LAODICEIA,
AD MARE, a city of Syria, south of
HERACLEIA [Vol. I. p. 1050], described by Strabo (xvi. pp. 751, 752) as admirably built, with an excellent harbour, surrounded by a rich country specially fruitful in vines, the wine of which furnished its chief supply to Alexandria.
The vineyards were planted on the sides of gently-sloping hills, which were cultivated almost to their summits, and extended far to the east, nearly to Apameia. Strabo mentions that Dolabella, when he fled to this city before Cassius, distressed it greatly, and that, being besieged there until his death, he destroyed many parts of the city with him, A.D. 43. [
Dict. of Biog. Vol. I. p. 1059.] It was built by Seleucus Nicator, and named after his mother.
It was furnished with an aqueduct by Herod the Great (Joseph.
B. J. 1.21.11), a large fragment of which is still to be seen. (Shaw,
Travels, p. 262.)
The modern city is named
Ladikiyéh, and still exhibits faint traces of its former importance, notwithstanding the frequent earthquakes with which it has been visited. Irby and Mangles noticed that “the Marina is built upon foundations of ancient columns,” and “there are in the town, an old gateway and other antiquities,” as also sarcophagi and sepulchral caves in the neighbourhood. (
Travels, p. 223.)
This gateway has been more fully described by Shaw (
l.c.) and Pococke, as “a remarkable triumphal arch, at the SE. corner of the town, almost entire: it is built with four entrances, like the
Forum Jani at Rome.
It is conjectured that this arch was built in honour of Lucius Verus, or of Septimius Severus.” (
Description of the East, vol. ii. p. 197.) Shaw noticed several fragments of Greek and Latin inscriptions, dispersed all over the ruins, but entirely defaced. Pococke states that it was a very inconsiderable place till within fifty years of his visit, when it opened a tobacco trade with
Damietta, and it has now an enormous traffic in that article, for which it is far more celebrated than ever it was for its wine.
The port is half an hour distant from the town, very small, but better sheltered than any on the coast. Shaw noticed, a furlong to the west of the town, “the ruins of a beautiful
cothon, in figure like an amphitheatre, and capacious enough to receive the whole British navy.
The mouth of it opens to the westward, and is about 40 feet wide.”
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| COIN OF LAODICEIA AD MARE. |
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