Antioch, now Anthakia, was a celebrated city, the capital of Syria. It
was seated on the river Orontes, now called Assi, fifteen miles east of
the Mediterranean, and forty miles south-west of Aleppo. We have been
thus particular, because Antioch is not only a conspicuous city in the
history of the early Christian church, but because it has undergone
some of the most remarkable sieges to be found in this volume.