cian refinement, is now comparatively a deserted place. The earthquakes which have repeatedly shaken it, the sieges it has undergone from the Persians and Saracens, and especially the ravages to which it was subject at the time of the crusades, from Bibars, sultan of Egypt, when seventeen thousand of its inhabitants were slaughtered, and a hundred thousand made captives, have long rendered it a desolation. The modern Antakich, a mere corner of the ancient enclosure, has not more than a seventieth part of the mighty population that once tenanted a metropolis, which was regarded as one of the architectural beauties of the world.
"How doth the city sit solitary that was full of people! How is she become as a widow! She that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary!" (Lam. i. 1.)
"Her cloud-capp'd towers, her gorgeous palaces,
Her solemn temples
Have dissolved!"
Note A.—List of metropolitan seats and bishoprics belonging to the patriarchate of Antioch, about a.d. 10(illegible text)0, as given by William of Tyre:—
1. Tyre, having 14 bishoprics. 2. Tarsus 5 3. Edessa 10 4. Apamia 7 5. Hierapolis 8 6. Bostra 19 7. Anerverza 19 8. Seleucia 24 9. Damascus 11 10. Amida 7 11. Sergiopolis 4 12. Theodosiopolis 7 13. Emesa 4[1]
- ↑ Compare Bingham, "Antiq." vol. ii. edit. 1834, where is given a list of nine provinces and eighty-seven dioceses.
