The city of Antakya, known as Antioch in ancient times, has been destroyed many times by earthquakes. It was destroyed yet again by an earthquake earlier this month, and residents are wondering if its ancient glories will ever come back. An elderly man, Mehmet Ismet, sat recently amid the ruins of Antakya’s most beloved historic mosque, a symbol of the city’s history as a place revered by Christians, Muslims and Jews. Ancient Antioch, built in 300 B.C. by a general of Alexander the Great in the Orantes River valley, was one of the biggest cities of the Greco-Roman world, rivaling Alexandria and Constantinople and attracting traders and scholars.
The ongoing excavations and research works in the seas of Turkey, where the world s first scientific archaeological underwater excavations were carried out, have unearthed 255 artefacts this year al.