The city of Antioch is located in modern-day Turkey. It was founded near the end of the 4th century B.C. by Seleucis I, who made it the capital of what was then Syria. Seleucis I was one of Alexander the Great's generals.
Antioch occupies an important place in the history of Christianity. It was here that Paul preached his first Christian sermon in a synagogue, and here that followers of Jesus Christ were first called "Christians". As Christianity spread, Antioch became the seat of one of the five original patriarchates, along with Jerusalem, Alexandria, Constantinople, and Rome. For several centuries it was an important city in the Byzantine Empire. It was conquered by the Turks in 636 A.D.