Bāb Antakiya (,

Aleppo Arabic Aleppo Arabic or Aleppine Arabic is the urban Arabic variety spoken in the city of Aleppo. Phonology Aleppo Arabic is characterised by the usage of /d͡ʒ/ instead of the typical urban /ʒ/ used in Damascus Arabic and in Lebanese Arabic ...

: , "Gate of

Antioch Antioch on the Orontes (; , ) "Antioch on Daphne"; or "Antioch the Great"; ; ; ; ; ; ; . was a Hellenistic Greek city founded by Seleucus I Nicator in 300 BC. One of the most important Greek cities of the Hellenistic period, it served as ...

") is a critical defense gate in

Aleppo Aleppo is a city in Syria, which serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Governorates of Syria, governorate of Syria. With an estimated population of 2,098,000 residents it is Syria's largest city by urban area, and ...

, which protects the city from the west. Bab Antakiya is located in the centre of the western wall of the old city of Aleppo, and its name was derived from

, the capital of ancient Syria, as the gate was the main exit which was leading to the city of Antioch.

History

This gate was considered the main ''bab'' of the city during the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

rule, but it lost its importance gradually during the Islamic and Arab rule, until the reconstruction by the

Ayyubid The Ayyubid dynasty (), also known as the Ayyubid Sultanate, was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultan of Egypt, Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate, Fatimid Caliphate of Egyp ...

Emir of Aleppo

An-Nasir Yusuf An-Nasir Yusuf (; AD 1228–1260), fully al-Malik al-Nasir Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn al-Aziz ibn al-Zahir ibn Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub ibn Shazy (), was the Ayyubid Kurdish Emir of Syria from his seat in Aleppo (1236–1260), and the S ...

(ruled 1242-60) on an 11th-century base. It was further rebuilt in the 15th century in

Mamluk Mamluk or Mamaluk (; (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural); translated as "one who is owned", meaning "slave") were non-Arab, ethnically diverse (mostly Turkic, Caucasian, Eastern and Southeastern European) enslaved mercenaries, slave-so ...

era when the gate regained its vital role as a main landmark for the old city. During the Battle of Aleppo in the Syrian civil war the gate became a key target for rebel forces who tried to take the old Citadel.

Construction

The gate is topped by two rising parallel hexagonal bastions with a jagged entrance path, being located under the one which is on the right side due to defensive tactics, consisted of white stones of big sizes ( X (. The main axis of the old Souq of Aleppo is originated from the Antakeya gate.

References

{{coord, 36, 11, 55.25, N, 37, 9, 5.25, E, type:landmark, display=title Ziyarat Antakeya