Description of Seleucia
In consequence of this decision, orders were sent to
Diognetus the commander of the fleet to sail towards Seleucia:
while Antiochus himself started from Apameia with his army,
and encamped near the Hippodrome, about five stades from
the town. He also despatched Theodotus Hemiolius with an
adequate force against Coele-Syria, with orders to occupy the
passes and to keep the road open for him.
The situation of Seleucia and the natural features of the
surrounding country are of this kind. The city
stands on the sea coast between Cilicia and
Phoenicia; and has close to it a very great
mountain called Coryphaeus, which on the west is washed by
the last waves of the sea which lies between Cyprus and
Phoenicia; while its eastern slopes overlook the territories of
Antioch and Seleucia. It is on the southern skirt of this
mountain that the town of Seleucia lies, separated from it by
a deep and difficult ravine. The town extends down to the
sea in a straggling line broken by irregularities of the soil, and
is surrounded on most parts by cliffs and precipitous rocks.
On the side facing the sea, where the ground is level, stand
the market-places, and the lower town strongly walled. Similarly
the whole of the main town has been fortified by walls of a
costly construction, and splendidly decorated with temples and
other elaborate buildings. There is only one approach to it
on the seaward side, which is an artificial ascent cut in the
form of a stair, interrupted by frequently occurring drops and
awkward places. Not far from the town is the mouth of the
river Orontes, which rises in the district of Libanus and
Anti-Libanus, and after traversing the plain of Amyca reaches
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Antioch; through which it flows, and carrying off by the force
of its current all the sewage of that town, finally discharges
itself into this sea not far from Seleucia.
