Sous les portiques d'Antioche

During the Empire, in Antioch, the large colonnade street was one of the most important or even emblematic features of the urban scenery; similarly in the main great cities of the oriental world. But the pattern most likely came from Antioch where the eastern architects, in accordance with an order of King Herod, have conformed to a Roman model, that of the traditional via porticata. In Antioch, the monumental street follows and systemizes the North South way, which runs parallel to the Oronte's river : between them Seleucos I founded his city. Restructured and enlarged many times, this street conditioned the urban layout and the disposition of public buildings and spaces. From the second century (Trajan's rebuilt) onwards, the stoas which doubled the surface of roadway, played a special part in valorizing civic spaces. Places of meeting, of exchange, of trade and of sociability, they were the meeting point of an animated social life, as glorified in Libanios Praise of Antioch.