Early settlement The
Phoenician city of
Ramitha was located in the coastal area where the modern port of Latakia is, known to the Greeks as Leukê Aktê or "white coast".
Hellenistic period Laodicea got its name when was first founded in the fourth century BC under the rule of the
Seleucid Empire: it was named by
Seleucus I Nicator in honor of his mother,
Laodice (). In 174 BC, an inscription was placed in the city, which has only survived through a Roman-era copy. It records how a family appealed to local authorities for protection when someone wished to place a statue inside their private sanctuary dedicated to the Egyptian gods
Isis and
Serapis.
Roman period in present-day LatakiaThe Roman
Pompey the Great conquered the city from the Armenian king
Tigranes the Great along with all of Syria in 64 BCE and later
Julius Caesar declared the city "free polis". Some Roman merchants moved to live in the city under
Augustus, but the city was always culturally "Greek" influenced. The Romans made a "Pharum" at the port, that was renowned as one of the best of Ancient Levant; then created a
Roman road from southern
Anatolia toward
Berytus and
Damascus, that greatly improved the commerce through the port of Laodicea. The city enjoyed a huge economic prosperity thanks to the wine produced in the hills around the port and exported to all the empire. The city was famous because of the textile products.
Herod, king of
Judaea, constructed an aqueduct for the city. A sizable
Jewish population lived in Laodicea during the first century AD. During the
First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 AD),
Legio VI Ferrata was stationed in the city, which served as its winter quarters, before being joined to a larger army assembled to quell the rebellion in neighboring
Judaea. In 194 AD, during the reign of
Severan dynasty, a third century imperial dynasty of Rome, the emperor
Septimius Severus gave the title "Metropolis" to the city, and allowed the
Ius Italicum (exemption from empire taxation) to Laodicea, that was later called a "Roman Colonia". Under Septimius Severus the city was fortified and was made for a few years the capital of Roman Syria: in this period Laodicea grew to be a city of nearly 40,000 inhabitants and had even an hippodrome.
Byzantine period Christianity was the main religion in the city after
Constantine I and there were many bishops of Laodicea who participated in ecumenical councils, mainly during Byzantine times. The heretic
Apollinarius was
bishop of Laodicea in the 4th century, when the city was fully
Christian but with a few remaining Jews. An earthquake damaged the city in 494 AD and successively
Justinian I made Laodicea the capital of the Byzantine province of "
Theodorias" in the early sixth century. Laodicea remained its capital for more than a century until the Arab conquest.
Later history ==Bishops of Laodicea==