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LATAKIA (anc. Laodicea)

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Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 239 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LATAKIA (anc. See also:Laodicea) , the See also:chief See also:town of a sanjak in the See also:Beirut vilayet of See also:Syria, situated on the See also:coast, opposite the See also:island of See also:Cyprus. The See also:oldest name of the town, according to See also:Philo Herennius, was Paµa8a or Aeviil aKTi]; it received that of Laodicea (ad See also:mare) from Seleucus Nicator, who re-founded it in See also:honour of his See also:mother as one of the four " See also:sister " cities of the Syrian Tetrapolis (See also:Antioch, See also:Seleucia, See also:Apamea, Laodicea). In the See also:Roman See also:period it was favoured by See also:Caesar, and took the name of Julia; and, though it suffered severely when the fugitive See also:Dolabella stood his last See also:siege within its walls (43 B.C.), See also:Strabo describes it as a flourishing See also:port, which supplied, from the vineyards on the mountains, the greater See also:part of the See also:wine imported to See also:Alexandria. The town received the privileges of an See also:Italian See also:colony from See also:Severus, for taking his part against Antioch in the struggle with See also:Niger. Laodicea was the seat of an See also:ancient bishopric, and even had some claim to See also:metropolitan rights. At the See also:time of the See also:crusades, " Liche," as Jacques de Vitry says it was popularly called, was a wealthy See also:city. It See also:fell to See also:Tancred with Antioch in 1102, and was recovered by See also:Saladin in 1188. A See also:Christian See also:settlement was afterwards permitted to establish itself in the town, and to protect itself by fortifications; but it was expelled by See also:Sultan Kala`See also:tin and the defences destroyed. By the 16th See also:century Laodicea had sunk very See also:low; the revival in the beginning of the 17th was due to the new See also:trade in See also:tobacco. The town has several times been almost destroyed by earthquakes—in 1170, 1287 and 1822. The See also:people are chiefly employed in tobacco cultivation, See also:silk and oil culture, poultry rearing and the sponge See also:fishery.

There is a large export of eggs to Alexandria; but the See also:

wealth of the See also:place depends most on the famous " Latakia " tobacco, grown in the See also:plain behind the town and on the Ansarieh hills. There are three See also:main varieties, of which the worst is dark in See also:colour and strong in flavour; the best, grown in the districts of Diryus and Amamareh, is See also:light and aromatic, and is exported mainly to Alexandria; but much goes also to See also:Constantinople, Cyprus and See also:direct to See also:Europe. After the construction of a road through See also:Jebel Ansarieh to See also:Hamah, Latakia See also:drew a See also:good See also:deal of See also:traffic from upper Syria; but the Hamah-See also:Homs railway has now diverted much of this again. The products of the surrounding See also:district, however, cause the town to increase steadily, and it is a See also:regular port of See also:call for the main Levantine lines of steamers. The only notable See also:object of antiquity is a triumphal See also:arch, probably of the See also:early 3rd century, in the S.E. See also:quarter of the See also:modern town. Latakia and its neighbourhood formerly produced a very beautiful type of See also:rug, examples of which are highly prized. (D. G.

End of Article: LATAKIA (anc. Laodicea)

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