Antiochia on the Orontes (ATO)

Now Antakya in central Turkey, near the Syrian border, Antioch - or Antiochia on the Orontes - was one of the chief cities in the ancient Greek world. Founded in 300 BCE by Seleucus I, one of the generals dividing Alexander the Great’s empire after his premature death. Athletes from Antiochia have won the Olympic pankration three times. Possibly these were two athletes: Hermas and Tiberius Claudius Hermas. It is also possible these were the same person, having been granted Roman citizenship in between.