St. Simeon Monastery (St. Simon), Hatay

Overview

On a bare hilltop between Antakya and Samandağ, stone walls surround an octagonal court. This is St. Simeon Monastery, the St. Simon Manastırı in Turkish, built around the column where a holy man of Antioch is believed to have lived for forty years.

The Story of St. Simeon Monastery

Simeon the Younger came to this mountain in 541 and died in 592. He spent forty years on top of a column. After his death, a monastery rose around it in the sixth century. Then, for centuries, pilgrims climbed the hill to the place where he had lived.

What to See

The complex is a rectangle of about 132 by 160 m, with two parallel walls and a cross-shaped plan. Inside are three churches, a baptistery and the octagonal court with the saint’s column. Around them lie cisterns, houses, a kitchen and storerooms. In 2020, a new rescue excavation began to uncover church floor mosaics with animal figures.

Excavations on the Hill

The hilltop has seen three rounds of digging. In 2020, the Hatay Archaeology Museum began a rescue excavation and restoration on the hill. So the team set out to uncover the church, the baptistery and the cistern, and they numbered the fallen building stones for restoration. Also, on the church floors they found mosaics of animals made with glass tesserae.

Samandağ and Seleucia Pieria

Then there is the name: the saint also gave his name to the district below. Samandağ takes its name from St. Simon, or Sem’an, Mountain to its northeast. On the coast at the foot of Musa Mountain, Seleucus I founded the port of Seleucia Pieria around 300 BC to serve Antioch, so the monastery, the port city and the Roman tunnel at Çevlik belong to one story.

Also, Seleucus founded Seleucia Pieria in the same year as Antioch, 300 BC, so the port and the city grew together.

How to Visit St. Simeon Monastery

In January 2025, St. Simeon Monastery was closed because of the earthquake. Opening status changes, so ask us to confirm before you visit. On the same road, visit the Titus Tunnel at Çevlik. We plan the climb to the Monastery of St. Simeon on your Hatay day.

Would you like to see Antakya and its surroundings with a guide who follows how the city is rebuilding? The hill of St. Simeon is a drive from Antakya, so give us your day and we will pair it with Samandağ and lunch. See our tour of Antakya, our drivers and our Hatay guide.