The small theatre (also Bouleuterion or Odeon possible) was probably built in the 1st century AD. Most of the rows of seats rested on a substructure. Only the remains of two rows of seats have survived.

The city was probably founded in the middle of the 1st century AD by King Gaius Julius Antiochos IV Epiphanes (38-72 AD), after Claudius entrusted him with control over the rough Cilicia in 41 AD.
Since 72 A.D. it belonged to the new Roman province of Cilicia, from the beginning of the 4th century until the 7th century to the province of Isauria. In the 12th century the city became part of the kingdom of Kleinarmenien.

The centre of the city with a colonnaded street, agora, thermal baths, temples and churches lies high on a slope above the sea, surrounded by extensive necropolises. For a long time it was assumed that the city was rather insignificant and only superficially romanised, but in recent years there have been increasing signs that Antioch was more important and richer than expected.
In 2012, for example, archaeologists from the University of Nebraska uncovered a mosaic of about 150 square metres dating from around 300 A.D. here.
In 2018 parts of "suggestive" mosaics were uncovered in a Roman latrine. The mosaics from the second century show scenes that are clearly of mythological origin. Ganymede holds a pair of pliers with a sponge; a reference to the sponges used for cleaning after going to the toilet. And Zeus, depicted as a heron with a long beak, grabs a sponge and dabs Ganymede's penis.

Directly before the gates of the city the archaeologists found more than 3,000 predominantly silver coins from the early 17th century from all over Europe and the Ottoman Empire in a vault of a bath building. It is undisputed that these coins were hidden in this place in order to have them available again at a later date. The origin of the coins can only be speculated about.