Apamea lies 125km from Aleppo in the northern Syrian Desert overlooking the Al Ghab plain. The area is fertile; good for grazing and growing trees and vines. Its closeness to the Syrian border has meant it was always of strategic importance. But it became a significant city to both the Romans and Greeks because of trade.

The Founding of Apamea

The area around Apamea was occupied from the Stone Age. The first city on the site was called Pharnake until it was conquered by Alexander the Great and renamed Pella. 

With the demise of Alexander and the division of his empire amongst his generals, Pella fell under the rulership of Seleucus I and was once again renamed. It was known as Apamea after the king’s Persian wife.

Apamea prospered. Its rich pastureland made it the perfect breeding ground for the horses and elephants used in warfare. It was rebuilt in grey granite on typical Greek lines and became one of the most beautiful and vital cities in the Seleucid empire, vital for not only warfare but also trade.

The Roman City of Apamea

The city’s strategic and economic importance also made it an attractive prospect to the Romans. Pompey the Great conquered the city in 64AD, and it was later visited by Antony and Cleopatra at the end of one of Antony’s campaigns, a reflection of its status as one of the important cities of Roman Syria.

However, the city’s golden age did not begin until the second century AD. With its population at a peak of 500,000 inhabitants, massive rebuilding occurred after a destructive earthquake in 115AD. This allowed the Romans to restyle Apamea, changing it from a typically Hellenistic city into a Roman one. Apamea retained its Roman character until its decline in the sixth century AD when another earthquake damaged it and the Persians took it. However, the city visitors see today is predominantly the Roman one.

Excavation and Restoration of Apamea

The Belgians first excavated Apamea in the 1930s. They mapped the city from the air, revealing its elliptical shape, with the central focal point, the main collonaded street.

 Much of the site was reconstructed in the 1970s and excavations continue today. However, despite its importance to archaeology and tourism, the site remains unfenced and still used by the local villagers to graze their animals.

Public Buildings in Apamea

The focal point for the ruins of Apamea surrounds its central main street. These included several Christian churches and Basilicas. There are also many features dating to the city’s heyday.

The Colonnaded Street or Main Cardo

This was Apamea’s main street and at 2km long exceeds that of the main thoroughfare of Palmyra. It terminated in the Antioch Gate to the north and the Homs Gate to the south.

Constructed in the second century AD and re-erected in the 1930s, the street takes its name from the continuous collonaded porticos that line its pavements on both sides of the road. Many of the 1200 10 metre high columns have a unique twisted pattern not seen in any other Roman city. The capitals are sculpted with vegetative patterns and the faces of city leaders and emperors.

The area beyond the main junction of the street by the nymphaeum is the best preserved. It still has parts of the original paving, marked with wheel ruts and the raised pavements that would run along its length past the city’s many shops and public buildings.

The Agora 

The agora or forum is situated to the right of the collonaded street when heading north. This was a rectangular space of 150m long and 25m wide, connected to the collonaded street by a minor road. Its monumental entrance included a collonaded portico topped with a triangular pediment. The toppled columns indicated that the last earthquake to devastate the city destroyed this entrance. It was reassembled when reconstruction of the city commenced.

The Baths 

Situated close to the Antioch Gate, archaeologists have identified the baths by the remains of the tepidarium and caldarium. It is also possible to see the pipes that supplied the baths from Apamea’s water supply.

The Theatre 

Originally constructed by the Seleucids, the remains of Apamea’s theatre today are a Roman construction.

The theatre lies on a hill to the right of the collonaded street. With a diameter of 139m, it is the biggest theatre in Syria. Later, much of its stone was used to build the nearby Arab citadel, which now occupies the site of what was the city’s classical acropolis.

The Temple of Zeus

Situated to the right of the agora, this is the main identifiable temple in Apamea. All that remains are the foundations. The temple was not destroyed by the earthquake but on the instructions of one of the city’s Christian bishops in the fourth century AD.

Sculptural fragments identify some of the other gods worshipped in the city. One temple was certainly to the god Bacchus as attested by pieces of sculpture depicting the god and his associated grapevines.

The Houses of Apamea

Apamea’s houses lie away from the main street. All generally had an ornamental entrance and exterior walls made of large stones. The general ground plans of the original design would have seen visitors passing into a courtyard and then onto reception and entertaining rooms on the ground floor.

As Apamea declined, so did her houses. Many show signs of subdivision to accommodate more occupants. Nevertheless, many of the houses continued in use long after the city fell, well into the tenth and eleventh centuries AD.

Resources

Keriaky, Rama Elias (trans Keriaky, Ebtessam Elias) (2007) Apamea: History and Ruins Salhani Printing: Damascus.