Hama Governorate, Orontes Valley · Syria
A Seleucid military capital and later a great Roman city, with one of the longest colonnaded streets of the ancient world running for nearly two kilometres across a plateau above the Orontes Valley.
Photo: Dosseman · CC BY-SA 4.0
Apamea was founded around 300 BCE by Seleucus I Nicator, one of the generals of Alexander the Great who divided his empire, and named after his Persian wife, Apama. It served as the main military base of the Seleucid kingdom, with stables for hundreds of war elephants and a huge army barracks, on a plateau above the Orontes River, about 55 km north-west of Hama.
Under the Romans, Apamea became one of the largest and wealthiest cities in Syria. A Roman census recorded more than 100,000 citizens in the 1st century CE. Its main street, the Cardo Maximus, was lined with columns on both sides, many of them decorated with spiral fluting or twisting patterns, and it ran straight for about 1.85 kilometres from the northern gate to the southern gate. A large theatre, temples, baths and mansions with mosaic floors filled the rest of the city.
A series of earthquakes, including one in 1157, ruined the city, and the site was taken over by a Crusader and then Ottoman fort on the neighbouring hill, Qalaat al-Mudiq. Excavations by Belgian archaeologists from the 1930s revealed the colonnade and the mosaics. During the war, the site suffered some of the most extensive looting anywhere in Syria. This page describes its history and condition, and is not a guide to visiting.
Why it matters
Apamea matters for its scale and for what it says about the Hellenistic and Roman worlds in Syria, and for what has happened to it since 2011.
The Cardo Maximus, about 1.85 km long and 37 metres wide, was one of the longest of its kind in the Roman world, with hundreds of columns.
Apamea was the base for the Seleucid army, and ancient sources record that it held 500 war elephants and 30,000 mares.
The theatre held perhaps 20,000 spectators, and the city's mosaics, now mainly in museums, are among the finest from the eastern Roman provinces.
The Ottoman fortress of Qalaat al-Mudiq, on the neighbouring hill, housed the Apamea Museum, known for its Roman mosaics and sarcophagi.
Satellite images of the site show how looters' pits spread across the city, and the site has become a symbol of the illicit antiquities trade.
Main attractions
The following are the main features of the site as they were documented before the war. It is not a visitor route.
The great colonnaded avenue, about 1.85 km long, lined with columns about 9 metres high. Many were decorated with spiral fluting, and some with a twisted pattern that is unique to Apamea.
A large theatre on the slope of the hill, with a diameter of nearly 140 metres, one of the biggest in the eastern Roman provinces. It was largely ruined by earthquakes and the medieval fortress.
The remains of the main temple of the city, dedicated to the local Zeus Belos, and the marketplace next to it, at the crossing of the main streets.
About seven kilometres of walls surrounding the city, with the surviving southern gate and towers.
The 17th-century fortress and caravanserai on the hill above the site, converted into a museum that held mosaics, sculptures and sarcophagi from Apamea and the Orontes region. It was reported to have been looted.
Floors of villas and public buildings with scenes from mythology and daily life, including the Judgement of Paris and a famous set of philosophers. Many are now in the museums of Brussels and Damascus.
Condition and access
Apamea is not a UNESCO World Heritage Site, though it has been proposed, and it has been one of the most damaged archaeological sites in Syria.
From 2011, large-scale illicit digging began, and satellite analysis by researchers including a University of Cambridge team found thousands of looters' pits across the site by 2012, turning the ground into a landscape of craters.
Military positions and fighting affected the site, and the fortress of Qalaat al-Mudiq was occupied by armed groups at various times.
The Cardo Maximus and many columns remained standing, though some were damaged. The site's condition since 2018 has been reported to be poor, but information is limited.
The Apamea Museum was reported to have been hit and looted during the fighting in the surrounding area, though some collections were removed for safety.
Most governments advised against travel to Syria, including this region, at the time of writing. Check your government's current advice. This page is not a recommendation to go.
FAQ
Seleucus I Nicator, the general of Alexander the Great and founder of the Seleucid dynasty, around 300 BCE. He named it after his wife, Apama.
It was around 1.85 kilometres long, straight and lined with several hundred columns, some with distinctive spiral decoration. It is one of the longest colonnaded streets of the Roman world.
Satellite images showed thousands of looters' pits by 2012, covering a large part of the site, and looting is thought to have continued. It is regarded as one of the worst cases of archaeological looting in recent history.
No, but it is on Syria's tentative list. Several other Syrian sites are inscribed and have been on the Danger List since 2013.
The Royal Museums of Art and History in Brussels hold many mosaics excavated by Belgian archaeologists, and the National Museum in Damascus holds others.
Most governments advised against all travel to Syria at the time of writing, including this region. This site does not recommend travel. Check your government's current advice.
Keep exploring
Other sites in this overview that connect with Apamea, historically or geographically.
Hama Governorate, central Syria, Syria
A city on the Orontes with medieval waterwheels, an Ottoman governor's palace and a Great Mosque — and a painful modern history, marked by the 1982 massacre.
Best known for The norias, some over twenty metres in diameter, groaning as they turned in the river.
Read the overview — HamaHoms Governorate, western Syria, Syria
A 12th- and 13th-century Hospitaller fortress with two rings of walls, a great vaulted hall and a chapel, on a spur commanding the pass between the Syrian interior and the Mediterranean.
Best known for The concentric walls and the great hall, one of the finest surviving examples of Crusader military architecture.
Read the overview — Krak des ChevaliersLatakia Governorate, coastal mountains, Syria
A remote fortress on a spur between two ravines in the mountains east of Latakia, a Byzantine and then Crusader stronghold called Sahyun, captured by Saladin in 1188 and added to the World Heritage List with Krak des Chevaliers.
Best known for The rock-cut ditch and its 28-metre needle of stone, one of the most spectacular pieces of medieval military engineering in the world.
Read the overview — Saladin's Castle (Qal'at Salah ed-Din)Read next
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