Tourism

General Information
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Distance between the Syrian Cities
Flag and Anthem

Syrian Cities

Southern Provinces

Damascus
Historical Spots of Damascus
Damascus Province

Mid-West Provinces

Homs
Palmyra
Hama
Apamea
Syrian Coast
Summer resorts
Historical Spots

North-Eastern Provinces

Aleppo
Raqa
Deir Ezzor

Apamea is located on the right bank of the Orontes, about 55 km to the northwest of Hama. It overlooks the Ghaab plain. It was built by Saluqos Nikator, the first king of the Seleucids in Syria in 300B.C.He named it after his wife, Afamia. The city flourished to an extent that its population numbered half a million. As an Eastern crossroads, it received many distinguished visitors: Cleopatra, Septimus Severus and the Emperor Caracalla. In the Christian era, Apamea became a centre of philosophy an thought, especially of Monophotism.

Most of the uncovered ruins in it date back to the Roman and Byzantine ages. It is distinguished for its high walls and the main thoroughfare surrounded by columns with twisted fluting. The street is about 2 km long and 87 m wide. The ruins of the Roman theatre, which have been frequently disturbed, are now a great mass of stone. Its colonnade is 145 m long. Erected in the 2nd century, it was destroyed in the 12th century by two violent earthquakes.