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At the beginning of the 5th century, Apamea, with its
view over the Orontes and the Ghab plain, was the capital of Syria
Secunda whilst Antioch was the capital of Syria Prima. It was also home
to the headquarters of an archbishopric. This period of peace and
prosperity enjoyed by the town was not to last, however, due to a series
of Persian invasions during the 6th century. Apamea was spared from the
Persians' pillages until the year 573. It fell into their hands again
from 613 to 628 and was to remain so until the Arabs "peacefully"
conquered it in 638. In 975 the Byzantines arrived and occupied Apamea
for eighteen years up until 993. In 1106, it was conquered by the
Crusaders. Forty-three years later, in 1149, the town was once again
taken over by Nour Al-Din Ibn-Zanki. Order out of Chaos
Both a Hellenistic and Roman city, Apamea is laid out in chess-board fashion, like so many other imperial cities.
The sitting of the various buildings and quarters of the city was determined in relation to the
Cardo, the central
axis. Along this splendid thoroughfare which was lined with shops and linked the principal gates of the city flowed
most of the public life of the city. The Decumanus crossed the Cardo at a right angle, usually somewhere about
midway along its length and close to the agora or forum.
The Cardo at Apamea was almost two kilometers long (1.850 m to be precise) and 37.50 meters wide. Originally 1,200
columns soared up into the sky. Quite a respectable boulevard for even a modern city! It was lined throughout its
length with porticoes which rested on lofty columns. Monotony in the general perspective was avoided by subtle
differences in the various sections of the colonnade; smooth columns with twisted moldings at the base, columns
with straight or twisted fluting. All the capitals were elegant Corinthian ones.
This great colonnade was erected in the 2nd century A.D. and was still standing in the 12th. It took the earthquakes
of 1157 and 1170 to demolish it. But dominating the tumbled ruins of the city, transcending the disorder, a series
of columns with twisted fluting has been re-erected; their capitals and entablatures have been put back in place.
All has become orderly once more, perspective has returned and reason and instinct are satisfied.
From the north gate, the Porte of Antioch , where an arch rises up out of a heap of stones, the route continues
into a large colonnade, the northern part of which dates back to the last year of Trajan's reign (116-117), and
which runs alongside the ruins of the northern baths built at the same time and divided into two parts: the warm
and hot baths. Not far from here is the votive column posed on a triangular socle (14 meters tall). Apart from
being useful point of reference on such along route, it also marked the intersection of the main avenue and another
major street. Continuing on towards the town center, one comes across the bacchic pillar decorated with thyrsus,
vine, and vine branch motifs. This once supported one of the arches which overhung the point where the side street
met the main throughway.
The columns with cabled fluting date back to 166 AD. Three consoles, one of which no longer exists, bore the statues
of the emperors Anthony the Pius, Lucius Verus and Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. Opposite these columns was the Tycheon,
or the temple of the Goddess of Fortune, the guardian of the town. The agora, accessible via a monumental side
entrance, was about 300 meters long by 45 meters wide. The northern facade rested on six magnificent bulbous columns
whose highly-wrought bases seem to spring from stylized acanthus calyxes. It would seem that the agora was built
as part of a move to reconstruct Apamea after an earthquake in 115. This reconstruction program continued throughout
the second century. To the west of the agora lie the ruins of the Zeus
Belos Temple, frequented by the oracles.
The nymphaeum ( a sanctuary dedicated to nymphs) opens onto the cardo. The exedra (a room for holding conversations
equipped with benches) was decorated with niches that housed marble statues. Public latrines that could take up
to 80 to 90 people were situated behind the nymphaeum.
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