Apamea, situated in the plain of the Orontes, consisted of a straight and wide main street (now called the "Colonnaded Street"), walls that followed a course determined by the shape of the site, and a separate citadel on a hill. It was therefore a typical Macedonian colony, as could be expected from a town that belonged to the Syrian tetrapolis (Antioch, Seleucia, Laodicea, Apamea), which was created by Seleucus I Nicator in abour 300 BCE. The city, which had a surface of about 250 hectares, was named after his Iranian wife Apame.
Apamea, Church, Mosaic of Adam and the Phoenix
c.410 Capital of the province of Syria Secunda; the Hunters Mosaic was discovered in what must have been the audience hall of the Roman governor
413 Byzantine bishopric; center of the Jacobite Monophysites; relic of the True Cross (attracts pilgrims)
