Syria - Greek and Roman periods

The most impressive monuments and sites in Syria are without doubts the ones dating from the Greek/Roman period. In chronological order, we first visited the town of Bosra, with its splendid Roman Theatre. This town has an old history but it is at the time when local man, Philip, became Emperor of Rome, that the town gained the status of metropolis. The theatre can contain 15000 people. There are also remnants of the old town with gates, public baths, columns and markets. As is often the case, many buildings were later cannibalised by buildings from other rulers, the Christians built churches, the Mamluks mosques and hammams.

Apamea was built 2300 years ago by a general of Alexander the Great. The town is surrounded by good grazing land and at one stage was home of some 500000 people, but also of 3000 horses and even 500 war elephants. The key attraction of the town is its main street, decorated by parallel colonnades on a lenght of 1.8 kilometers. It is an amazing sights. Here we should thank a Belgian team that did "reconstructive archeology", meaning that it rebuilt the columns that were scattered and covered with sand and weeds.Let's keep the best for last: Palmyra. I do not think I have ever seen such an extended and well preserved site as this one. Maybe it is also the fact that it is in the middle of the desert, next to an oasis.

Most of the temples that we still see today today from 200 AD. It served as a major trading post between the Mediterranean sea and the Euphratis/Tiger rivers. There were many caravans stopping by. Levying tax on them was the main revenue source of the town. The first picture actually shows the "agora", the place where trade was taking place. Most writings were done both in Palmyrean, the local language, and in Greek, the language of trade. The Romans gave large freedom to the free city. The local people were allowed to build a temple in honour of their God, Bel. The temple is in the middle of a huge courtyard, where many sacrificial animals were killed. The temple itself is very well preserved. It is also noteworthy that it was later transformed into a church and a mosque. Local families were still living on the premises until the 1930's. A hotel - where we stayed - was constructed by the French almost on the ruins. Our guide told us that he hopes this hotel will soon be destroyed. Selfishly, it is true that it is an unforgetful experience to have breakfast in the middle of this splendour, but this is not the best way to preserve the site.