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[Syria] Palmyra [Syria] Mar Elian Monastery [Syria] Apamea [Syria] Dura-europos [Syria] Mari [Iraq] Hatra [Iraq] Nineveh [Iraq] Mosul Museum And Libraries [Iraq] Nimrud [Iraq] Khorsabad [Iraq] Mar Behnam Monastery [Iraq] Mosque Of The Prophet Yunus [Iraq] Imam Dur Mausoleum

The Great Theater at Apamea in northern Syria vies with the Large Theater at Ephesus, Turkey for the honor of being the largest extant Roman edifice of its type to have survived the ravages of time. Both buildings are estimated to have held audiences of over 20,000 persons, and both may have had their origins in an earlier Greek Hellenistic structure that was overbuilt in the Roman Era. Only one other theater, the Theater of Pompey in Rome, is known to have been larger. However, Pompey's lavish building is buried under the modern streets of the city, and its surviving...

Several archeological sites in the ancient city of Apamea were vandalized and pillaged by groups taking advantage of the events in Syria to excavate secretly, dig randomly and steal artifacts in secret, damaging several finds including a mosaic and the crown of a column in the middle of the city. Head of Hama Archeology Department Abdelkader Firzat called on locals to report those who commit such acts of vandalism and robbery, adding that Apamea became a target for such crimes due to its wealth of historical periods and its large size. He pointed out that secret excavations and random digging...